Zimbabweland’s festive top 20 for 2024

There
are
a
lot
of
blogs
on
the
site
to
choose
from
–
nearly
600
since
2011
–
so
readers
often
find
ones
that
were
published
a
while
back
and
some
oldies
get
republished.
The
search
facility
on
the
site
is
quite
good,
so
do
have
a
search
as
the
longer-term
story
of
Zimbabwe’s
land
reform
(and
many
associated
debates)
is
interesting
to
review.

In
terms
of
posts
in
the
top
20
this
year,
there
are
a
few
old
faves.
The
pig
blog
seems
to
get
found
on
searches
regularly
as
people
seek
to
develop
on-farm
‘projects’.
This
was
not
meant
as
a
practical
how-to
guide
to
establishing
piggeries,
but
I
hope
it’s
useful.
In
the
same
way
entrepreneurs
interested
in
poultry,
horticulture
and
so
on
seem
to
find
their
way
to
the
blog.

The
UK
election
was
an
important
political
event
for
some
of
us
this
year,
but
as
predicted
in
the
blog
the
consequences
for
development
aid
and
Africa
are
not
significant.
In
some
respects,
the
incoming
Labour
administration
is
repeating
some
of
the
old
mistakes
that
previous
Labour
governments
have
made
in
respect
of
Zimbabwe,
especially
with
the
failure
to
readmit
Zimbabwe
into
the
Commonwealth.
However,
the
far
more
important
story
for
next
year(s)
I
suspect
will
be
the
return
of
Trump
in
the
US
and
the
question
of
how
China
readjusts
its
economic
relations
with
Africa
given
its
domestic
economic
challenges.

The
series
on
small
towns,
urban
agriculture
and
so
on
remains
popular
and
readers
will
be
happy
to
know
that
we
have
done
new
work
on
small
towns
and
rural-urban
linkages
and
a
new
blog
series
will
appear
in
the
new
year.
Themes
on
agricultural
and
rural
finance
correctly
attract
substantial
interest,
as
well
as
debates
around
the
potentials
for
agriculture-led
private
sector
growth.
Land
tenure
is
currently
a
hot
topic
in
Zimbabwe
and
the
recent
series
on
land
markets
has
generated
interest
given
the
current
policy
interest,
with
the
World
Bank
position
on
this
questioned
in
another
popular
blog
this
year.

There
are
a
few
blogs
in
the
list
on
environmental
issues,
ranging
from
carbon
to
elephants,
plus
the
wider
questions
of
drought
and
climate
that
appear
repeatedly
in
posts
on
Zimbabweland.
We
will
again
be
returning
to
these
themes
in
the
new
year,
hoping
that
the
current
dry
spell
doesn’t
persist
and
the
impacts
of
the
El
Nino
drought
of
last
season
will
not
be
repeated.

Finally,
there
are
a
couple
of
blogs
on
the
bigger
land
reform
and
resettlement
story
in
Zimbabwe,
including
a
brief
history
of
experiences
pre-2000.
The
wider
debate
about
land
redistribution
is
covered
in
a
blog
that
discusses
a
dialogue
session
at
the
Global
Land
Grabbing
conference
in
Colombia
this
March.

Next
year
is
the
25^th anniversary
of
the
‘fast-track’
land
reform
in
Zimbabwe
and
our
research
is
gearing
up
to
develop
a
retrospective
look
at
what
has
happened
across
our
sites
where
we
have
sample
households
that
we
have
tracked
for
most
of
this
period.
Look
out
for
updates
from
this
work.
One
of
the
early
updates
will
be
a
blog
series
on
inter-generational
succession
and
young
people’s
livelihoods
in
land
reform
areas,
a
crucial
practical
and
policy
issue
across
Zimbabwe.