The Age of African Agricultural Prosperity

To appreciate the full impact of colonisation on the African agricultural sector, it is necessary to understand the geography of the country. It is divided into three main regions: the fertile highveld, the middleveld, and the hot, arid lowveld.

The highveld comprises land over 1,200 meters in altitude, and runs north-east to south-east across the centre of the country. The land in this region is predominantly flat, and forms the watershed between the Zambezi, Limpopo and Sabi rivers.

This area is the most fertile of the three main regions, and receives the largest portion of the rainfall. The highveld forms 25 percent of the entire country, and it was in this area that the Ndebele, and later the white settlers, chose to live.

Bordering the highveld on the north-west and south-east lies the middleveld. This land ranges between 900 and 1,200 meters in altitude. In some places the middleveld is flat, particularly from Bulawayo to the area near Hwange, where the railway runs in a straight line for nearly seventy-two miles.

The major portion of the middleveld, however, is far more undulating than the highveld; it comprises 40 percent of the country and most of the African reserves were to be established in this area.

Finally, beyond the middleveld lies the hot, arid and often malarial lowveld. This area consists of the Zambezi and Sabi-Limpopo valleys; the latter, predominantly flat country, and the former, mountainous. The lowveld comprises 35 percent of the country, and most of the land in this region is below 900 meters in altitude.

It was not attractive to human settlement, lack of rain making it difficult to cultivate crops and tsetse fly inhibiting the breeding of cattle.

There are two major soil types to be found. The predominant soils are the light sandveld variety, which are of low inherent fertility, and constitute 70 percent of the country's soil.

These sandy soils are to be found mainly in the middle- and lowveld, the areas in which most of the African reserves were to be situated.

The heavier red and brown loam and clay soils comprise 7 percent, and are found primarily on the highveld, the principal area of white settlement. These soils are of a much higher fertility than the sandy soils.

There are also two principal tribes: the Shona and the Ndebele. Although there were differences in their cultural communities in the nineteenth century, both tribes practised methods of shifting cultivation.

This system was not as inefficient and primitive as the settlers, and later historians, believed. If one looks at the agricultural prospects prior to the arrival of the white settlers in 1890, taking into consideration climatic conditions - erratic rainfall and the nature of the soil, in conjunction with population-land ratios and the needs of the people - it becomes increasingly apparent that the general consensus as to the nature of African agricultural methods is grossly inaccurate.

The methods of cultivation used at the time Europeans moved into the area were remote from those evolved by Jethro Tull, the father of the European agricultural revolution. Because there was no use for intensive land use, low yielding extensive methods of production were enjoyed.

This does not, however, imply that methods were inefficient; rather, shifting cultivation is less a device of barbarism than a concession to the character of the soil. (M. Yudelman)

Under this system of cultivation, land was tilled continuously for up to four years, whereupon it was abandoned and allowed to lie fallow for a period of approximately 15 years before being brought into use once more. During the interim, the natural coverage was allowed sufficient time to recover.

When an area of land was selected for cultivation, all the trees were cut down, with the exception of those bearing edible fruit and those used for ritual purposes. The branches were then piled around the remaining boles. This task was undertaken by the men as only they were permitted to handle the axe.

The land was then hoed by the women, after which it was left for a time, during which the wood piles dried out. The piles of wood were then burnt and the land left untouched again.

Once the first rains had fallen, usually in December or January, planting was undertaken. There was no seed selection and seeds were not planted at regular intervals, but broadcast. The ashes from the burnt trees were hoed into the ground as a fertilizer.

Fields were usually planted to a variety of crops: a small portion was planted to groundnuts, another to bambarra groundnuts - these being grown separately. On a large part of the field a mixture of sorghum (mapfunde), finger millet (rapoko), bullrush millet (mhunga), curcurbits and cowpeas (nyimo), were broadcast and hoed into the soil.

Although maize was grown on the same land and mixed with other crops, small holes were made with the hoe, and several maize seeds planted in each. This method of mixed planting, later condemned by the settlers, was actually well-suited to the extensive systems of agriculture employed by Africans, particularly to those practised on sandy soils.

As different crops matured at different times, mixed planting ensured that there was an adequate ground coverage throughout the planting season, thus preventing the soil from becoming scorched and dry from the fierce rays of the sun. Furthermore, it ensured there would be little or no water loss through run-off during periods of excessive rainfall.

Under conditions of thin soils and a tropical ecology, the Shona were in many ways, excellent agriculturalists. Their practices avoided the main problems that plague Southern Rhodesia: soil erosion and declining fertility of the soil.

Soil erosion was reduced by thick, mixed plantings of low leafy crops which leave no bare ground between grain stems, while roots of tree stumps and pollarded trees held the soil together. By shifting fields and letting land return to bush, they avoided prolonged periods of baring soil to erosion (W. Roder)

Thus, contrary to attitudes prevailing in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Africans did have well-thought out reasons for the type of tillage methods they practised.

