Crop production in maize-based smallholder farming systems of Southern Africa is hampered by lack of options for efficiently managing limited and different quality organic nutrient resources. This study examined impacts of farmers’ short- and long-term organic resource allocation patterns on sizes and quality of soil organic matter (SOM) fractions. Farmers’ most- (rich) and least- (poor) productive fields were studied for two seasons under low (450–650 mm yr−1) to high (>750 mm yr−1) rainfall areas in Zimbabwe, on Lixisols with ∼6% clay and 88% sand. Rich fields received 0.5–14 Mg C ha−1 compared with 25 mg N kg−1) materials increased labile C (KMnO4 oxidizable) in top 60 cm of soil profile, with 1.6 Mg C ha−1 of Crotalaria juncea yielding labile C amounts similar to 6 Mg C ha−1 of manure. Labile C was significantly related to mineralizable N in POM fractions, and apparently to maize yields (P < 0.01). Farmers’ preferential allocation of nutrient resources to already productive fields helps to maintain critical levels of labile SOM necessary to sustain high maize yields.