104
funded by Italian Cooperation and implemented by various NGOs in the area. Two of these
villages, Belas I and Belas II, were near Vanduzi State Farm and are discussed in more detail
in the next section; the limitations of the policy of devising such reserve villages have been
discussed elsewhere.'
In 1992, provincial government officials thought that after the war people would return
to their homelands immediately; they believed that then there would be less population
concentration in the district. In 1992, officials at Vanduzi Administrative Post told us that the
total population of the post had increased from 18,297 in 1990-1991 to 31,669 in 1992. Of
this latter figure, 4,207 were registered as displaced persons. 228 When we returned in 1993,
Vanduzi officials said that the population of the post was 38,409 and that 80 percent of the
total was displaced families. Despite the anomalies, the data from 1991 and 1993 reveal an
increase in population of 13,372, 58 percent higher than the 1990-1991 figure. The difference
is most likely due to an influx of displaced families. In the year after the war, the population
of the post increased by another 6,740 individuals, a 21 percent increase over the 1992 post-
peace-accord figure. Thus, rather than decreasing, population has multiplied as refugees have
returned and displaced families have apparently remained in the area.
In 1992 we were unable to enter RENAMO-held territories in Manica Province. As in
Sofala Province, we thought that areas north and south of the corridor were relatively
underpopulated in comparison to the closer localities. This was later confirmed by Alexander
(1994). We did not anticipate that land shortages and conflicts would occur in these areas at
that time. This was later supported by our research in 1993, though certain land tenure
weaknesses could lead to conflict in the near future if RENAMO continues to pursue an
independent policy of land administration, including granting of land concessions.'
3. LAND TENURE IN MANICA DISTRICT AFTER THE PEACE ACCORD
Manica Province was revisited in July 1993. Research focused on the area around
Vanduzi State Farm as well as on nearby communal villages and communities.
Since most of the state farm land (and some contiguous properties) had been appropriated
in 1992, no new concessions were reported for Vanduzi. 230 Nonlocal private commercial
interests who had acquired concessions continued their exploitation. According to local rural
extension agents, these private interests had expanded operations in some cases, thus forcing
some smallholders, who had initially retained access to land, off their farms. 231 The fate of
these smallholders is not known.
226. Interview with Enzo Tromboni, representative of Italian Cooperation, Manica, August 1992. See also
Alexander (1994).
227. See Myers, West, and Eliseu (1993).
228. Ibid.
229. See Alexander (1994).
230. This does not suggest, of course, that concessions were not granted for other (nonstate farm) land in
the province during the intervening year.
231. Interviews, agricultural extension agents, Manica District, August 1993.