THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICAN AGRICULTURE IN SOUTHERN RHODESIA WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE INTERWAR YEARS Ei ra Punt Submitted in fulfi lment of the requirements for the c!egree of Master of Arts in the Department of Hi story at tile Uni versi ty of Natal. Durban, 1979. i page APPENDIX 3 Map Showing the Two Provinces of Southem ·Rhodesi a 173 APPENDIX 4 Map Showing the Reserves Prior to 1920 . 174 APPENDIX 5 Map Showing Land Apporti onment 1930 175 APPENDIX 6 Map Showing Demonstration Work on Nati ve Re·serves 176 APPENDIX 7 Comparative Development of Demonstration Work by Seasons 177 APPENDIX 8 Comparati ve Deve 10pment of Community Development Work by Seasons 179 APPENDIX 9 Comparative Production from Irrigation Projects 181 APPENDIX 10 Estimated Gross Value of European Agricultural Output, 1925-1957 183 APPENDIX 11 Summary of Soil Conservation Work in Native Areas 185 APPENDIX 12 12. 1 African Cattle Numbers in Nati ve Rese rves 188 12.2 Numbers of Cattle Sold to Europeans 189 APPENDIX 13 Comparative Statement of Statistics: Stock and Agriculture 190 BIBLIOGRAPHY 192 ; ; CONTENTS page CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER TWO PROSPECTORS OR FARMERS: THE CONSOLIDATION OF WHITE SUPREMACY, 1890 - 1923 2.1 The Age of African Agricultural Prosperity, 1890-1908 10 2.2 The Road to Power: The Foundation of Future Policy, 1908-1923 26 CHAPTER THREE THE PARADOX IN WHITE POLICY: DEVELOPMENT OR DISCRIMINATION, 1923 - 1930 3.1 Land Apportionment: The Birth of Future Pol icy 42 3.2 The Paradox Resolved: African Agricultural Development Schemes, 1925-1930 57 CHAPTER FOUR THE DEPRESSION YEARS AND AFTER, 1930 - 1945 4. 1 Mai ze Control: Government Intervention in Agriculture, 1930-1935 90 4.2 The Government Changes Roads: African Development ·Policy, 1935-1945 107 CHAPTER FIVE SOUTHERN RHODESIA FORGES AHEAD: NEW AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT, 1939 - 1950 5.1 The African Cattle Industry: A Bone of Contenti on 123 5.2 The Move Towards Authoritarian Control of African Agriculture 143 CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION 161 APPENDIX 1 Map Snowi.ng the Three Pri nci pa 1 Regions 171 APPENDIX 2 Map Showing Native Reserves 1894 172 iii PREFACE I wi sh to acknowledge the debt .o f grati tude owed to all those who, in various ways, assisted in the preparation of this thesis. In particular, I would like to thank the staffs of the following institutions: the Library of the University of Natal Durban; the National Free Library of Rhodesia; the University Librari.es of Rhodesia, Rhodes, Cape Town, Pretoria, Witwatersrand and Potchefs troom , and the National Archives of Rhodesi a. The financial support of the Human Sciences Research Council towards the cost of this research is gratefully acknowledged. Opinions expressed or conclusions revealed are those of the author and are not to be regarded as reflective of the opinions and conclusions of the Human Sciences Research Council. I am also indebted to the Department of History, Durban, for the award of a Graduate Assistantship. I wish to thank my supervisor, Dr. A.B. Lumby, for his helpful criticism and continued interest and support. A debt of gratitude is also owed to my typist, Mrs. Sue Burrows, who gave so much of her time during the last hectic weeks, and to Mrs. 1 Connie Munro who assisted her . . f'1f~IV~):>t~Q.J" 1I-r.6C<-t/ ~ p'f.oJ <ilwlw viw - Finally, special thanks are due to my parents and friends for their conti nued encouragement and support. Throughout this work Zimbabwe Rhodesia will be referred to as Southern Rhodesia in an attempt to place this work in its true historical perspecti ve. The Bri ti sh South Afri ca Company wi 11 be referred to as the BSA Company, and finally, Native COlTlllissioners will be referred to as NCs and the Chief Native Commissioner as the CNC. In conformity with the regulations of the University of Natal, I hereby state that what follows is my own original work, unless specifically indicated to the contrary in the text. Furthermore, this thesis has not been submitted for a degree in any other university. Du rb an, Decembe r 1979 .. · "We are often- given to condemn the native method of agri cul ture ..... if trying to pt'oduce crops with the least element of risk or failure can be called indolence the:1 we are al,l equally guilty". eNC Report, 1925 INTRXLCTION 1. 1.1 Introduction The purpose of this study is to examine African agricultural develop ment in Southern Rhodesia duri.ng the years 1890 to 1950. Special attention has been paid to the inter-war years because it was during those years that there evolved a definite policy for the administration of the African sector. It mus t be stressed at the outset that Afri can agri cu1 tura 1 development cannot be studied in isolation from those influences exerted upon it by other sectors of the econol1\Y. Changing trends in the white agri cultural sector played a major role in the formation of Native policy, and development in the former will be examined in so far as they affected government policy towards African agriculture and changes therein. Land policy also played a role in determining changes in African agriculture. Furthermore, government legislation and the Native Affairs Department assumed vital roles in determining the path along which African development was'.to: be directed. All these contributing factors will be examined in relation to their influence on Afri can agri cui ture. 1 ) More specifically, the early pages of this work will outline the structure of the African agrarian econol1\Y in the years immediately preceding the arrival of the white pioneers in 1890. This will serve as a foundation upon which subsequent changes to this system, wrought by both indigenous and exogenous factors, may be compared and 2 contrasted. ) For example it is conmonly believed that the Africans were poor agriculturalists, and that deterioration of the reserves during the years under review came as a result of an inherent inability to adjust their agricultural techniques as the need arose. 3) It is hoped that the inadequacy of thi s erroneous be 1i ef wi 11 be revealed in the following pages. Changes invoked in the economic base of the African agricultural sector, 1) Details furnished in the main text. 2) vide infra, Ch.2.1. 