Climate Change Research and Education in Zimbabwean Universities

In this contribution to Issue 29 of the Bulletin, Eric Kushinga Makombe develops a systematic review of the successes and failures of climate change research and education in Zimbabwe.

Introduction

While the Global Carbon Atlas ranks Zimbabwe as a low-carbon emitting country, it is simultaneously susceptible to extreme climate events and natural hazards due to its location in the southern subtropics. University researchers are often at the forefront of climate change research and education elsewhere, particularly in the global ‘north’. However, universities in Zimbabwe have been hamstrung over many years owing to underfunding and marginalisation, preventing them from influencing mainstream national discourses and policies. Most of the nation’s universities thus tend to have small cohorts of independently funded researchers and instructors working independently or establishing small, semi-autonomous institutions since universities have not been able to support all the teaching and research needed. 

This essay assesses the state of climate change research and education in the country’s nine public universities. I will attempt to gauge the extent to which the research outputs and outcomes inform or influence public discourse, more so since the country adopted an educational philosophy, Education 5.0, which espouses integrating tertiary education research outcomes into the nation’s development agenda.^[1] Nonetheless, this research will gauge to what extent universities realise this goal. The paper relies on desktop reviews of grey literature produced by the universities in the form of reports, research records, and the university database. The essay focuses on the nine state universities in the country, which are University of Zimbabwe (UZ), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Midlands State University (MSU), Great Zimbabwe University (GZU), Gwanda State University (GSU), Lupane State University (LSU), Manicaland State University of Applied Sciences (MSUAS), Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) and Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE).

In 2016, the Zimbabwean government drew extensively on the 13th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) while developing its climate change policy. SDG 13 calls for addressing climate change by combining knowledge systems, each supported by a distinct epistemology. In its National Communication, the government proposed establishing a climate change centre of excellence at a government-designated university like UZ to strengthen climate change education and research in tertiary education. No public higher education institution has yet established such a centre of excellence. The Zimbabwean government has long suffered from implementation paralysis. Well-articulated policies frequently result in stillbirths. 

In 2020, the government launched the National Climate Change Learning Strategy (NCCLS) developed under the UN CC: Learn Programme’s Southern Africa Initiative. The NCCLS identifies the critical learning and skill development needs in key climate-related sectors such as energy, agriculture, environment, education, and health.^[2] The strategy aims to create awareness and build capacity for climate change adaptation and mitigation in the country’s universities. 

Education

UZ is the oldest public university in Zimbabwe, and until NUST opened its doors in 1991, it was the only university in the country. UZ was long seen as conservative, and it required the emergence of other public universities in the late 1990s and early 2000s for the institution to embark on far-reaching curriculum reviews. While many public universities began incorporating climate change issues into their curricula in the 1990s, a proliferation of climate-related degree programmes became more noticeable by the middle of the 2010s. These universities also embarked on climate change research with greater vigour. 

CUT, for instance, established the School of Wildlife and Environmental Science in 2014.^[3] The school offers BSc (Hons) degree programmes such as Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Environmental Conservation and Geo-Informatics, and an MSc in Biodiversity Conservation. In particular, the Environmental Science and Technology undergraduate degree programme emphasises technology as an essential tool in addressing climate change problems. The emphasis on technology indicates the programme’s modern strategy in addressing climate change.

Additionally, the BSc (Hons) in Environmental Health shows another dimension of health challenges associated with climate change. The curriculum emerged in response to health and environmental issues brought on by new infections and global warming, requiring the expertise of environmental scientists and health professionals. The degrees on offer show CUT’s expansive approach to addressing climate change.

GZU’s School of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, in 2015, introduced degrees such as Soil and Plant Science and Livestock, Wildlife and Fisheries.^[4] These degree programmes purposed to equip students with the “relevant skills in critical thinking and [to] solve developmental challenges in the community”. In addition, degree programmes such as Cultural Geography and Rural Development Geography equip undergraduate students with the knowledge and skills to understand the Zimbabwean environment. These degree programmes aimed to train students with skills to address communities’ ecological challenges resulting from the continuing adversities of climate change.

MSUAS occupies an agro-economic niche within climate studies. The university established the Department of Agricultural Economics in 2016, offering a BSc in Agricultural Economics and Development.^[5] The programme focuses on socioeconomic problems such as rural poverty, food security and the various challenges farmers experience. The Department seeks to contribute to developing knowledge and economic theory in addressing contemporary and prospective social issues in agricultural production, including climate change.

