The Role of Politics and State Practices in Shaping Rural Differentiation: A Study of Resettled Small-Scale Farmers in South-Eastern Zimbabwe

This article seeks to integrate state practices and party politics into the analysis of agricultural production, through a study of rural differentiation on three small-scale resettlement schemes in Chipinge District, south-eastern Zimbabwe. In common with most agrarian scholars, my study shows that levels of crop production among small-scale farmers are related to differential access to land holdings, farming inputs, labour, tillage, extension services, income and social networks. However, the processes involved in gaining access to such resources are not adequately explored in most scholarly work: differentiation in crop production is explained from an agro-ecological and socio-economic viewpoint that glosses over the role of politics. I argue that state practices and party politics are important in explaining differences in crop production among resettled farmers.