The Complexity of Contemporary Rural Society: Agricultural ‘Betterment’ and Social Realities in Semi-arid Zimbabwe

Modernist assumptions have guided rural development interventions in Zimbabwe since the mid-twentieth century. As a result interventions were not firmly grounded on rural socio-economic and physical realities. The aim was not only to create a society of ‘modern’, ‘progressive farmers’ who followed a predetermined agricultural path, but also, the quest for order and modernity was clearly manifest through centralization measures and increased emphasis on prudent land husbandry. This article seeks to demonstrate that these rural development initiatives were ill-suited to the socio-physical realities in some rural societies. Using a case study of a communal area in semi-arid north-western Zimbabwe, it stresses the importance of the physical conditions, the socio-economic dynamics and the particular livelihood trajectories of rural households. It concludes that, even if the state in Zimbabwe was to succeed in imposing an agrarian order driven by these models, such a policy was more likely to end in dismal failure.