Includes globalisation and agriculture – policies and effects in sub-Saharan Africa; globalisation of agriculture and land; land reform in Southern Africa and the World Bank; World Bank critique – tenure security, land transactions, redistribution. Analyses the World Bank’s policy position on land reform and argues that its approach does not address the structural reasons for the distortions of landholdings in Southern Africa and that such inequality is likely to be reaffirmed and reproduced by the Bank’s proposals.

Critiques recent official statements that land reform policies are not contentious.

Asks what convincing rationales exist for land reform in the 21st century and for land policies and programmes that have poverty reduction as their key objective? Argues that the economic bases of pro-poor land reform need reformulating in the rapidly changing conditions of the contemporary world. The unequal structures of international agricultural trade regimes need to be made integral to thinking about agrarian reform. Includes a table with arguments for land reform.

The author looks at the past 22 years of land reform in South Africa. What is going wrong in South Africa’s post-apartheid land reform programme, and how can its failings be addressed? 22 years after the transition to democracy and the commencement of land reform, there is a great deal of lived experience to reflect upon and a rich literature to draw on. He offers a diagnosis of failures, suggest a new narrative for land reform, and offers some provocations around alternative policies.

Gives a brief overview on how the gender debate featured in the process of land reform in Tanzania and asks why socio-economic arguments have to be used by advocates of gender equitable land rights. Focuses on the Uluguru mountains and shows that the need for registration is rather a consequence of its possibility and not of deficiencies of tenure security within the customary system, and that informal access to land can be experienced as more secure than formal registration. Further argues that demand to use land as collateral is low and risk-awareness especially among women high.

One page boxes summarising recent land reform developments in the countries listed.

Provides an overview of key political, economic and strategic policy development options for the consolidation of land tenure policies and strengthened property rights and tenure security in Zimbabwe following land reform.

Compares land reform in Scotland and Africa. Examines the role of land, patterns of land holding, where is ultimate power vested, the role of customary chiefs and landowners, getting people to participate, who is the community, consultation, who is driving the agenda. Argues that legislative change alone is not enough.

Report on a desktop study commissioned by FAO. Contains introduction; the context for land reform (the legacy of colonialism, women’s access, women in agriculture, HIV/AIDS and land reform); an overview of land reform issues and debates (policy issues, gender equity as a policy goal); land reform and women (case studies from Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe); conclusion (key findings and recommendations); synopsis of land policies by country.

Includes increased priority to land reform, development versus redistribution, an economic-oriented land reform, support following land redistribution, gender, securing land tenure, poverty and marginalisation, HIV/AIDS, mineral rights and land rights.

Contains overview of the land reform process and brief summaries of presentations made on: key elements and guiding principles in formulating land policy; political, economic, social and cultural issues on the land policy and land law reform process; implications of gearing the formulation of land policy and land laws as a stimulus for agricultural productivity; gaps, conflicts, contradictions, overlaps and inconsistencies in the existing land laws and what needs to be done in land legal reform.

Contains women’s rights and state-led agrarian and market based land reforms; reinstating the state; engendering customary tenure; rights of indigenous people and marginalised groups; human rights violations; HIV/AIDS; the ‘feminisation of agriculture’. Calls for a new agrarian reform agenda in which the state plays a central role, ensuring that land is established as a common public good, and that its benefits are enjoyed equitably by women and men, regardless of race, class or ethnicity.