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.
The booklets draw from our blogs, and have plenty of photos illustrating the themes. They are shared within our research areas and are much appreciated, but donors, UN officials and government officers also seem to like reading them too! Our booklets are central to our approach to ‘impact’ and also provide a great way of continuing the connection with our study areas.
Last year we highlighted three themes in new booklets (shared online in January), including on small-scale mechanisation, hidden markets and value chains and livestock systems in dryland areas. Now we have produced two more booklets to add to the series, one on young people and land reform and the other on small towns in land reform areas. Both these themes have been central to our recent research.
Many of the discussions across our sites have focused on what will happen to the next generation who were not old enough to get land after 2000. Issues of generational transition and succession are hot topics for everyone, and we have highlighted these in several blog series over the years (see here and here). Young people of course are carving out new livelihoods in land reform areas, often not replicating the styles of agriculture employed by their parents. Instead they are intensifying, adding value and connecting to off-farm businesses in new ways, which do not require large land areas.
The integration of rural and urban areas is another recurrent theme in our work, highlighting the importance of ‘small towns‘ embedded in rural areas, as highlighted in several blog series (see here and here). These towns are places where rural farmers from land reform areas sell their produce, but also where they invest – in businesses of different sorts, as well as in real estate. With surplus production coming from land reform areas (particularly A1 smallholder sites), agriculture is driving local economic growth and the rapid expansion of small towns.
We thought readers might like to have a look at these new booklets, which you can download here in both hi-res and low-res formats (for when Wi-Fi connections are slow and phone data scarce, links below).
Next week, some highlights of the year, before a short break.
Low res downloads:
This post was written by Ian Scoones and Tapiwa Chatikobo and first appeared on Zimbabweland.