This article investigates spillover effects from the interlinked transactions arising from smallholder tobacco farmers’ participation in contract farming arrangements in the Mazowe district of Mashonaland Central. The case study is based on data from a household survey conducted in the district and includes both tobacco farmers and households that do not produce tobacco. Interviews, participant observation and a review of statistical data and grey literature helped trace dynamics of production, intra-household relations and changing communal relations. The study explores how social relations and power imbalances shape the distribution of benefits, costs and losses resulting from the adoption of contract farming in the production of tobacco. The paper argues that the adoption of contract farming leads to a range of interlinked transactional outcomes, such as the diversification of agricultural production and new investments into non-farm activities by the poorer members of the community. In turn, these interlinked transactions generate jobs and increase food consumption and effective demand for services at the community level. However, it is also the case that the gains from these interlinked transactions are highly skewed against the poorer people in the district and that wealthier and better-connected farmers gain more from adopting tobacco than their less wealthy and less well-connected peers. This could lead to increased inequality in the community. The paper shows how agricultural dynamism generates spillover and multiplier effects that benefit communities in an unequal and poorly understood manner.

本文研究了马绍纳兰中部 Mazowe 地区小农烟草农参与合同农业安排所产生的相互关联交易的溢出效应。该案例研究基于在该地区进行的家庭调查数据，包括烟农和不生产烟草的家庭。访谈、参与观察以及对统计数据和灰色文献的回顾有助于追踪生产动态、家庭内部关系和不断变化的社区关系。该研究探讨了社会关系和权力不平衡如何影响烟草生产中采用合同农业所导致的收益、成本和损失的分配。该论文认为，采用合同农业会导致一系列相互关联的交易结果，例如农业生产的多样化以及社区中较贫穷成员对非农业活动的新投资。反过来，这些相互关联的交易创造了就业机会，增加了社区层面的食品消费和对服务的有效需求。然而，这些相互关联的交易的收益也高度偏向于该地区较贫穷的人，较富裕和人脉较广的农民从采用烟草中获得的收益比不那么富有和人脉较弱的同龄人要多。这可能导致社区中的不平等加剧。