During the year there were several blog series. Two reflected on new research findings from the Masvingo province study. The first looked at how the farmers have fared in our ‘core’ sample of 400 ‘new’ resettlement households across 16 sites. The second looked at a comparison between our land reform sites and nearby communal areas (respectively four and five posts, with links here to the first in the series – just click on to read the lot).
The communal area-resettlement site comparison shows how those in the new resettlements are generally faring better. The new resettlement data reinforces the patterns highlighted in our 2010 book, but updates it, especially for the post dollarisation period, when vibrant markets have begun to form linking new farm production with a variety of input and outputs markets, as well as services and other business. This is a theme picked up in the film series that has been presented recently on this blog (three films on different commodities – beef, horticulture and tobacco, and an overview). These emerged from the Space, Markets, Employment and Agricultural Development project and summarise key findings. Each film is around 10 mins long. If you haven’t already, do have a look.
Next year there will be more blogs, updating research, reflecting on new publications and commenting on news items relating to land, agriculture and livelihoods. Meanwhile, here is Zimbabweland’s festive top 20. Happy clicking!
1 Spurious statistics: why figures on Zimbabwe’s ‘lost growth’ mislead
2 Land tenure dilemmas in Zimbabwe
3 Going up in smoke: the environmental costs of Zimbabwe’s tobacco boom
4 Dams, flooding and displacement: the Tokwe Mukorsi dam
5 Zimbabwe’s gold rush: livelihoods for the poor or a patronage economy, or both?
6 Zimbabwe’s country clubs: the changing social life of Zimbabwe’s farming areas
7 A fictitious budget or a sensible plan in constrained circumstances? Zimbabwe’s 2014 budget
8 Access to $1000 credit: would this help unleash agricultural commercialisation in Zimbabwe?
9 Diaspora direct investment: funding farming in Zimbabwe
10 Adverts: a window on the world
11 The new land frontier in Zimbabwe: urban land for housing
12 GM crops: continuing controversy
13 What should be on a new Zim dollar note? Two nominations
14 Farm workers: reconstructing lives and livelihoods
15 New research on land reform in Zimbabwe
16 Rethinking agricultural extension
17 How have the ‘new farmers’ fared? An update on the Masvingo study I
18 Comparing communal areas and new resettlements in Zimbabwe III: land and agriculture
19 Millions at risk of food insecurity in Zimbabwe? Or not? How the dire predictions were confounded by a good harvest
20 Land use planning is back in vogue in Zimbabwe
This post corrected on 22 Dec and was written by Ian Scoones and appeared on Zimbabweland
Post published in: News