ABSTRACT
The existence and the success of collective cooperatives, most particularly producer collective co-operatives, involved as they were with Zimbabwe's early putative socialist direction, were seen clearly as key indicators by both sides of the political spectrum. Agricultural collective co-operatives have often been seen as the centrepiece of the collective cooperative experiment. The membership of the co-operatives has been drawn from a number of sources - ex-peasants, ex-urban workers, ex-farm workers, ex-combatants, etc. Yash Tandon has argued that the training and general orientation of Agricultural and Technical Extension Service Department (AGRITEX) officers is geared to the needs of large scale commercial farmers rather than to co-operatives. Generally speaking, the financial situation or the co-operatives presents a picture of dependency with little or no room for manoeuvre. The encouragement for the co-operatives to pursue autonomous development and the diminution of Government controls and interference are precisely those elements that were lacking in the original policy environment.
