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Energy For Sustainable Agricultural Development In Zimbabwe
Author(s) -
WEINER DANIEL,
MUNSLOW BARRY,
MOYO SAM
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
growth and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.657
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1468-2257
pISSN - 0017-4815
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2257.1992.tb00938.x
Subject(s) - restructuring , agriculture , agrarian society , sustainability , natural resource economics , business , energy independence , agricultural economics , independence (probability theory) , renewable energy , economics , geography , mathematics , electrical engineering , ecology , statistics , archaeology , finance , engineering , biology
Zimbabwe's 1992 food crisis revealed both spatial and social contradictions associated with post‐independence agricultural growth. Zimbabwe's pattern of agricultural restructuring demonstrates the need for agrarian reform programs that are more socially and environmentally sustainable. This paper examines one aspect of agricultural sustainability—the use of energy. Post‐independence patterns of agricultural energy consumption are analyzed and traced historically, and the social relations of agricultural energy utilization are investigated. The energetic efficiencies of the primary farming systems are calculated as are the macro‐flows of energy to agriculture generally. The data and historical analysis point to the need for a restructuring of agriculture that involves greater reliance on local renewable energy in all farming systems, and the continued resettlement of black smallholders onto former white‐settler estates.