Liberalisation of trade is deepening, and so have the incentive schemes put in place by a number of countries to promote it. International trade promotion agencies in developing countries are actively promoting their countries as the best, with which to trade. With international trade emerging as a favourite source of revenue and technology transfer for most countries, profound questions about the impact of trade liberalisation to economic growth are addressed in this study. The main purpose of this study is to empirically assess the relationship between trade liberalisation and economic growth in Zimbabwe using annual time series data from 1980 to 2017. Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration and Error Correction Mechanism (ECM) are applied in order to investigate the long run and short run impact of trade liberalisation on economic growth. The results proved the existence of a positive long-run relationship between trade liberalisation and economic growth. The study therefore concludes that policy makers and government negotiators in Zimbabwe should introduce policies that promote openness through the removal of barriers to trade and export promotion in order to promote overall growth of the economy. / Economics / M. Com (Economics)

Successive droughts, in Zimbabwe compounded by other economic shocks in recent years have resulted in decreased maize productivity amongst the communal farmers most of whom reside in regions IV and V which are considered semi-arid. This has given rise to the need to find alternative food crops, which may be suitable for these areas. Generally, research in the world indicates that sorghum and millet have the potential to end chronic food insecurity in semi-arid areas because of their drought tolerance. Whilst this might be the case, research, government policy and assistance from non-governmental organizations on food crop production in Zimbabwe have shown a continual inclination to maize production in semi-arid areas. However, maize is regarded as a high risk crop in these regions. The main objective of the study was to investigate major factors affecting smallholder farmers in semi-arid areas, from increased production of small grains, specifically sorghum and finger millet. The study was conducted in two rural districts of Masvingo and Gutu, which lie in natural region IV in Masvingo Province. The questionnaire was used as the main tool of inquiry to gather data from households in selected villages within these districts. Questionnaires were administered through face-to-face interviews. The total sample size was 120. The logistic regression model was used to analyze data. The results revealed that, at the 5% level, labour, cattle ownership, farm size, age, extension, yields and access to credit significantly influence sorghum and finger millet production. These findings suggest that an adjustment in each one of the significant variables can significantly influence the probability of participation in small grain production. In view of these research findings, a policy shift that encourages increased production of finger millet and sorghum in Zimbabwe‟s semi-arid regions is proposed. It is suggested that this may increase household food security in these regions.

Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness / MSc.AEC

The airline industry has grown rapidly over the past few decades, recording a ten-fold rise in passenger numbers and a fourteen-fold increase in cargo volumes. This growth has created overwhelming value to airline passengers, employees, suppliers and the broader economy. Unfortunately, this industry has been affected by terrorism attacks, wars, revolutions, pandemic fears, earthquakes, volcanoes, failing economies and skyrocketing fuel prices all of which have negatively impacted on profitability and resulted in intense competition. Consequently, airlines have spent the last decade in survival mode having to adapt to harsh changes. Air Zimbabwe, a state-run organisation which operates in this highly regulated and turbulent industry, is faced with numerous micro and macro environmental challenges and has been purposively selected for this study. According to company statistics, the airline’s annual passenger uplifts have declined from a peak of over 1 million in the 1990s to less than 200 000 in 2011, with revenue generation declining in correlation. Whilst Air Zimbabwe has experienced depressed demand for its services, competitor airlines are recording brisk business. The aim of this study was to investigate how a struggling organisation, which operates in a turbulent environment, can improve its competitiveness and profitability by better understanding the impact of industry role players and adapting organisational strategies to industry variations. This study examined, from the point of view of the industry players themselves, the extent to which customers, suppliers, competitors, regulatory authorities, substitute products and new entrants have impacted on the competitiveness and profitability of the airline. Major findings reveal that an organisation cannot operate in isolation and be competitive or profitable, but constantly needs to analyse the industry environment in which it operates in and to amicably interact with other industry role players. The research outlines the need for competition in certain areas and cooperation in others. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

The study was an exploration of how internal savings and lending (ISAL) influenced the way in which persons affected by HIV and AIDS earned and spent income. The researcher engaged with the life stories of participants belonging to HIV and AIDS support groups that practised ISAL in rural Bikita district in Zimbabwe. The negative changes brought about by HIV and AIDS were found to influence the way participants generated and spent their income. The initial illness of family members reduced the participation in productive activities of the ill and family members providing care. Compounding effects included reduced attention to and increasing abandonment of productive activities, reduction in the scale of production, the use of inappropriate inputs, forced disposal of assets, increased household debts, reliance on social networks, and dependence on begging and piecework for income. The low productivity from activities meant that households generated less produce and income. This triggered changes in the prioritisation of spending, with healthcare and associated transportation needs superseding all, followed by spending on food. Expenses that were not prioritised during the period of illness included the purchase of improved agricultural inputs, spending on education and clothing and, in some cases, food purchases. In the findings, ISAL is associated with restoring past and starting up new productive and income-generating activities. Regular access to loans allowed storytellers to invest in activities that improved the levels and frequency of income that they earned. Loans were used to directly cover daily family needs, reducing reliance on risky coping mechanisms. Lump sum payments and bulk grocery purchases helped storytellers to invest and manage their cashflow. Overall, households that practised ISAL improved and increased their incomes and ability to spend on healthcare and satisfy other daily needs to levels similar to and better than those experienced before they had to cope with the effects of HIV and AIDS. Recommendations from the study include enabling persons testing HIV positive to access social protection, adapted agriculture technologies and financial education tailored to those affected by HIV and AIDS. Areas for potential further research include a quantitative and qualitative analysis of income and expenditure changes for persons affected by HIV and AIDS and the effects on children of dropping out and being re-enrolled at school. / Sociology / M.A. (Sociology) (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV and AIDS)) / 1 online resource (ix, 153 pages)

