It has been a busy year with our research on 25 years after land reform in Zimbabwe. Biographical interviews have been undertaken with around 100 people from our long-term sample, exploring changes over time, and the 2025 survey was undertaken with around 1500 households across A1 and A2 areas in Mvruwi, Gutu, Masvingo and Matobo, with comparator communal areas nearby.
Tracking all the households we had surveyed before plus adding in new ones was a major task! We have also been undertaking some in-depth interviews on ‘social reproduction’ together with Sandra Bhatasara and investigating land use change across our sites with Keen Marozwa. We are now in the midst of compiling all the data and looking forward to a period of analysis and writing during 2026, as well as some follow up fieldwork on key themes.
A highlight of the year was an exchange visit with 16 farmers from our A1 sites (8 men, 8 women chosen by the communities we have been working with over so many years.) They visited each others’ sites during an intensive 10 days in May (see the lead photo). Much learning resulted and the group have kept connected through a WhatsApp group and continue to share ideas as the 2025-26 agricultural season unfolds. Alport Ndebele and team are in the process of finalising a short film on the exchange visit, which we will share across the sites in the new year, as well as posting here.
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.
