A decade ago, a group of us published a Special Issue of the journal World Development discussing the results of collaborative research undertaken through the ESRC-funded ‘China and Brazil in African Agriculture’ project. The project looked at the imprint of Chinese and Brazilian agriculture focused projects, alongside state-business partnerships, as well as other relationships, including informal migration, technology transfer, training etc.. We worked across Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe with a great team.
What has happened since? I invited authors of the papers from 2016 to reflect on what has changed. The short answer is, a lot. But there are some interesting dynamics. A series of eight blogs were recently posted on the IDS website, and I including the links below. They are worth a read, as these wider geopolitical relations shape what is possible in places like Zimbabwe. China of course dominates but Brazilian tractors have also been a feature (with a rather sorry example from our study area in Mvurwi in the lead image).
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.
