Rural food security in Mutare District, Zimbabwe, 1947-2010
- Authors: Kusena, Bernard
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Mutare (Zimbabwe) -- History , Zimbabwe -- History , Food security -- Zimbabwe , Poverty -- Zimbabwe , Rural pooer -- Zimbabwe , Crop losses -- Zimbabwe , Food relief -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92865 , vital:30757
- Description: By taking Mutare District as its lens to explore the dynamics of rural food security in Zimbabwe, this thesis assesses the role of the state in tackling hunger among its rural populations. It examines the impact of colonial and post-colonial food policy on efforts to combat food insecurity. The thesis explores the uneasy options pursued by rural communities in response to droughts and other threats of hunger. It identifies and ranks crop failure as the chief culprit to the district’s efforts towards food security. The thesis illustrates the contestations between the state and its rural people over which sustainable approaches to adopt in order to end hunger and how such debates continually shaped policy. It grapples with questions about the various understandings of food security advanced by scholars within the rural African context. It demonstrates, for instance, that the post-colonial state inherited an erstwhile crop production structure which shunned food crops in favour of cash crops. There was obvious bias against local preferences for a robust, home-grown food regime which did not put rural livelihoods at risk of starvation. The thesis also argues that food can be used as an instrument of war as evidenced during the liberation struggle when the vast majority of people residing in rural areas, particularly women and children, were pushed to the edges of survival. In addition, the thesis demonstrates that the infamous Marange diamonds turned out to be a curse rather than a blessing due to the state’s lack of transparency in the beneficiation chain. It concludes by a detailed examination of the political economy of food aid, demonstrating why donors have not succeeded for long to combat hunger in the district. In light of this background, the thesis provides a more nuanced analysis of the whole question of rural food security using archival material, newspapers, government and civil society reports, interviews and field observation. The thesis benefits from the use of a multi-pronged theoretical framework to capture the disparate themes that form the bedrock of this study.
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- Date Issued: 2019
An assessment of the role played by social protection in addressing poverty and vulnerability in Zimbabwe: the case of Zimbabwe
- Authors: Daitai, Joseph
- Date: 2014-12
- Subjects: Poverty -- Zimbabwe , Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions , Zimbabwe -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/25983 , vital:64639
- Description: The focus of this study was based on the role played by social protection programs to alleviate poverty. This was achieved through analyzing generally the various social assistance programs delivered by both the government and the non-governmental organizations in trying to alleviate the scourge of wide spread poverty in Zimbabwe. The study also clearly outlined the endless list of various factors that contributed to some economic depressions and recessions that affected the country ever since the dawn of new Zimbabwe at independence in April of 1980. This study places social protection within the wider context of social assistance and relates to both concepts to poverty alleviation and wellbeing of the Zimbabwean citizens. The research made use of one of the major approaches in social science which is the qualitative method. The use of qualitative technique reflects an attempt to ensure an in-depth understanding of the phenomena under study, that is, to understand the successes and challenges faced by the government and non-governmental organizations in alleviating poverty.The study adopted a qualitative research methodology and mainly desktop approach was used meaning that data used was obtained from secondary sources whereby already exciting data within the area of social protection is analyzed and a conclusion is reached. This paper analyses the field of social protection, viewed within the broader concept of social assistance programs. The analysis relates both social protection and social assistance programs focusing on the (WFP) programs of Vulnerable group Feeding (VGF) and the government of Zimbabwe’s Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), their contribution to poverty alleviation. This study widens the focus from conventional narrowly defined elements of social protection to a broader interpretation which emphasizes the interface between social protection and its contribution to poverty alleviation. The linkage to poverty alleviation is also thoroughly discussed; various government and nongovernmental interventions have been also discussed where appropriate. The study also argues that many forms of socio-economic vulnerability need to be addressed from the central level to the grassroots level and also that local institutional structures are very crucial in the successful design, implementation and monitoring of these interventions. The study also suggested a possible government social protection framework that can be implemented by the government in order to achieve remarkable change and achievement in the social protection field. Recommendations were also given as the way forward for the proper and positive existence of social protection in Zimbabwe. In the theoretical framework, the study used two theories as the back bone of the study; the Capability approach and the State Welfare theory. The findings of the study revealed that in Zimbabwe, there are quite a number of social assistance programs underway but the problems discovered are that the coverage of the programs is very much inadequate and unequal hence larger percentages of citizens in the country remain unattended to, the government does not have strong financial muscles to implement successful assistance programs, political interferences also hinder success of the programs implemented by non-state organizations and also a poor grass root involvement in these programs makes them fail to achieve their purpose. , Thesis (MSoc Dev) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2014
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- Date Issued: 2014-12