ZimbabweLand

I was pointed to an intriguing World Bank report recently – Creating markets in Zimbabwe: Mobilizing the private sector in support of economic transformation – that came out earlier this year. It is striking in a number of ways. Not … Continue reading → …
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Land tenure reform is the big topic across sub-Saharan Africa amongst governments and donors alike. But how does it work, what are its consequences and how do interventions imposed from outside intersect with existing tenure and land governance arrangements? These … Continue reading → …
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The UK went to the polls last week with Keir Starmer, as widely predicted, now installed as prime minister and the Labour party in power for the first time in 14 years. This blog asks, will this bring a change … Continue reading → …
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Michael Lipton, the great development economist, died a little over a year ago. In the many tributes paid to him, his contributions to land debates were rather underplayed. Along with his 1977 book, Why Poor People Stay Poor: Urban Bias … Continue reading → …
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The World Bank’s land conference returned this year in May after a gap since 2019. It is the go-to venue for mainstream (economic) debate about land. To a room full of suits, the conference was opened by a keynote from … Continue reading → …
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This blogpost shares some commentaries emerging from the International Conference on Global Land Grabbing held in Bogota in March (see this IDS news article). All have relevance to the wider debate about land and agrarian reform, including in Zimbabwe. I … Continue reading → …
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At the International Global Land Grabbing conference held recently in Bogota, Colombia, we held a ‘dialogue session’ with about 50 academics and activists, asking whether land redistribution had a future. I co-facilitated the session with Morgan Ody, the General Coordinator … Continue reading → …
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Zimbabwe is presenting itself as the new carbon frontier – the investment destination of choice, with huge areas of forest land to trade on international markets in exchange for carbon credits. But is this wise, will it work, and will … Continue reading → …
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In the last week, Zimbabwe, following both Malawi and Zimbabwe, has declared a drought emergency, requesting US$2 billion in support for purchasing food supplies in the face of large predicted deficits. The total cereal harvest is expected to be around … Continue reading → …
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The political debates about the rights and wrongs of Zimbabwe’s land reform continue to occupy many. The tired, old obsession about how the land was taken and the associated focus on so-called ‘cronies’ persists, despite much evidence to suggest that … Continue reading → …
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