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D. ANGONIA DISTRICT, T1 PROVINCE
1. RESEARCH STIES AND OBJECTIVES
The final research site discussed in this study is Angonia District, Tete Province.
Approximately 200 individuals were interviewed in three rounds of research. More than 150
smallholders participated, including former refugees and displaced farmers, in three different
areas of the district. Provincial, district, and locality officials as well as rural agricultural
extension agents were also questioned. In addition, we spoke to small and medium-sized
commercial farmers and representatives from NGOs that operated in the area. Research sites
included: (1) villages around the perimeter of Ulongue city and farms along the road between
Ulongue and Dedza; (2) territory around the administrative post of Domue, particularly the
farms adjoining Block I of CAIA (Complexo Agro-Industrial de Angonia), a former state
farm; and (3) t2e52rritory around M'Languene, specifically, lands near Block III of CAIA (see
maps 18-20). The first round of research was conducted in March 1993, five months
after the beginning of the peace accord; a second25r3ound was undertaken in January 1994; and
a third round was completed in February 1994.
In this study we seek to understand land tenure, production, and power relations in a
district in northern Mozambique. We are particularly interested in the area because of its
proximity to the Malawian border, its high concentration of returning refugees, and its
relative poverty with regard to remaining infrastructure and services.
In all three locations we sought to understand if people were returning to their family
lands—that is, how were returning refugees and displaced farmers getting access to land. We
wanted to determine who was distributing land. We also tried to learn more about the land
concessions being granted to smallholders and larger commercial interests by government
officials and how recipients were investing in or exploiting the concessions. As in our other
research sites, we attempted to learn as much as possible about the frequency and nature of
land conflicts as well as the nature of and mechanisms for their resolution.
At the same time, we wanted to know if all categories of farmers at all locations felt they
had secure rights and were investing in their land. We also focused on the commercial
(private sector) farmers operating in the area to determine how they were interacting with
smallholder farmers and local, small private interests. In Tete, more than anywhere else
visited, larger commercial farmers complained about tenure insecurity, several alleging that
temporary rights had been revoked. This case illustrates a different set of problems affecting
investment and agriculture and a unique set of issues affecting local political relations.
252. CAIA was divided into four separate, noncontiguous production blocks, located in Angonia and
Tsangano districts.
253. Angonia was not included in the 1992 study of state farm divestiture. We were unable to make the
same types of comparison that we had made in other research sites. Nonetheless, we could draw on a
comparatively rich literature, noted in the following discussion, that focuses on Angonia and other parts of Tete
Province.