The Land Husbandry Act (1951)

A rural village household in Zimbabwe

• Europeans saw that the Land Apportionment Act could not suppress the desire of Africans to own land
• The land and environment were also deteriorating at a faster rate in natives reserves
• So to improve the situation they passed the land Husbandry Act of 1951
• The act was to replace communal ownership of land among natives with private ownership
• Each family was allocated 8 acres of land which could not be subdivided among their children and this conflicted with existing traditional beliefs
• The power to distribute land was stripped from chiefs to distribute land and given to the District Commissioners
• Compulsory conservation methods were introduced to regulate farming practices
• These were the construction of contour ridges, destocking and storm drains
• The number of cattle owned by African families was limited to five
• Those who failed to get in the reserves had to work for Europeans in mines and factories
• Africans were forced to get involved in public projects such as construction of dams, bridges and roads
• Failure to comply with the provisions of the Act was subject to punishment either by fine payment of imprisonment
• The act was rejected by natives and paved way for the starting of the Second Chimurenga
• This project failed, was abandoned in 1961 and replaced by the Land Tenure Act.

To access more topics go to the History Notes page.