Performance of Smallholder Agriculture Under Limited Mechanization and the Fast Track Land Reform Program in Zimbabwe

agricultural mechanization, fast track land reform, agricultural development, Stochastic Frontier model, technical efficiency, agribusiness management, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Efficiency Effects Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Mechanization and Fast Track Land Reform Programme: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

A development goal pursued by the Zimbabwean government even before the much-maligned fast track land reform programme (FTLRP) was expansion of agricultural production through agricultural mechanization. This goal has been pursued through the acquisition and use of tractors by arable crop farmers in communal and resettlement state land delineated during the period following the launch of the FTLRP. This research project investigated the combined impacts of mechanization and an unplanned land reform on agricultural productivity in the Bindura district of Zimbabwe. The existing land policy and the issue of technical efficiency in agricultural productivity are assumed to be the drivers of the programme. It is likely that these issues will be important considerations in determining the sustainability of the mechanization policy. A multistage sampling technique was used to randomly select 90 farmers in the study area and structured questionnaires were used to collect demographic, investment and production data which were subsequently fitted by means of the Stochastic Frontier Model. Results revealed that mechanization was an important factor in the performance of the farmers who participated in the programme. The results also suggest that availability of land and access to production resources are crucial to farm productivity. Despite these, overall production and productivity remain low and the hyperinflationary situation triggered by supply constraints are only beginning to slightly ease. As the national unity government grapples with the huge task to restore growth in the Zimbabwean economy, it is important that these issues are borne in mind.Technical Constraints, Market Access, Agricultural Development, Induced Innovation Model, The Stochastic Frontier model, The Productive Efficiency and Mandate of Extension, Farm Management,

Contact Information for the Members of the Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations

Contact_Info_Dunlop_Commission.pdf: 154 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

“Miss, Miss, Look at What My Mother Sent Me from Jail”

When I tell people that I teach in a public school, especially when I go on to say that I teach at the Junior High level there is almost aIways snickering sounds and rolling eyes followed by horror stories from the past. They relate memories of crowded, noisy hallways filled with bullies; classrooms that felt like jail, teachers that were bored and lots of hormone driven mis-adventures. I just smile because I know it is all too true. I do not attempt to explain why, as an artist, I choose to return to the classroom after so many years or how I am inspired everyday by the energy and truth of the students I encounter. I have come to learn that this immediate reaction by others is only a small part of the whole experience

Front Cover

Clockwise from top left: Michael Lindblad ’94, Nathaniel Wight ’99, Tim Love ’07

Executive Summary of the Fact Finding Report of the Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations

Executive_Summary_Dunlop_0594.pdf: 1367 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Evaluation of arts across the curriculum

This is the final report on the evaluation of the Arts Across the Curriculum (AAC) project, prepared bythe evaluation team in the Quality in Education Centre (QIE) at the University of Strathclyde, who were commissioned by the Scottish Government (formerly Scottish Executive) Education Department.Arts Across the Curriculum is a three-year pilot project sponsored by the former Scottish Executive'sFuture Learning and Teaching (FLaT) programme1, the Scottish Arts Council, and seven localauthorities in which the initiative is being piloted. In order to be eligible to participate in AAC, localauthorities had to have a Creative Links Officer in post. The seven Creative Links Officers were responsible for the management of the AAC project in their local authority