Thesis (MDF (Development Finance))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Meer en meer mense werk buite hul land van herkoms as ooit tevore, en die geld wat hulle stuur na hul tuislande kan bestempel word as ‘n belangrike ekonomiese krag. Hierdie geld kan ’n belangrike rol speel in die ekonomie wat die geld ontvang. Die geld wat reiswerkers tuis stuur word remise of geldsending genoem en oortref reeds Offisiële Ontwikkelingshulp en oortref selfs Buitelandse Investering in sommige lande. Hierdie navorsingsverslag fokus op Zimbabwe, ’n land waarvan die ekonomie volgens sommiges reeds lank gelede moes ineengestort het. Die studie ondersoek tot watter mate geldsending die Zimbabwe ekonomie beskerm teen ineenstorting. Die verslag gebruik ’n opname onder verskeie rolspelers om te wys hoe geldsending die Zimbabwe ekonomie beskerm teen internasionale uitsluiting en sanksies. Zimbabweërs wat die ekonomiese swaarkry vrygespring het in hul land van herkoms stuur voortdurend geld na vriende en familie. Remise word deels gebruik as investering in kleinsake, terwyl deel van die buitelandse valuta investeer word in komoditeite wat die land moeilik deur offisiële kanale sou kon bekom. Die studie het bevind dat geldsending in 2005 en 2006 ongeveeer 25.5% en 25 persent respektiewelik tot die Bruto Nasioanle Produk van Zimbabwe bygedra het. Die studie het verder ’n paar interresante bevindinge gemaak. Een van hierdie is die ongedokumenteerde verskynsel van defleksie van geldsending na meer stabiele ekonomieë of geldeenhede. Sulke remise word dan in die land gehou waar dit gegenereer is, of dit word gestuur in ’n stabiele geldeenheid, of dit word selfs in die vorm van produkte soos kos gestuur. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: More and more people are working outside their countries of citizenship than before. These people are now a major economic force to their countries of origin as they are sending a lot of money to relatives back home. This income plays a key role in receiving economies. The money migrants send home is referred to as remittances and the amount transferred globally has eclipsed official development assistance (ODA) and in some economies it is well ahead of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This research focuses on Zimbabwe, a country whose economy has long been anticipated to collapse but has so far evaded that implosion. It explores to which extent remittances are cushioning Zimbabwe’s economy from collapse. This report uses a survey of a number of role players to show how remittances have cushioned that economy from the effects of international isolation and sanctions. Zimbabweans who “escaped” the economic hardships in their country of origin have been consistently sending money home to their friends and relations. Money received has partly been invested in small businesses and part of the forex has been used to procure commodities that the country has struggled to acquire through official channels. The study found that the amount of remittances sent for 2005 and 2006 has respectively contributed approximately 25.5 and 25 percent to the GDP of Zimbabwe. The study further made a number of interesting findings. One of these seems to be the undocumented phenomenon of the deflection of remittances to more stable economies or currencies. Such remittances would be kept in the country where it is generated, or it would be sent back in a stable country, or could even be in the form of products such as food.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research study has examined the impact of contract farming on enhancing efficiencies with the agricultural value chain for smallholder tobacco farmers in Mashonaland Central Province in Zimbabwe. The major challenges facing smallholder farmers in Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular relate to financial constraints, technical expertise and market access. Contract farming as a transactions-cost-focussed-model is considered more effectively responsive to those challenges than the pure market approach which insufficiently addresses the impact of information asymmetries, bounded rationality, uncertainty, governance challenges and infrastructure challenges, among others. It allows for closely monitored smallholder financing by agribusiness entities which reduces or eliminates the probability of loan default. Contract farming is seen as an important mechanism in transforming the fragmented, subsistence agriculture in rural Africa into high commercialised and viable business undertakings. In this study, extensive reference is made to literature on agriculture financing; empirical research data on smallholder productivity and loan recoverability is drawn and analysed using the quantitative research methodology. The analysis sought to test for relationships among a set of variables and in the process examined the impact of contract farming. A comparative analysis of national data on the contract and auction system of tobacco marketing was done with emphasis on production and sales volumes, crop quality, price stability and market access. The results from the quantitative analysis of farmer-level and country-level data indicated a strong correlation between smallholder farmer production, productivity and loan recoverability and contract farming value chain intervention mechanisms.

