At the UN General Assembly last week, a group of world-renown economists together with the governments of South Africa, Brazil, Norway and Spain demanded that inequality be taken seriously with the…

While the global commentariat debate whether AI will end humanity, the companies are selling themselves as saviours of the world through their foundations. OpenAI Foundation, for example, recently …

The new Zimbabwe Growth and Jobs Report from the World Bank argues for a major structural transformation of the economy, taking advantage of the recent period of relative macroeconomic stability an…

What have we learned from our study, 25 years after land reform in Zimbabwe? Drawing on the research that we have been doing since the early 2000s, we wanted to highlight some of the key findings. …

Usually around the middle of the year, Zimbabweland offers a recap of the year so far. I am a bit late this year, but I thought it might be useful for those who want to catch up. Below is the list …

. Today, COP17 of the UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification) kicks off in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Top of the agenda is how to manage rangelands that support millions of pastoralists worldwi…

Allan Savory’s memoir has recently been published – UnSavory: African Stories of Wildlife, War, and the Birth of Holistic Management. It’s a fascinating read. Full of Rhodesian derring-do but some …

The recent xenophobic violence in South Africa has caused a mass exodus of migrants from the country, including to Zimbabwe. The protests organised by March and March and Operation Dudula, two outf…

Five of the participants of the exchange visit tour, which was covered in the film in the last blog, offered their reflections on land reform after 25 years, highlighting in particular the differen…

The theme for the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists this month is ‘Sustainable Livestock Consumption and Value Chains’. This links to the work that the PASTRES programme carried …

In May 2025, we invited participants from our research to visit each others’ sites. Four people – two men and two women – from each our four sites – Mvurwi, Matobo, Gutu and…

A decade ago, a group of us published a Special Issue of the journal World Development discussing the results of collaborative research undertaken through the ESRC-funded ‘China and Brazil in…

The gaze from space is very seductive. Satellite image analysis seems to dominate land use systems science these days and certainly the technologies available have far outstripped the careful analy…

Participatory discussions on land use and environmental change were undertaken in our Masvingo sites in early May 2026. These were conducted in three A1 farms, namely Wondedzo Wares, Wondedzo Exten…

Continuing our investigation of environmental change, a further participatory discussion on land use and environmental change was undertaken with a group of 15 farmers from Clare and Lonely farms i…

As with Hariana A1 land reform area, discussed in the last blog, we conducted participatory workshops on environmental changes in Ruia farms, also in Mvurwi area. In defining the ‘environment’, par…

As discussed in the previous blog, a participatory discussion was conducted in Hariana in March 2026. The group consisted of  15 participants, consisting of both men and women of different ages. Th…

Our study of Zimbabwe’s land reform after 25 years has been looking at land use and environmental change and the intersection with economic, social and political processes. Over the last year we ha…

Gender roles are not only changing within the household but within the wider community and in leadership positions in the ruling party, ZANU-PF. Many women in our sample across sites hold leadershi…

How do people use their free time beyond the requirements of production and social reproduction on the farm? How does this contribute to well-being, social cohesion and the ability to live happily …

Care for children, the sick, infirm and dying is at the core of social reproductive labour, very often carried out by women. In our interviews in A1 land reform areas, women frequently emphasised t…

Through discussions with women across our land reform sites, the changing cultures of marriage, divorce, separation and the role of independent, single women were a subject of much commentary. With…

Gender roles are changing. Women have greater independence and can manage their own land and finances. This has implications for how farms are run, who can accumulate and the relationship between p…

Land reform enabled some women to claim land. Gaining access to land, our informants explained, offered independence and autonomy. In our discussions across the sites, the connection between land a…

While much analysis of land reform has focused narrowly on production (crops, livestock, and markets), this perspective risks overlooking the broader range of activities and relationships that sust…

During my long-term fieldwork in Matobo district there was constant discussion of supernatural beliefs concerning livestock. I have always been dismissive of these beliefs, thinking that they were …

The International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD +20) starts this week in Cartagena in Colombia, hosted by the Colombian government and technically supported by the UN …

How do livestock producers respond to climate change in land reform areas in southern Africa? A recent report from the Institute of Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of t…

Two open access articles have just come out that take the theme of ‘uncertainty’ and explore how it encourages some fundamental rethinking. First, ‘development’ as conventio…

You only have to look at the news each day to realise that we are living in an age of uncertainty. Whether it’s imposing tariffs, interfering in sovereign countries or threatening to annex ar…

Pastoralists are often misunderstood. There is a lot to learn from them and their low impact livestock production argues Prof Ian Scoones in this UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralist…

Exclusive: 25 years after the programme – widely seen as being characterised by violence and economic chaos – was introduced, new research finds that it has helped smallholder farmers become more resilient to the climate crisis

As discussed in the previous blog, we carried out repeat ‘success rankings’ in three of our communal area sites, which are all nearby our A1 smallholder land reform sites, where we have undertaken …

As part of our analysis of the story of land reform over 25 years, we have also been looking at communal areas that are nearby our A1 sites. These are where many people who invaded the farms and we…

This year is the 60th anniversary of the Institute of Development Studies based at the University of Sussex. IDS has been an independent institute linked to the university since June 1966, so the b…

The loss of the central role of people in today’s complex global systems is the greatest danger of all. In Kenya and Amdo Tibet, it can be rediscovered.

The loss of the central role of people in today’s complex global systems is the greatest danger of all. In Kenya and Amdo Tibet, it can be rediscovered.

This year is the United Nations International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. This is an important moment to celebrate the role of pastoralists across the world, recognising their unique contr…

It has been a busy year with our research on 25 years after land reform in Zimbabwe. Biographical interviews have been undertaken with around 100 people from our long-term sample, exploring changes…

The loss of the central role of people in today’s complex global systems is the greatest danger of all. In Kenya and Amdo Tibet, it can be rediscovered.

To complement this ongoing blog and the various academic outputs we produce from the research, we always try and produce some colour booklets on themes emerging from our research for wide sharing. …

As noted in the previous blog, there are a number of new land arrangements emerging on A2 farms under the (very) broad label of ‘joint ventures’. Some 2500 joint ventures have been formally registe…

The high potential areas of Mvurwi in Mazowe district should be the focus for significant commercial agricultural success on the A2 farms as envisaged in the government’s land reform strategy. Ther…

The A2 farms in Matobo are in some of the most remote parts of the district. These are predominantly livestock farming areas, with cattle being the dominant livestock type. Getting to these areas in the rainy season requires a four-wheel drive, skilled driving and much patience. The farms have been carved out of huge ranches with an average of 2800 hectares, with current farms being around 486 ha on average.

Zimbabwe’s new agrarian structure arose out of a political deal during the land reform of 2000 when land was allocated to both smallholders (A1 areas) and medium-scale farms (A2). A2 farms were created in order to accommodate elites’ interest in gaining access to land. In the end, some 23,000 farms were initially allocated as A2 farms across three million hectares. This happened following the land invasions, with land not invaded subdivided for A2 farming areas; or in some cases smallholders were shifted to accommodate influential farmers on larger plots.

climate finance that’s needed for real solutions. climate finance that’s needed for real solutions at COP30

The publication of a US congressional bill to guide foreign policy on September 11th has offered hope to Zimbabweans that the draconian ZDERA (the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, 2001) legislation may be repealed. This could see the end of one of the last formal sanctions on Zimbabwe, offering hope of a greater rapprochement with Western powers. Can this lead the way to debt and arrears clearance and new flows of much-needed international financing?