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is located to the southwest of Chipata by about 70 kilometers. Villages were randomly selected in
Chipata, Chadiza, and Katete districts, and for the most part households were also randomly selected.'
The addition of Southern province provided opportunities for studying multipurpose tree planting. In
Mazabuka district, conversion of woodlands led to the initiation of several tree planting projects by
the Forestry Department and Family Farms project. The researchers purposefully selected villages and
settlements in the district with the intention of capturing a significant percentage of tree planters among
the sample of households. The sites within Mazabuka district were the Mazabuka South area (near
Magoye) and the Mapangazya area some 90 kilometers to the north of Mazabuka town. Each is about
a three-hour drive from Lusaka on the Lusaka-Livingstone road.
Both the number of household members and the size of farms is larger in Southern province.
The larger farm size is explained mainly by the inclusion of larger farms on State Land (28 percent
of the sample),` the greater use of oxen which permit extensification, and more accessible commercial
markets for output which increase demand for labor.' The greater production also increases household
demand for labor which results in more members' and fewer male household heads who seek off-farm
employment. There is a larger percentage of female-headed households in Eastern province, including
single, divorced, widowed, and polygamous families.
III. Land tenure
A. Land administration
Under the Land (Conversion of Titles) Act of 1975, all land in Zambia was henceforth to be
vested in the state. However, land in the Reserves and Trusts was to remain under the administration
of traditional authorities (see chapter 1). Land matters in most rural areas continue to fall under the
jurisdiction of chiefs and village headmen. In many areas of Zambia, chiefs have permitted creation
of new villages to accommodate increasing population growth and in-migration. Headmen, who are
generally selected by the community in accordance with customary law, are responsible for local
governance. Chiefs usually retain customary control over allocation of nonvillage land and settlement
of newcomers to the area. Headmen are likely to administer matters over land (e.g., expansion of
farms, dispute settlement) in their villages.
Besides the power of allocating land, chiefs or headmen also have the authority to dispossess
farmers from their land. However, key informants visited during informal interviews insisted that this
is a possibility only in cases of unacceptable behavior on the part of a household member. Once a
specific piece of land is allocated, the family expects to control land-use decisions and to pass this
right to heirs. There is some variation over the degree to which households can transfer land outside
the family and formally register their land. In some areas, individual rights to sell and rent have
developed (mainly in peri-urban areas) whereas in others they are strictly forbidden. Likewise, farmers
in Reserves face varying degrees of acquiescence on the part of chiefs to requests for individual
registration of land.
3 A few households were pre-selected for their planting of multipurpose trees.
It is unclear from the analysis whether these larger farms self-selected registration or whether allocations by the GOZ
were larger than the average farm size under customary tenure.
6 Smaller farm sizes in Eastern province are not the result of lack of land in the area.
6 Polygamy is more prevalent among the sample in Southern province than in Eastern province.