GSU is a relatively new institution, having been founded in 2012. Still, it has already integrated climate change into its curriculum through programmes such as the BSc (Hons) in Geography and Environmental Science.^[6] This four-year programme deals with the geographical and environmental dynamics affecting countries. It also looks at different ways and interventions to manage the effects of climate change in the country.

In 2018, BUSE introduced an MSc in Climate Change and Sustainable Development as part of its graduate programmes.^[7] The degree focuses on major climate issues such as climate and social justice, disaster and sustainable development, mitigation and adaptation in theory and practice. NUST introduced a similar programme “to educate and train new generations of researchers, practitioners and decision-makers in climate change and sustainable development in the Southern African region”.^[8] The programme is regionally focused, framing a strong inter or trans-disciplinary and integrated system to enable inclusive engagement with non-academic communities from different sectors relating to climate change and sustainable development in Africa. The MSc was bench-marked against a similar programme at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.^[9]

In 2021, BUSE embarked on a climate change training initiative to develop the surrounding communities on climate change mainstreaming in development projects. The training was for five Mashonaland Central Provincial Development Committee members after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism, and the Hospitality Industry (MECTHI).^[10] A pilot project in the Rushinga District, one of the province’s most drought-prone areas, informed the training. Such efforts support Education 5.0’s desire for universities to impact their communities.

NUST also has programmes such as the BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science and Health, which have courses that include “Introduction to the Physical Environment and Climate Change Adaptation in Semi-Arid Lands”.^[11] Another programme focusing on climate change is the BSc (Hons) in Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing in Natural Resources Management.^[12] The BSc (Hons) in Forest Resources and Wildlife Management also has a module on “Humans and the Environment” that focuses on the impact of global warming on the human environment.

A “Stakeholder Needs Assessment” by the government of Zimbabwe in 2020 identified specific human resources capacity gaps at BUSE and NUST. At BUSE, the report pinpointed that “some members lack creativeness and interest on [climate change] issues”.^[13] While NUST had more institutional capacity (than BUSE) to deliver learning in terms of expertise in climate change science, training in REDD,^[14] research skills in climate science and more PhD qualifications, it still had “insufficient … staff in the area of climate change”.^[15] Further, NUST had “limited resources for staff to capacitate themselves on latest climate change issues”. Its Climate Institute did “not have enough resources for trainings [sic] and basic staff development”.

UZ has also included climate change in its curriculum. The Faculty of Arts and Humanities has programmes such as an MA in Risk Reduction and Disaster Management.^[16] The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences has also embraced climate change, as seen from programmes such as the MSc in Socio-Ecological Systems and Development Practice.^[17]

MSU’s Department of Development Studies programmes focus on climate change and sustainable development.^[18] The Faculty of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resource Management offers programmes such as the BSc (Hons) in Land Water Resources Management and the BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science and Technology.^[19] The Faculty of Social Sciences has programmes in Geography and Environmental Sustainability. 

LSU’s Development Studies department offers programmes covering topical issues such as Food Security, Management of Resources and Climate Change. The Department offers a Diploma, a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Development Studies.^[20] The many levels at which LSU provides these programmes in the curriculum reflect the university’s desire to guarantee that more individuals are informed about climate change, including those who do not meet the minimal entry-level criteria to complete an undergraduate degree programme. 

Although the nine public universities reviewed their curriculum to include some climate change issues, they still lack an in-depth and practical approach to these issues. The teaching staff are not equipped with climate change information to make significant changes to learners. This problem, in part, stems from a lack of funding for cutting-edge research, as discussed below. However, the other part is that the “country lacks policy direction on integrating climate change into the tertiary education curricula”.^[21] The government’s “Specific Needs Assessment” recommended that the actions taken to mainstream content related to climate change within primary and secondary school curricula should also occur at the tertiary level of education.

Research

Funding for research in Zimbabwean universities remains limited due to the protracted economic crisis. The economic malaise has reduced the resource inflows towards research.^[22] Following a diplomatic stalemate with Britain and other Western countries in the early 2000s over the land reform programme, Europe and the USA substantially decreased the support they had previously extended to Zimbabwe. The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at UZ became part of the collateral damage. The IDS had previously partnered with the International Institute for Environment and Development and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in climate-related research.^[23] But when these funding streams dried out, many of their researchers, including Medicine Masiiwa and Prisca Mugabe, had to be redeployed to other departments before the IDS closed. Despite these challenges, Zimbabwe’s universities have persevered with the little they have. 