The land reform that has unfolded in Zimbabwe since 1980 used different models and had diverse consequences. Since the implementation of the fast tract land reform programme in 2000, Zimbabwe experienced heavy reduction in yield and output at farm level that led to a 70% shortfall in production to meet annual food requirements (Richardson, 2005). The economic crisis in Zimbabwe has been characterized by worsening food insecurity especially in the rural areas where harvests continue to be poor. In the beef sector, Zimbabwe has failed to meet its export quota to the EU. The shortfall in production to meet annual food requirements shows a very grim situation but do not tell us about the performance of resettled farmers who now occupy much of the productive land. The broad objective of the study was to determine and compare the production efficiency of resettled farmers in Zimbabwe across land reform models. In addition, the study determined land use intensity. The study was conducted in the Mashonaland Central Province of Zimbabwe mainly because a wide variety of field crops were grown by resettled farmers. The respondents were stratified into three groups. These were: beneficiaries of land reform before 2000 (resettle scheme), fast track A1 model and fast track A2 model. The three models differ on how they were implemented and supported and this might result in different efficiencies of the models. A total of 245 copies structured questionnaire were administered on the resettled farmers from June to September 2010. Descriptive statistics was applied to the basic characteristics of the sampled households. The effect of model of land reform, gender of the household head, marital status, age of the household head, education, household size, religion, dependence ratio, whether the farmer was fulltime or part-time in farming, experience of the farmers in farming at that environment, total land size owned by the farmers and soil type on revenue per hectare and land use rate were determined using the GLM procedure of SAS (2003). Significance differences between least-square group means were compared using the PDIFF test of SAS (2003). The relationship between Revenue and land utilization was examined using the Pearson‟s correlations analysis. Dependance between response variables that had an effect on either revenue per hectare or land utilization with all the other response variables was tested using the Chi-square test for dependance. To find the effect of arable land used and herd size on revenue per hectare and land use the RSREG Procedure of SAS (2003) was used. Input oriented DEA model under the assumption of constant return to scale was used to estimate efficiency in this study. To identify factors that influence efficiency, a Tobit model censored at zero was selected. The mean land use rate varied significantly (p<0.05) with the land reform model with A2 having highest land use rate of 67%. The A1 and old resettlement households had land use rates of 53% and 46%, respectively. Sex, marital status, age of the household head, education and household size significantly affected land use (P<0.05). Revenue per hectare was not affected by any the factors that were inputted in the model. Results from the DEA approach showed that A2 farmers (large land owners) had an average technical efficiency score of 0.839, while the lowest ranking model (A1) had an average score of 0.618. Small land holders (A1 and the old resettled farmers) are on average less cost-efficient than large land owners, with a score of 0.29 for the former compared with 0.45 for the latter. From the factors that were entered in the Tobit model, age of household head, excellent production knowledge and farmer status affected technical efficiency whereas allocative efficiency was only affected by good production knowledge, farm size, arable land owned and area under cultivation. Factors which affected economic efficiency of the resettled farmers are secondary education, household size, farm size, cultivated area and arable land owned. None of the included socio-economic variables has significant effects on the allocative and economic efficiency of the resettled farmers. Thus, the allocative and economic inefficiencies of the farmers might be accounted for by other natural and environmental factors which were not captured in the model.

Migration is recognised as an escalating phenomenon of human behaviour worldwide. In the Southern African region African migrations and migrants have remained a focal point of discussion amongst politicians, citizens and migrants themselves in recent years. In South Africa, a major destination of migrants from various African Diasporas, this renewed interest in the topic has occurred in the context of xenophobic related violence aimed at foreigners within the broader economic, political and social arena. These factors extend to South Africa’s relationships with her near neighbours. Thus, Zimbabwe’s political, economic and social crisis has overflowed into South African borders, contributing large numbers of migrants to her population. Previous research has underrepresented the perspectives of migrants and Zimbabwean migrants in particular. Zimbabwean migrants seek economic opportunities to better themselves and maintain the survival of their families who remain in their country of origin. They are transnationals who engage in continuous movement between one place and the next, supporting various livelihoods. Little is understood about migrant adaptation to their complex contexts. In this research project, content analysis was conducted of data gathered during interviews and participant-observation of Zimbabwean migrant traders on the beachfront informal market in Port Elizabeth. The maintenance of the cultural values and identity of the myth of the hero as upholder of household honour was found to be significant in the adaptation of migrants to their multi-faceted lives. The findings indicate that migrant life is indeed uncertain and ever-changing. Their resilience in the face of continual change illustrated both conflict and compromise between “social cohesiveness (and) social flexibility” (Bauman, 1998: 15-16)

MSCAEC / Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness