As the next generation seeks out land-based livelihoods in the land reform areas and beyond, many of the standard ways of thinking about land are being reinvented for a new generation. This may be around the nature of a ‘farm’ and what place is called ‘home’. These themes are explored in this blog, as they have big implications for how young people are reinventing Zimbabwe’s agricultural landscape.
What is a farm?
Ideas of land ownership no longer follow the old pattern of having a single farm, with a homestead plot. Since land is not available, then more hybrid arrangements have to be adopted. As previous blogs have discussed, young people must make use of subdivided plots, lease, borrow, share, even purchase parcels of land through various levels of formalisation, putting together land portfolios for living in ways that their parents who acquired substantial, single plots through land reform could not imagine.
This article is from Zimbabweland, a blog written by IDS Research Fellow Ian Scoones. Zimbabweland focuses on issues related to rural livelihoods and land reform in Zimbabwe.