The government has sought to fill in the gap left by this withdrawal of funds, but often with uneven outcomes due to limited capacity and a disciplinary bias. The Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) disciplines have often complained that the state disproportionately angles much of their funding towards the Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This imbalance partly explains how foreign donors remain the major research funders in Zimbabwean universities and, more often, the sole funders for HASS researchers working on climate change topics. However, this creates challenges, especially when the research interests of foreign donors take precedence in crafting the research agenda.

In 2019, the government spent nearly $18 million on constructing innovation hubs and set aside $1 million to purchase equipment for completed hubs.^[24] In 2021, NUST signed the climate change mainstreaming research programme in partnership with the MECTHI.^[25] The project sought to roll out programmes and projects that support climate adaptation.  

At GZU, the newly created Innovation Hub has prioritised climate challenges. GZU’s Director of Research and Innovation, Jephias Gwamuri, is an applied physicist who directs research within the innovation hub. At the hub, innovative ideas related to climate change include agro-technologies like intelligent farming and future energy technologies like agri-voltaics.^[26] It is still too early to evaluate the results and outputs of these innovation efforts.

State funding outside these innovation hubs has been minuscule. The GSU has been researching climate change to improve food security and climate resilience in the face of unpredictable weather patterns in southwest Zimbabwe. However, their research project on the “Characterisation and drought stress trials of experimental Sorghum bicolour lines” has no source funding.^[27] The government of Zimbabwe even acknowledged the lack of competencies in grant proposal writing at BUSE as a shortcoming requiring urgent redress. Further, the report highlighted that BUSE staff “lack financial support to actively [sic] participate in Climate Change information dissemination”.^[28]

Notwithstanding these difficulties, BUSE produced notable research in 2018. However, the majority of its funding came from outside sources. The university managed to sign the Global Biodiversity Information Facility MOU on behalf of Zimbabwe in 2018. The agreement led to a research grant of $350,000 from the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture.^[29] The grant assisted the university’s research on using tied contour rainwater harvesting in small grain and legume production in semi-arid smallholder farming areas of Zimbabwe. Another grant from the International Foundation of Science aimed at expanding work in flood recession cropping in Muzarabani. 

CUT has earned a regional role in climate change research. In 2017, Justice Nyamangara was awarded a three-year research grant of $9,000 by the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI)-sub-Saharan Africa programme to study “Long-term evaluation of the effects of tillage systems and ISFM [integrated soil fertility management] on crop productivity and soil properties”.^[30] CUT was also part of Future Climate for Africa’s research on climate change in Southern Africa.^[31] The study aimed to understand the policy context and the climate science required to contribute to climate resilience in the region’s nine cities: Blantyre, Durban, Cape Town, Gaborone, Harare, Johannesburg, Lusaka, Maputo, and Windhoek. The DFID and the Natural Environment Research Council funded the initiative. 

MSUAS researchers have received considerable recognition at local and regional levels for their efforts. Rutendo Nyamusamba of the Department of Agricultural Economics has research interests in sustainable farming, weed biology, ecology and management.^[32] She had multiple research awards, including her work on “Control options for glyphosate resistance and tolerant weeds in Roundup Ready soybeans” (2012). The research received a grant of $10,500 from the South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council. Nyamusamba’s other project, “Conversation: Mixed Farming for Resilient Food Production” (2016), received a grant of $5,000.^[33]

Elinah Nciizah of the Department of Development Studies at MSU has published on climate change and rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe’s semi-arid areas.^[34] Raymond Mugandani and Tirivashe Masere, part of the MSU’s Department of Land and Water Resource Management, have also done notable work on climate change.^[35] For instance, Mugandani et al. reclassified the country’s agro-ecological zones using data on the soil, mean annual rainfall, and the duration of the growing season.^[36] The Department of Geography, Environmental Sustainability and Resilience Building also has scholars researching climate change, such as Vurayai Mutekwa and Mavis Mbiriri.^[37]

Crop scientists and plant biologists at LSU have also been researching using drought-resistant crops to enhance climate resilience among various communities in the country. For instance, Mcebisi Maphosa’s research has been on scaling up the use and production of climate and nutrition-smart millets, legumes and cucurbits for improved livelihoods.^[38] The researcher collaborated with National Gene Banks, Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research partners, National Agricultural Research Institutions and seed companies.^[39] Maphosa is working on two other projects funded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Treaty of Biodiversity and the Global Crop Diversity Trust. 

