ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to analyse the relative sustainability of cotton as a crop that communal farmers depend on for a livelihood. It starts by analysing the development of environmental policies, and particularly how these have been implemented in the North-West region of Zimbabwe. The chapter examines some of the nuances in the history of environmental policies starting in the 1930s. It also examines the case of Gokwe North District, part of the North-West region of Zimbabwe, which is especially dependent upon cotton. The chapter explains the bio-physical and agro-economic reasons as to why cotton farming is unsustainable in the North-West region of Zimbabwe. McCann points out that cotton is a crop formerly native to Africa that has been agronomically developed in the North and reintroduced to Africa in the twentieth century. Recent shifts to participatory approaches to rural development have come out of long-term conservation policies.