ABSTRACT
Medium-scale (A2) farms were central to Zimbabwe's land reform and the political settlement that emerged around it. However, only a disaggregated perspective on such farms, in terms of who owns them, what sources of finance they receive and what happens to production on them, can reveal the full story. Based on research in two contrasting settings (Mvurwi and Masvingo-Gutu), this chapter shows that A2 farmers do not represent simply a captured group of elite ‘cronies’, with unfailing commitments to the ruling party, as is sometimes suggested, but consist of a much more diverse constellation. We observe three broad groupings emerging that are shaping a new politics of the countryside There is a small but influential elite reliant of party-state patronage; there is an accumulating, emergent rural bourgeoisie, with connections to town and business but far less dependence on the state and there are those who are struggling, whose longer-term interests may shift towards a commitment to a smallholder path of development. Diverse, contested politics are seen, which has important implications for the on-going politics of land and agrarian reform in Zimbabwe.
