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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:USAID, the State, and Food Insecurity in Rural Zimbabwe: The Case of Gokwe
Author:Breslin, Edward D.ISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:32
Issue:1
Period:March
Pages:81-110
Language:English
Geographic terms:Zimbabwe
United States
Subjects:development cooperation
food aid
Economics and Trade
international relations
Politics and Government
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/161081
Abstract:This article examines the nature and consequences of intervention in the agricultural sector of Zimbabwe by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). An overview of the assistance programme initiated shortly after independence is followed by an assessment of the implications of the construction of marketing depots throughout the country which constitutes the largest segment of USAID's agricultural programme. The author argues that the 'benefits' accruing to the targeted smallholders, while registering impressive figures at the national level, have actually exacerbated the insecure condition of rural consumers in Zimbabwe's food deficit regions. He concentrates on the impact that a USAID-funded grain depot has had on the residents of Gokwe, a vulnerable 'Communal Area' in the Midlands Province. Research was conducted in Gokwe from February 1992 to June 1993. The author suggests that while smallholders throughout Zimbabwe wanted better access to markets following independence, the agreed programme of assistance expanded the scope of the existing facilities that had been primarily created to serve the interests of the white farming community. Notes, ref.
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