UZ also has a climate change and resilience research unit, the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development Institute (ECSDI).^[40] The ECSDI mutated from the now defunct Institute of Environmental Studies (IES), and it coordinates research in Waste Management and Air Pollution Reduction, Environmental Assessments and Protection, Poverty, Climate Change and Resilience Building and Renewable Energy. The omnibus research agenda means that the institute draws its researchers and affiliates from various faculties at the University of Zimbabwe. The ECSDI’s Director is Kefasi Nyikahadzoi, whose research interests are rural development, livelihoods, and food security.^[41] The ECSDI has forged strategic partnerships with organisations such as the Centre for Natural Resource Governance, the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association and the European Climate Foundation to circumvent the lack of funding and resources. Such alliances bring together activists, scholars, and industry professionals.

Besides the ECSDI, the UZ has a Center for Applied Social Sciences (CASS), which dips into research around climate variability. Kudzai Chatiza of CASS is particularly interested in post-disaster risk management in the aftermath of the devastating Cyclone Idai and adaptation policy measures in the country.^[42] In addition, faculty members have also conducted various research studies on climate change. For instance, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities is pursuing community-based research using an inter-faculty and trans/multi/interdisciplinary approach.^[43] Some sociologists and anthropologists from the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, including Sandra Bhatasara, have worked with rural communities to learn how they use indigenous techniques to protect the environment, such as tree conservation and natural land replenishment strategies like crop rotation and organic matter.^[44]

With source funding from government and international donors heavily tilted towards STEM research, the conceptualisation of climate change is mainly science-driven and projected primarily as a national and quantitative phenomenon in mainstream academic and policy discourse.^[45] Regrettably, understanding local-level consequences through farmer perspectives is still underappreciated in the country. Despite embracing the notion of interdisciplinarity, the outputs from HASS research hardly figure in the national discourse. Patience Mutopo’s case study in the Mwenezi District has shown that rural women could not adopt climate-smart agriculture practices because of systemic structural barriers that create gender gaps and inequalities, including unequal access to credit, technology and agricultural inputs, and capacity-building.^[46] Beyond highlighting the need to tackle pre-existing societal conditions simultaneously with climate change, HASS research has also demonstrated that preconceived strategies that dealt with past climate variability are becoming increasingly ineffective for coping with emergent climate change. Unfortunately, STEM data prevails when it conflicts with HASS research results.

Conclusion

Universities in Zimbabwe play a significant role towards climate change education and research. All nine state institutions have climate programmes and modules in most of their curriculum. Climate change is a topical issue that cuts across different HASS and STEM disciplines. Zimbabwean universities have conducted substantial climate-specific research. However, the prolonged Zimbabwean economic crisis has constrained locally funded studies. While foreign institutions have helped provide research funding, the Zimbabwean government has also played a crucial role in financing research and providing the policy framework and educational philosophy to guide the teaching and learning of climate change in the country’s public universities. 

The essay also observed that despite the limited funding, some academics have taken the initiative to collaborate internally and with external stakeholders towards research activities and community programmes, contributing to climate change science, adaptation, mitigation, and resilience in Zimbabwe. The smaller universities, such as CUT and BUSE, have modelled how universities can translate climate-related research into policy and action by fostering linkages between academics and other stakeholders, including rural communities, towards climate-smart development initiatives.

Besides some notable inroads made in climate change education and research, this appraisal identifies two broad challenges: Financial and Epistemic. The country’s past political pariah status, more so under the previous leader, Robert Mugabe, impinges on the ability of the country’s public universities to attract international climate change funding at the level of development cooperation. Relatedly, the STEM bias evident in Education 5.0 creates epistemic injustices towards the evident contributions that HASS can make to climate change education and research. The review is, therefore, somewhat sceptical of the government’s recommendation about “standardising the teaching of [climate change] courses throughout the country’s universities”.^[47] Such proposals go against the essence of interdisciplinarity that many universities purport to adhere to. Instead, grounded research from HASS and STEM, researchers must inform climate change teaching and learning outcomes. Further, the curriculum must remain mindful of differences informed by human and environmental disparities in the country. 

^[1] Muzira, Dumisani Rumbidzai, and B. Maupa Bondai, ‘Perception of educators towards the adoption of education 5.0: A case of a state university in Zimbabwe’, East African Journal of Education and Social Sciences 1, no. 2 (2020): 43-53; Keche, Kudakwashe, ‘Relevancy of new higher education approaches in ‘Second Republic Zimbabwe’’, in: L. Waller & S. Waller (esd.), Higher Education-New Approaches to Accreditation, Digitalization, and Globalization in the Age of Covid (London 2022: InTechn Open): 139-160.

