Thepoli)caleconomyofpeasantagriculturalproduc)onandcommoditymarketsinZimbabwe:15yearsa=erthe

FTLRP

ToendepiShonhe,SMAIAS,UniversityofKwaZuluNatal,SouthAfrica

This paper examines how re-financialisation of monopoly capital is altering agricultural production and labour hiring patterns in the context of a changing agrarian structure in Zimbabwe Agricultural production is shaped by access to finance and new access to land and other assets in the aftermath of the Fast Track Production patterns are driven by access to capital finance – monopoly capital, re-investment and remittances. Using Zimbabwe’s emerging agrarian structure, the paper examines how peasants are linked to capital, the nature of capital and labour relations in post the FTLRP of 2000 and tries to answer the questions of who wins and loses in these processes. Employing a political economy perspective, we reveal the role of global and domestic capital in capital accumulation processes in Zimbabwe

INTRODUCTION Hwedza district area

ConceptualizingPrimi9vecapitalaccumula9on•  Theworldeconomicsystemscontradic9ons(Amin1976;de

Janvry1981;Shivji2009;MoyoandYeros2005a;Luxemburg1968)

•  Revealthe‘doubledialec9cprocesses’between‘produc9onandcircula9on’andbetweenthe‘centre-periphery’structureunderthelawsofmo9onofcapital

•  Yieldan‘ar9culated’paXernofaccumula9onatthecentreanda‘disar9culated’paXernofaccumula9onintheperiphery(Amin1976:deJanvry1981;Shivji2009:MoyoandYeros2005)

•  Providesascien9ficbasisforunevendevelopmentbetweenfirms,sectors,regionsandcountries

•  ForAmin(2015)smallholdersarereducedtosubcontractorwheremonopoliesprovideinputsandfinancingupstreamandmarke9ngchainsdownstreamusingpricestructuresthatwipeoutincomefromthefarmers’labour.

The centre-periphery distor9ons accentuate peasants and semi-proletarianlabour through “exploita9on of surplus” labour (Shivji 2009) subsidizing capital(Harvey2005).Supersurpluslabourexploita9onsofthepeasantsdispossessthemoftheirabilitytoreproducethemselves,turningtheminto“reservoirofcheap,seasonal,casual,forced,andchildlabourundervariousdisguises”(Shivji2009)For Patnaik (2014), primi9ve accumula9on involve ‘the acquisi9on of non-increasingprices’ofprimarycommodi9esfromtheperipherytothecentre,suchas oil among other minerals, tobacco, coXon and sugar, as capital seeks newareaswith lowwagesandcheap rawmaterials tomakegreaterprofits (surplusvalue)

ConceptualizingPrimi9vecapitalaccumula9on

Hwedza District - Emerging Agrarian StructureFarm categories

Farms/households Area held (ha) Average Farm size (ha 1980

2000

2015

1980

2000*

2015

No % No % No % ha % ha % ha % 1980 2000 2015

Communal 1364

7 93.0 14866 88.9 12491 71.2 108252 42.3 108252 42.3 108252 42.3 7.28 7.28 8.67 Old Resettlement 0 0.0 830 5.0 943 5.4 0 0.0 16127 6.3 16127 6.3 0.00 19.43 17.10 A1 0 0.0 0 0.0 2861 16.3 0 0.0 0 0.0 44514 17.4 0.00 0.00 15.56

Peasantry 1364

7 93.0 15696 93.9 16295 92.9 108252 42.3 124379 48.6 168893 66.1 7.92 7.92 10.36 Old SSCF/CFSS 930 6.3 930 5.6 930 5.3 38524 15.1 38524 15.1 38524 15.1 41.42 41.42 41.42 Small A2 0 0.0 0 0.0 303 1.7 0 0.0 0 0.0 31417 12.3 0.00 0.00 103.68 Medium 930 6.3 930 5.6 1233 7.0 38524 15.1 38524 15.1 69941 27.4 41.42 41.42 56.72 LSCF 101 0.7 90 0.5 3 0.0 102329 40.0 76332 29.9 400 0.2 1013.16 848.13 133.33 Large scale 101 0.7 90 0.5 3 0.0 102329 40.0 76332 29.9 400 0.2 1013.16 848.13 133.33 Corporate 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 Conservancies 1 0.01 1 0.01 1 0.01 6586 2.6 6586 2.6 6586 2.6 6586.24 6586.24 6586.24 Parastatal 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 Institutions 0 0.00 2 0.01 2 0.01 0 0.0 9870 3.9 9871 3.9 0.00 4935.21 4935.50 Agro-estates 1 0.01 3 0.02 3 0.02 6586 2.6 16457 6.4 16457 6.4 6586.00 5485.55 5485.75

Total 1467

9 100.0 16719 100.0 17534 100.0 255691 100.0 255691 100.0 255691 100.0 17.42 15.29 14.58

Labourhiringtrends

GenderdimensionsemploymentpaLerns

Sourceoffunding

Statesupportin2015

Tobaccocontractfarming

HwedzabyseXlementmodel(2000-2015)Produc9onpaXernsCroppedarea

KeyCommodi)esMarketed,2013-15

ClassesbyseLlementmodel

Characteris9csofsmallholderfarmers

TheFTLRPbroadenedpar9cipa9oninagriculturebythepeasantry-repeasan9sa9onRe-inser9onoffinancecapitalthroughliberaliza9onanddollariza9onignitedresurgenceinagriculturalproduc9onbutfarmersremainexposedandexploita9veunfaircommodityproduc9on,tradingandpricing.Produc9ontrendsandaccumula9onpaXernsare9edtoaccesstofinancealso9edtoaccesstofarmingproduc9veassetsandlabouremployment.Differenttypesofproduc9onprocessesandthehierarchyofresourceendowmentbydifferentclassesandtypesofintergra9onintothemarketsgenerateexploita9verela9onsresul9ngindifferingsitua9onsregardingsubsistenceandsurplusappropria9onbydifferentpeasanthouseholds.Capitalisanimportantfactorbeyondpoli9cs,stateprac9ceandcorrup9oniden9fiedbysomescholars.

Conclusions

Ithankyou