Godfrey Hove

This proposed study examines the socio-economic and political factors that shaped the trajectory of the dairy industry in Zimbabwe from the mid 1960s until 2017. Building on my PhD study, this study offers a longitudinal and in-depth examination of the competing interests of different players in the dairy industry within an evolving socio-economic and political context through the tensions arising out of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, the war of independence during the 1970s, the euphoria that came with independence in the 1980s, the reform process of the 1990s and the post-2000 politico-economic degeneration. Drawing on the extensive coverage of archival sources and other primary evidence, this study offers a nuanced account of the rise and fall of dairy farming in Zimbabwe since the 1960s. Apart from significantly contributing to Zimbabwe’s agrarian history, this study joins broader regional and international historiographical debates and discourses on agricultural development.