^[2] Government of Zimbabwe, ‘National Climate Change Learning Strategy: 2020–2030’, Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, 30 December 2020, accessible at: https://www.uncclearn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/NCCLS.pdf.

^[3] Chinhoyi University of Technology, ‘School of Wildlife and Environment’, https://www.cut.ac.zw/welcome/school/3900tech45, 2020 (Accessed 17 January 2024).

^[4] Great Zimbabwe University, ‘School of Natural Sciences’, https://www.gzu.ac.zw/school-of-agriculture-and-natural-sciences-home/, 2024 (accessed 17 January 2024).

^[5] Manicaland State University of Applied Sciences, ‘Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics and Development Honours Degree, Agricultural Economics Department’, https://msuas.ac.zw/bachelor-of-science-in-agricultural-economics-and-development-honours-degree, 2024 (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[6] Gwanda State University, Faculties & Units, https://www.gsu.ac.zw/?page_id=2724 (accessed 8 February 2024).

^[7] Bindura University of Science Education, ‘Promoting Science for Human Development Master Of Science Degree in Climate Change and Sustainable Development’, https://www.buse.ac.zw/faculties/science/geography-department/master-of-science-degree-in-climate-change-and-sustainable-development, 2024 (accessed 17 January 2024).

^[8] National University of Science and Technology, Programmes, https://www.nust.ac.zw/fes/index.php/course-finder/msc-in-climate-change-and-sustainable-development#course-instructor (accessed 8 February 2024).

^[9] University of Cape Town, ‘Environmental and Geographical Science, Overview: Masters in Climate Change and Sustainable Development’, https://science.uct.ac.za/department-egs/degrees-courses-masters-masters-climate-change-development/overview-masters-climate-change-sustainable-development, 2024, (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[10] https://www.buse.ac.zw/buse-and-ministry-of-environment-in-climate-change-collaboration-pact/

^[11] National University of Science and Technology, Programmes, https://www.nust.ac.zw/fes/index.php/course-finder/bachelor-of-environmental-science-honours-degree-i. 

^[12] National University of Science and Technology, Programmes, https://www.nust.ac.zw/fes/index.php/course-finder/bachelor-of-science-honours-degree-in-geographical (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[13] Government of Zimbabwe, ‘Assessment of Learning Needs and Capacity to Deliver for the National Climate Change Learning Strategy’, Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, January 2020, accessible at: https://www.uncclearn.org/wp-content/uploads/library/stakeholder_needs_assessment_zimbabwe.pdf, p. 9.

^[14] REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries. See: Gizachew, Belachew, Rasmus Astrup, Pål Vedeld, Eliakimu M. Zahabu, and Lalisa A. Duguma, ‘REDD+ in Africa: contexts and challenges’, Natural Resources Forum 41, no. 2 (2017): 92–104.

^[15] https://www.uncclearn.org/wp-content/uploads/library/stakeholder_needs_assessment_zimbabwe.pdf, p. 9.

^[16] University of Zimbabwe, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, https://www.uz.ac.zw/index.php/degree-programmes-arts (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[17] University of Zimbabwe, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, https://www.uz.ac.zw/index.php/social-studies-programmes (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[18] Midlands State University, Department of Development Studies, https://ww5.msu.ac.zw/home/faculties/arts/development-studies/ (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[19] Midlands State University, Department of Land and Water Resource Management, https://ww5.msu.ac.zw/home/faculties/natural-resources-management/land-and-water-resources-management/ (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[20] Lupane State University, Department of Development Studies, http://www.lsu.ac.zw/university-academic-department/10 (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[21] https://www.uncclearn.org/wp-content/uploads/library/stakeholder_needs_assessment_zimbabwe.pdf.

^[22] Chinhoyi University of Technology, Annual report 2017 (Chinhoyi, 2017: CUT Printing Press).

^[23] Brown, Donald, Rabecca Rance Chanakira, Kudzai Chatiza, Mutuso Dhliwayo, David Dodman, M. Masiiwa, D. Muchadenyika, P. Mugabe, and S. Zvigadza, Climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation in Zimbabwe (London 2012: International Institute for Environment and Development).

^[24] Tsiko, S., ‘Innovation hubs hold key to industrialisation’, The Herald, 2019, https://www.herald.co.zw/innovation-hubs-hold-key-to-industrialisation/# (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[25] The Chronicle, 25 March 2021, https://www.nust.ac.zw/index.php/component/content/article/107-lead-news/522-nust-sign-climate-change-mainstreaming-research-mou.html?Itemid=437 (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[26] Great Zimbabwe University, ‘Research and Innovation’, https://www.gzu.ac.zw/research-and-inovation, 2024, (accessed 17 January 2024).

