Gendered Dimensions of Land and Rural Livelihoods: The Case of New Settler Farmer Displacement at Nuanetsi Ranch, Mwenezi District, Zimbabwe

By Patience Mutopo

The bio fuels boom has recently been gaining much currency in Zimbabwe. This revolution has had different impacts on the lives of men and women who occupied land during the fast track land reform programme. A notable hectrage of land that was acquired for resettlement and given to beneficiaries has in recent months, from February 2010 until the present moment, been deemed to be land that was wrongly gazetted for resettlement during the mayhem ( jambanja) phase by the government of Zimbabwe, through its line agencies at national, provincial and district level. The change in policy by the government of Zimbabwe was to pave way for large companies engaged in bio fuel production such as the Mwenezi Development Trust in conjunction with a consortium of former white commercial farmers regaining entry into large scale commercial production of bio fuels, crocodile farming and cattle ranching at Nuanetsi Ranch, in Zimbabwe. Nuanetsi Ranch had been invaded by villagers from different parts of Mwenezi, Chiredzi and Chivi communal areas since 2000. In February 2010 the government announced that the settlers had to be removed and resettled in other “uncontested lands” in the area, compromising their rights to sustainable livelihoods, human development and land acquisition. The perceptions of the men and women resident at Chigwizi has had a bearing on understanding the nature of gendered land and rural livelihoods in the context of bio fuel production in Zimbabwe after fast track land reform.