An Evaluation of Command Agriculture and Food Security Among Communal Farmers in Rural Zimbabwe

Abstract

The Zimbabwean government commissioned the Command Agriculture Programme as one of the follow-up programmes to the land reform programme in 2016–2017 seasons. The programme sought to increase food and nutrition security and reduce import bill by increasing sustainable agricultural production. Mixed sentiments and debates have emerged on whether the programme has been effective enough to fulfil its objective. In light of this background, this research sought to assess the effectiveness of Command Agriculture among communal farmers in Murehwa district who have been part of the beneficiaries of the scheme. The research is evaluative in nature as it adopted one of the OECD evaluation criteria of establishing the effectiveness of a programme. The evaluation placed much emphasis on the outcome level results as well as on implementation processes. Key informant interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaires were used in this study. The major finding was that there has only been a marginal improvement in food security and productivity in the beneficiary households. This means that sustainable food access, availability, utilisation and stability, which entails food security, has been low in the district in terms of feeding to the overall objective of the programme. Strict monitoring and evaluation is recommended for programme efficiency and effectiveness.