4. Zimbabwe's population in 1989 is in the order of 9 million and has one of the highest growth rates in Africa. Most of the population is located in the so-called 'Communal Lands' which generally have much lower agricultural potential and received substantially less government attention prior to independence than the commercial farming areas in the highveld centre of the country. Land hunger and inequity of land distribution have been important political issues in Zimbabwe both before and after independence (World Bank, 1986). Accordingly, land resettlement and rural agricultural development have been central policies in national development planning since independence in 1980 (ZIMCORD, 1981; Republic of Zimbabwe, 1986 and 1988).
5. Following independence the Government declared in the Transitional National Development Plan its objective to resettle 162,000 peasant families within three years, to be achieved through acquisition of commercial farms on a 'willing buyer - willing seller' basis. Total cost of the three-year programme was budgeted at Z $260 million (constant 1981 prices; equivalent to approximately US $360 million at that time) which reflects the perceived political importance of resettlement. Progress in the programme has been much slower and more difficulties have been experienced than expected (Whitlow, 1985; Republic of Zimbabwe, 1986). At the beginning of 1989, the total number of families resettled within the programme since independence is in the order of 45,000. Other avenues for relieving the pressures of land hunger more rapidly are therefore politically attractive.
6. Substantial areas in the more marginal, tsetse-infested, parts of Zimbabwe have been viewed by Government as underpopulated, underexploited and capable of supporting peasant agriculture. Accordingly ambitious rural resettlement and development programmes have been initiated in the Zambezi Valley within the tsetse belt, with the aim of expanding the frontiers of sustainable communal farming and increasing the number of settlers.
