Peasant farmer class, social dynamics and their livelihoods. Case study of Zimbawean peasantry after the fast track land reform programme in Zimbabwe. A case study of Marondera district in Mashonaland East Province

Most economies in Africa depend on the trade of primary resources. This makes land to become one of the most important assets in the continent. In countries where the country has once been under colonial rule like Zimbabwe, land reform is usually imminent in a bid to redress land distribution imbalances created by colonial regime. Zimbabwe undertook land reform in phases since its independence in 1980 with the later phase being termed the Fast Track Land Reform phase of 2000. This study is aimed at studying peasant farmer class, social dynamics and their livelihoods in the context of Zimbabwe. Case study approaches has been used together with the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Approaches and the Marxists Class Based theories in the collection and analysis of data. The study focused on the middle class peasants and their influence on other peasants, explaining why there are differences amongst peasant farmer classes. It has been ascertained from the research findings that capital accumulation that builds into assets forms the basis of classification of peasants into different categories. Human capital, social capital, entrepreneurship ability to diversify are all factors that explain differences and why are some peasants better off than others. The research findings have also indicated that it’s important to different classes of peasants with different welfare and wealth status for a capitalist mode of production to exist. The research concludes that the peasant model that promotes fast scaling up in peasant accumulation is that which mixes farm and non-farm income hence the government needs to promote entrepreneurship amongst peasants.