Our blog
Opinions and comments from Future Agricultures researchers on agricultural politics, science and society in Africa
Latest articles
What prospects for the next generation of rural Zimbabweans?
May 2, 2017 / Our blog After the brief interlude last week, this blog concludes the series of five pieces on youth in the new resettlement areas. Our studies across Zimbabwe have shown how school leavers imagine their futures, but also how in practice these visions
Combating neglected tropical diseases: more than just drugs and vaccines
April 29, 2017 / Our blog Neglected tropical diseases have been in the news this week. A big meeting at the World Health Organisation in Geneva has resulted in big pledges from the UK aid progamme and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to banish the
Diverse life courses: difficult choices for young people in rural Zimbabwe
April 29, 2017 / Our blog To get a sense of how livelihoods are composed, we must look over time, and get a picture of emerging life courses. Across the 25 detailed interviews we undertook there is huge variety, just among the 20-31 year olds who
How are the children of Zimbabwe’s land reform beneficiaries making a living?
April 29, 2017 / Our blog How have young people who grew up on farms allocated to their parents as part of the ‘fast-track’ land reform fared in the period after leaving school? In our studies, we have explored the life courses of those who are
Imagined futures: what will rural school leavers being doing in 20 years?
March 29, 2017 / Our blog What do young people imagine they will be doing in the future and what obstacles lie in their way? These were questions we posed to a total of 84 Form IV students in 3 schools in or very near to
Young people and agriculture: implications for post-land reform Zimbabwe
March 29, 2017 / Our blog ‘Youth’ have recently become the centre of development debates, particularly around African agriculture. A poorly defined category of young people – maybe adults, sometimes children – youth are presented in relation to a dizzying array of policy narratives. To get
The future of medium-scale commercial farms in Africa: lessons from Zimbabwe
March 1, 2017 / Our blog Important changes are afoot in the size structure of farms in Africa. The rise of ‘medium-scale’ farms is often pointed to. From studies in Kenya, Ghana, Zambia and elsewhere, carried out by Michigan State University, a pattern of consolidation of
What is the future for medium-sized commercial farms in Zimbabwe?
February 2, 2017 / Our blog Zimbabwe’s land reform created two ‘models’ for resettlement farms – one relatively small-scale, the A1 schemes, and one medium to large-scale, the A2 farms. A1 farms now cover (very) approximately 4.2 m ha including around 150,000 farms and A2 farms
“No condition is permanent”: small-scale commercial farming in Zimbabwe
January 15, 2017 / Our blog In this week’s blog, I want to present two cross-generational case studies of Purchase Area (now small-scale farming area) farms, based on interviews carried out earlier this year in Mushagashe and Dewure SSCFAs in Masvingo Province. They are not in