3) vide infra, pp.12/13 2. arising from early contact the nascent social, economic and ~ith political system of whites, will then be examined. In the early years of the British South Africa rule, the settlers were ,~ompany's uninterested in the ,agricultural potential of Southern Rhodesia. Instead they desired the lucrative and rapid returns which mineral prospecting promised. Consequently, they content to allow ~ere Africans to supply their foodstuff requirements. African response to these demands will be examined in order to gauge their willingness 4 to become involved in the nascent exchange economY. ) In the second decade of the twentieth century, a change in Native policy became evident. The origins of this change will be sought as will the means employed in inaugurating this change. During those years, many whites no longer desired that Africans provide their foodstuff requirements. This was one of the major factors which led to the establishment of the Native Reserves Commission in 1914, the 5 purposes and the results of which will be discussed in some detail. ) It will be shown that little effort was made during this period to develop African areas: when pressure on the land was evident, and soil fertility declined, cultivation and settlement was merely extended into unused areas. Native policy, then, focused on augmenting rather than developing African areas. Attention will also be given to the apparent paradox which emerged in African policy during the 1920s. On the one hand, it appeared that a definite move towards racial segregation was being made in order to curtail future possibility of African competition with white farmers, and this culminated in the passage of the Land Apportionment Act in 6 1931. ) On the other hand, however, African administration changed from a policy of merely controlling and pacifying the indigenous population, and came to include the provision of extension services 7 in order to facilitate agricultural development in African areas. ) 4) vide infra, Ch.2.1. 5) vide infra, Ch.2.2. 6) vide infra, Ch.3.1. 7) vide infra, Ch. 3.2. 3. These extension services operated through the medium of African demonstrators whose function it was to encou~age the adoption by Africans of improved methods of cultivation and preservation of the soil. This apparant paradox, and the functions and achievement of demonstrators, will be examined in Chapter Three. The early 1930s witnessed a phase of acute depression in both white and African farming, and it was during that period that Native policy was again revised. For the first time, direct discrimination in the fields of agricultural marketing and production became evident. Events. in the white farming sector will be shown to have been largely res ponsible for this change in attitude; and the reasons for these changes, and the effects of such changes on the African agricultural 8 sector, will be ana1ysed. ) These trends of curtailing African agricultural production were maintained until the second half of the 1930s, whereupon further changes in policy began to manifest themselves. The 1940s, in fact, represent a deviation from all previous policy: during the decade it became desirable that African production be 9 increased in order to cater for the growi ng needs of the market. ) During the 1940s, therefore, all efforts were devoted to the achieve ment of this aim by increasing the productivity of the African reserves. Extension programmes were modified and extended in these years, and the white farming sector also played a part in encouraging and facilitating these developments. Chapter Four discusses these changes, and examines the devices used in attempts to bring about these changes. Chapter Five is devoted to an analysis of the same period as that reviewed in Chapter Four. In Chapter Five, however, different aspects of African policy will be examined: the African cattle industry, cash cropping, the development of Native Purchase Areas and the establish ment of rural credit facilities. The reason behind allotting an entire chapter to the above-mentioned development is that these movements represented deviations from all former extension facilities at the 8) vide infra, Ch.4.1. 9) vide infra, Ch. 4.2. 4. disposal of Africans. It was thus decided to outline the history of the toward the adoption of these differing policies. p~ogression In this way, it is hoped to re-emphasise the break with the past which resulted from the reformulation of policy in the 1940s. Throughout this work, therefore, the development of African agriculture will be examined in the light of developments in other sectors of the Southern Rhodesian economy; which, in many ways, will be shown to have determined African responses to the extension services proffered. Conclusions will then be drawn as to the nature and course of African agricultural development during the period under review. Up to the present time, very little has been written on the role and work of African agricultural demonstrators in Southe'rn Rhodesia'. Indeed, 1i tt1e has been wri tten on Afri can agri cu1 tura 1 development in general; although much has been written on associated topics, and this has provided a useful source of information. There are several general texts on the history of Southern Rhodesia, but only a few of 10 the more important works will be discussed here. } Two general works which ought to be mentioned are P.E.N. Tindall's A History of Central 11 12 Africa } and L.H. Gann's A History of Southern Rhodesia. } While both works touch upon some of the issues discussed in this theSis, their very general nature has precluded any detailed treatment of African agricultural development. Indeed, this is the inevitable difficulty with all such general works: while they often provide an excellent overview of Southern Rhodesia's development, they often lack sufficient analytical detail. At a more specialised level, R.H. Palmer's Land and Racial Domination in Rhodesia examines the way in which white settlers ,used land policy, and consequent control over the land, in order to gain a position of 13 dominance over the African popu1ation. } Palmer has examined both 10} See Bibliography, Secondary Sources, Books, for a list of the re levant 'works. 11} P.E.N. Tinda11~ A History of Central Africa,(London, 1967}. 12} L.H. Gann, A H~story of Southern Rhodesia, (Humanities Press, New York, 1969). 13} R.H. Palmer, Land and Raaial Domination in Rhodesia, (Heinnemann, London, 1973).