Posted August 2000

This study was conducted as part of a joint FAO and Wageningen Agricultural University (WAU), the Netherlands research programme: "The Forgotten Dimension of Rural Development: Savings Forms of the Rural Poor"

In Africa, the issue of rural savings is poorly understood. Why do rural people save? How do they save? This interesting and very readable study of informal rural savings approaches in Zimbabwe is based on field research conducted in Mazoredze, a village of 160 persons and 28 households in Chivi District. The investigation focuses on an analysis of the various methods households use to accumulate and redistribute in-kind and cash capital used to finance their development and on the socio-cultural factors that influence - constrain or promote - those accumulation and redistribution processes.

The author shows that most of the households surveyed made little use of formal credit and savings services and instead preferred to use more informal means to accumulate and redistribute capital. He also provides convincing evidence that certain forms of "giving" can be considered as a form of saving or investment since they serve to strengthen reciprocity ties between individuals and households, which are necessary for the accumulation of capital in the future. The author's frequent use of participant observations to describe household perceptions regarding savings and how various methods of capital accumulation function provide the reader with additional insights into how rural people save.