110
Provincial governments are condoning land concessions for some of the best land in the
country. These allocations are creating land shortages in some areas and intensifying
shortages that already exist in other areas; thus they are leading to conflicts. In fact, the
highest number of disputes in any part of the country, outside of Maputo, appears to be in
the Beira corridor (see map 6). Authorities continue to justify their grants by claiming that
larger commercial interests are better equipped and are more efficient. On the positive side,
however, many concessions in Manica Province have been given to local commercial
Mozambican (former assimilado) fanners,251 some of whom may indeed be better
positioned to exploit resources than their foreign counterparts who have been acquiring or
attempting to acquire land. On the negative side, the process reinforces smallholders' status
by inhibiting the opportunity to accumulate capital and expand production. Officials in Manica
Province appear to be receptive to the needs of smallholders, particularly through their
implementation of the PDRM and identification of reserve areas. Nonetheless, the process of
demarcating reserves and formalizing the arrangement—let alone enforcing tenure
security—has not moved forward. We expressed concern in 1992 with the plan to create
reserves; we still maintain those reservations. But we would like to see the province legally
recognize smallholder land rights and protect them. At least the province should not grant
land concessions where smallholders are farming and should incorporate smallholders into
negotiations between commercial interests and the state.
There is growing tension among different categories of smallholders—displaced, refugees,
and families claiming historical rights—as they compete for resources. The tension is
heightened by the distribution of assistance and what appears as favoritism toward refugees,
who already seem to be better fed and better equipped. This tension will increase as
population density increases in some areas and may be a destabilizing influence.
In addition, military factors still cause concern. Smallholders and commercial farmers
continue to worry about unexploded land mines. We posit that the presence of land mines
affects people's decisions to move to less congested rural areas. At the same time, local
smallholders are worried about demobilization. They repeatedly mentioned that many people
in the bush still had weapons, and that they did not feel safe away from the corridor until
these weapons were confiscated. Both mines and demobilization constrain reintegration in
both provinces.
The conviction that smallholders are inefficient, subsistence producers is cause for great
concern. It not only exhibits a serious misunderstanding of smallholder production, but also
commits the government to a direction that will hinder its own development and political
objectives in the postwar period.
251. See also Alexander (1994).