New fields were up to four acres in size, and every year adjacent virgin land was brought under cultivation. After approximately four seasons, the whole area would be between 4 and 6 acres. At that stage, a portion of the first land would be abandoned and a new section added each year.

In this way, each portion was cultivated for about four years and then allowed to revert to bush and grass. Alternatively, if over time fields came to be located too far from the village, the entire village was moved to a new site.

This system of cultivation had a carrying capacity of 20 persons per square mile, of which 25 percent was cultivated, 5 percent wasteland, and the remainder was grazing land.

Before the penetration of whites, when human and cattle numbers were sufficiently low relative to the availability of land, this system could be carried out effectively. Yields were low, but sufficient to cater to the subsistence requirements of the indigenous population. Demands on the fertility of the soil were not great because the bush fallow system allowed recovery.

With the hoe as the only implement for cultivation, and the practise of mixed planting, soil losses were minimised.

We may assume, therefore, that as communities of men changed their methods of land use from herding, to an increasing dependence on hoe cultivation, they acquired substantial knowledge of the soils they used as a means of recognising and distinguishing them ...

The shifting cultivator knew and understood his environment. He could assess the fertility of a piece of land and its suitability for one or other of his crops by the vegetation which covered it and the physical characteristics of the soil, and he knew how long he could cultivate each variant and the period required for restoration of fertility (W. Allen)

The above passage refutes the belief, held by many, that pre-colonial agricultural practices were static, and as such, inefficient and primitive.

Agriculture was communal: the extended family was the main unit of production, and kinsmen were often called in to aid in the tasks of weeding, reaping, threshing and the breaking of new land. The older men usually supervised the work which was carried out primarily by the women and younger men.

Specific tasks were allocated to each group: the females carried out most of the work of cultivation; while the tasks of preparing the land, herding the cattle, making decisions relating to cropping times, the planting of new lands and abandoning relating to cropping times, the planting of new lands and abandoning of old, were the preserve of males.

Prior to the arrival of the whites, the Shona lived on the high and middleveld in the north-east of the country. Crop production was central to the Shona economy and the principal crop cultivated was rapoko, which, due to its hardy, drought-resistant nature, was best suited to the sandy soils in this region.

The main difficulty experienced was that of storage: grain could not be stored for long periods, and with no markets, storage of grain was not a viable proposition. To store grain in expectation of a dry period would result in the seed going bad if the drought was not forthcoming. If additional crops were cultivated each year in a similar expectation, they would go to waste as extra grain supplies were not required in good years.

In most cases, retention of grain from one season to another was not possible anyway, owing to the vagaries of climate and the prevalence of insect pests.

The inherent fragility of the Shona economy, made cattle play an important role. Cattle lived longer, and were not subject to the vagaries of nature to the degree that crops were. In addition, they served important ritual and social purposes.

It was these social roles designated to cattle which compelled the Shona to increase their herds; they were only used as an insurance against drought in cases of absolute necessity.

After the uprisings - reserves were assigned throughout the country. This was partly owing to an awareness on the part of the BSA Company that the mineral wealth of the country was not as vast as was originally anticipated, and that land was a viable alternative source of wealth.

The British government viewed the creation of "native reserves" as a temporary expedient which would disappear once Africans became wage laborers and were incorporated into the exchange economy. They did not envisage the eviction of Africans from white owned land once white agriculture had become firmly entrenched.

The reserves were allocated in a haphazard fashion by Native Commissioners (NC) who had no criteria upon which to base their selection of land. By 1900, 15,800,000 acres had already been alienated to whites.

In addition, the land selected for African occupation was, in most cases, of inferior quality. Native reserves were often poor, sandy, low lying and arid, located in districts remote from main roads and railways.

They were essentially an afterthought. The settlers had already taken the best land for mining and speculative purposes. The role of the Native Affairs Department in these years was primarily one of administering justice, collecting taxes and inducing Africans to seek work in the mining areas.

The imposition of the hut tax, and even its doubling in 1904, was not sufficient incentive to induce the indigenous population to seek employment.

In these early years, Africans had little incentive to seek work on the mines because they were usually able to meet their financial obligations through the sale of agricultural surplus. The land policy prior to 1908 was not intended to curtail African responses to the agricultural demands of the mining sector.

There were numerous obstacles militating against the expansion of white agriculture prior to 1908, and these explain the lack of interference with African agricultural practices in these years.

It was gold which initially attracted the settlers, offering a quick and lucrative return. Some viewed the land they had been given as a speculative asset, but very few were aware of its agricultural potential.

Furthermore, the transport network was still inefficient in these years, and the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War in 1899 worsened the situation by bringing about the suspension of all traffic from the south.

This increased the dependency on African agricultural production when the severing of the rail link with the south caused a cessation in the importation of food supplies by some of the larger companies.

