In response to an externally perceived crisis in wood supplies to rural households, the World Bank Rural Afforestation Project was begun in Zimbabwe in 1983. Evaluating the objectives of the project, this paper argued that it would be essential to incorporate tree planting into the broader livelihood systems of small-scale farmers and recommended that support should come from agricultural extension agencies rather than any dedicated forestry agency. By the same token, a national forestry strategy should be assessed in the context of overall rural development. The authors' preliminary comments on the lack of success of the first phase of the project, which established eucalyptus woodlots, anticipated the proliferation of criticism of narrow-focus eucalyptus planting projects.