Suchergebnisse

The central dilemma facing Zimbabwe's new government is the need to find a balance between improving the farm sector & the lot of peasants & wage earners, while maintaining confidence in the commercial, industrial, & agricultural sectors. Focus is on new minimum wage legislation introduced in July 1980. The tobacco & maize industries, which represent Zimbabwe's major crops, are analyzed in detail. The disparity between wage labor & peasant farmers has increased, but a fall in employment & an increase in productivity, capital investment, & management efficiency are predicted, along the patterns exhibited by other developing nations. Annual income of some families of farm laborers is forecast to fall because of decreased demand for the seasonal labor of women & children. Caution in minimum wage legislation is suggested, & the preferability of pricing policy underscored. 1 Table. C. Ornatowski.

Metadata only record ; In Africa there is an urgent need to increase crop productivity in order to improve environmental and food security in this area. In Malawi, the government has subsidized N-fertilizer and improved maize seed, bringing it to 10% of its original cost. This paper evaluates the results of a countrywide trial which tested the effects of legume diversification on maize yields in this region. The results suggest that long-lived legume crops are important contributors to conservation farming, because growing an 11 to 36 month plant provides extended living cover and leaf cover, which results in lower soil disturbance. This study shows that increased fertilizer efficiency, crop diversification, and increased stability of crop yield can have important implications for food security in Africa.