Owing to the interruption of railway communication with the south, and the high price of grain occasioned by the war, the natives have been able to trade their grain at a considerable profit (CNC for Matabeleland, 1901)

The extent of settlement at this stage did not offer sufficient market opportunities for capital-intensive farming on a profitable scale, and the settlers lacked sufficient capital to inaugurate an efficient agricultural base for the economy.

A settler in the 1890s was quoted as saying

In those days no farmer grew grain, it being cheaper to trade the country's requirements from the natives

Any farming that was undertaken was done so in the same manner as that practised by Africans: hoe cultivation, the broadcasting of seeds.

The Africans responded readily to the demands placed upon them by the white mining sector. As yet, they were unaffected by land policy, and many of them remained on unoccupied white farms, no effort being made to evict them or push them into reserves.

While there was still little pressure on the land, Africans were able to increase their acreages in order to produce a surplus for sale to whites.

This is evident in the annual reports of several NCs of the time

The acreage under cultivation is increasing considerably every year and mealies are very much more plentifully grown.

Many Africans actually migrated to areas in the vicinity of the mines in order to be closer to centers of demand

Natives sell a good deal of meal to those working on the mines, and a general tendency is observable to migrate nearer to the mines so as to be nearer those markets for the more advantageous sale of produce.

Prior to the arrival of the whites the principal crop cultivated by Africans had been rapoko. Soon after white settlement, however, the acreage of maize expanded at the expense of rapoko in order to meet the requirements of the mines.

Mealies formerly were not grown in any quantity, it is only since the occupation that they have gone in for it on a large scale with the purpose of trading it to the white man (NAR N9/1/5-6 NC Annual Reports, NC The Range, 1899)

Not only were acreages of maize increased, but Africans soon began to cultivate the variety introduced by the whites. In this connection, the NC for the Range commented

Until 1907 the white population depended on African produced staples. The grain produced increased in response to this demand... Africans grew a variety of maize with small flinty cobs in 1890. For this plant they soon substituted a variety introduced by Europeans with larger cobs. By 1909 the local variety had almost given way in the Mutare district. With the new variety came the expansion of maize cultivation at the expense of finger millet (Wolf Roder, pp. 84/85)

The opening of trading-stores in the reserves was partly responsible for the migration of some Africans to areas in the vicinity of the mines. They were aware that in selling their grain to traders they did not achieve such high returns. Much of the profit from such sales accrued to middlemen and not to the producers themselves.

Many did make use of these trading stores, however, requiring only sufficient capital to meet their limited needs - mainly the payment of taxes. Contact with whites had not, as yet, created larger wants amongst the African population.

The very existence of trading-stores, however, had the effect of creating new wants and needs among Africans, bringing them into contact with goods which the exchange economy was able to provide. In order to acquire such goods, they required a larger amount of capital, and the NC for Murehwa was of the opinion that this would have the effect of forcing more Africans into the labor market.

The opening of trading stations of which there were three in this district last year, has had the effect of making the natives in proximity to these stations plant much bigger lands than usual, and most of these stations do a big cash business.

They have a good effect on the labor question, as whenever you create a want, the native must have money to satisfy it... most of the grain traded here finds its market in Salisbury as there are no mines in the district to supply

The following year the same NC stated

The purchase of grain by the traders for cash (from the Africans) ought to be restricted, as it will have a very bad effect on the supply of labor.

In later years, many traders refused to pay Africans cash in exchange for their produce, but did so in goods. This acted as a device to force Africans onto the labor market: for once the desire for additional goods had been awakened in Africans. They required capital in order both to satisfy these and meet their tax obligations.

In 1903, African sales of grain and livestock amounted to £350,000, and in the same year, wage earnings amounted to £100,000 - £150,000. In other words, agricultural sales totalled 70 percent of all cash earnings.

In 1902 thirteen percent of the Shona worked for three months, compared to 48 percent of the Ndebele. The Shona lived on the middle and highveld in Mashona1and, the majority of mines being located in this area. They therefore had easy access to the main white markets and the railway.

Their population was small and scattered, hence there was no pressure on the land. Furthermore, they were aided by the opening-up of many small mines in Mashonaland, which resulted in an increased demand for both beer and foodstuffs for the mine workers.

The Shona were able to take advantage of these opportunities, whilst the Ndebele were forced onto the labor market at a much earlier date than were the former.

In addition to supplying maize, which soon became the staple diet of the African mine employees, the Shona also responded by increasing the variety of foodstuffs offered for sale: market vegetables were grown as demand arose, especially after 1907 when the new dietary regulations for the mines were passed.

An increasing number of cattle became available for sale, their numbers having increased after the 1895 rinderpest epidemic. The number of African owned cattle increased from 63,564 in 1903 to 204,000 in 1908.

Cattle sales serve as an important indicator of the receptiveness of Africans to the new economy: in the past Africans were seldom willing to part with their cattle, their symbolic and ritual value holding more importance than their potential economic value; yet on demand from the mining centers they were willing to sell their animals.