Reactions of Peasants to Global Capital in Zimbabwe: A Case Study of Tobacco Contract Farming in Mashonaland East Province

Abstract

This study presents an empirical survey of the economy of peasant farmers against the backdrop of the penetration of global market forces into rural Zimbabwe. As shown in a series of works by Sam Moyo and the African Institute of Agrarian Studies based in Harare, the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP), which was undertaken in the 2000s, reconfigured the agrarian structure in Zimbabwe. Tobacco is one of the sectors that clearly show that among the aims of the FTLRP was the peasantization of the country's agriculture. The reconfiguration of the tobacco industry was taken place in parallel with the FTLPR and the introduction of the contract farming arrangement fuelled the peasantization of the industry. Through the tobacco contract farming arrangement, the peasants have been more exposed to the global capital, and their tobacco farming has been much more internationalized. After showing the mode of business conducted by the global capital in the rural Zimbabwe, the study concludes by demonstrating the diversified rural tobacco market which the peasants take advantage of in the global economy.