African Labour on the White-owned farms along the line of rail in Northern Rhodesia 1900 to 1964 (original) (raw)

White Farms , African Labor: The State and Agrarian Change in Southern Africa, 1910Africa, -1950, covering the southern African region. The focus of this book was on the role of the State in supporting the promotion of agriculture by white farmers. Varieties of other issues were also discussed including the role of African labour in the success or failure of the white farming enterprise. European settler farmers demanded the establishment of colonial institutions which protected their property rights and encouraged investments, helped to mobilise cheap labour and formulate ordinances to retain it on the farms. Taking a similar vein, this paper focuses on the African labour on the farms along the line of rail in Northern Rhodesia, from Kalomo to Broken Hill. It looks at the kinds of labour employed, the stratification among them, the problems of communication between the workers and the farmers and their families, and how these were tackled. The few studies that have appeared on African labour have not discussed these issues in detail to highlight the plight of the workers. Farmers spaced one from the other, Each had its own organisation and a set of rules that were followed .Some farm owners were kind and able to attract labour freely. Others were not, , page 3.