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► access to agricultural extension services;
► soil survey and demarcation of farm plots; and
► access to roads to each farm, communal water supplies, and cattle-dipping facilities.
Under the new program, the councils were assigned as implementing agents of the settlement
program. The specific roles assigned to the councils included:
► demarcation of the settlement plots;
► provision of wells or boreholes and dipping facilities;
► provision of access roads and all necessary infrastructure; and
► coordination of the institutions involved in settlement including the Ministries of Agriculture,
Water, Lands and Natural Resources, General Education, Youth and Sports and Works and
Supply.
V. Structure and growth of settlement schemes
Information on settlement schemes is so fragmented and out of date that it is difficult to
discern even such basic facts as: which schemes actually settled people, the number of such schemes,
the number of settlers, which schemes have been abandoned, when and why, which schemes were
reorganized and had the name changed, and which agency is currently responsible for running the
schemes. As best as can be interpreted from the available material, the Zambian government continued
to support the settlement schemes that had been started by the colonial government and commenced
soon after independence to organize their own. The first schemes were organized along cooperative
farming lines. The January 1965-June 1966 Transitional Development Plan and the First National
Development Plan 1966-1970 speak of these.
From the late 1960s to mid-1980, a number of other alternative schemes were attempted
including: peasant farmers schemes, master farmer schemes, family farm schemes, area development
projects, the intensive development zones program (later changed to the Integrated Rural Development
Program), consumer cooperatives, multipurpose cooperatives, tenancy schemes, settlement schemes,
resettlement schemes, and crop season credit and minimum package schemes.
The dearth of information about these programs inhibits much elaboration. It might be useful
at some future date to compile these if records can be found to do so. The summary below is based
on information collected during a rather extensive data search.
(a) Rural Reconstruction Centers.' s In 1975, the government commenced the establishment of
these centers as settlement schemes with the objective of fitting school-leavers and urban
unemployed youth for productive life in the rural sector. Two years later, the government
indicated that the program was open to all—boys and girls, men and women—who were not
gainfully employed or who were underemployed.
i The precursors to the Rural Reconstruction Centers in Zambia are in the Zambia Youth Service and the Zambia
National Services. All three programs emphasized training of youth in trades, agriculture, and military skills.
According to officials in the Department of Resettlement, government at the time requested land from the councils
which in turn sought land from the chiefs. A number of chiefs are now contesting these claims and demanding that the land
be returned on grounds that the former chiefs performed their duties improperly in giving the land away.