^[27] Gwanda State University, Research & Innovations, https://www.gsu.ac.zw/?page_id=1441. 

^[28] https://www.uncclearn.org (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[29] Mushanawani, C., ‘ED to caps 1719 at Bindura University’, The Chronicle, 19 October 2018.

^[30] Chinhoyi University of Technology, Annual report 2017.

^[31] Future Climate for Africa, ‘Country Summary, Summary of FCFA work in Zimbabwe’, http://www.fractal.org.za/, 2020, (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[32] Nyamusamba, Rutendo PC, ‘Impact of Mobile Night Kraals on Soil PH in Crop Fields—a Pilot Study’, in: X. Poshiwa & G.R. Chary (eds.), Climate Change Adaptations in Dryland Agriculture in Semi-Arid Areas (Singapore 2022: Springer Nature Singapore): 285–288.

^[33] Midlands State University of Applied Sciences, Staff: Lecturer, https://msuas.ac.zw/rutendo-nyamusamba/

^[34] Nciizah, Tendai, Elinah Nciizah, Caroline Mubekaphi, and Adornis D. Nciizah, ‘Smallholder farmers’ adaptation strategies and food security: Experiences from Zimbabwe’, in: H.A. Mupambwa, A.D. Nciizah, P. Nyambo, B. Muchara & N.N. Gabriel (eds.),  Food Security for African Smallholder Farmers (Singapore 2022: Springer Nature Singapore): 267-280.

^[35] Mugandani, Raymond, Tavagwisa Muziri, Cyril Tapiwa Farai Murewi, Amanda Mugadza, Tavengwa Chitata, Marvelous Sungirai, Farai Solomon Zirebwa et al., ‘Mapping and Managing Livelihoods Vulnerability to Drought: A Case Study of Chivi District in Zimbabwe’, Climate 10, no. 12 (2022): 189; Masere, Tirivashe P., and S. Worth, ‘Influence of public agricultural extension on technology adoption by small-scale farmers in Zimbabwe’, South African Journal of Agricultural Extension 49, no. 2 (2021): 25-42; Makuvaro, Veronica, Sue Walker, Tirivashe Phillip Masere, and John Dimes, ‘Smallholder farmer perceived effects of climate change on agricultural productivity and adaptation strategies’, Journal of Arid Environments 152 (2018): 75-82.

^[36] Mugandani, Raymond, M. Wuta, A. Makarau, and B. Chipindu, ‘Re-classification of agro-ecological regions of Zimbabwe in conformity with climate variability and change’, African Crop Science Journal 20 (2012): 361-369.

^[37] Mutekwa, Vurayai, Forest governance, conservation and livelihoods: the case of forest protected areas and local communities in north-western Zimbabwe (Unpublished PhD Thesis, Rhodes University, 2016); Munodawafa, Davison, Tendai Madanzi, Pepukai Manjeru, and Mavis Mbiriri, Building resilience to natural disasters in populated African mountain ecosystems: The case of Tropical Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe(Chimanimani, 2020: Tsuro Trust).

^[38] Lupane State University, ‘Use of climate and nutrition smart millets, legumes and cucurbit germplasm for improved livelihoods’, accessible at https://lsu.ac.zw/public/assets/downloads/1669191111.pdf. See also: Maphosa, Mcebisi, Herbert Talwana, and Phinehas Tukamuhabwa, ‘Assessment of comparative virulence and resistance in soybean using field isolates of soybean rust’ (2013).

^[39] https://lsu.ac.zw/public/assets/downloads/1669191111.pdf

^[40] University of Zimbabwe, ‘Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development Institute’, https://www.uz.ac.zw/index.php/228-institutes-and-units/1019-development-technology-centre-agriculture, 2024 (accessed 19 January 2024).

^[41] Nyikahadzoi, Kefasi, Shephard Siziba, Nelson Mango, Paul Mapfumo, Adewale Adekunhle, and Oluwole Fatunbi, ‘Creating food self-reliance among the smallholder farmers of eastern Zimbabwe: exploring the role of integrated agricultural research for development’, Food Security 4 (2012): 647-656; Zamasiya, Byron, Kefasi Nyikahadzoi, and Billy Billiard Mukamuri, ‘Factors influencing smallholder farmers’ behavioural intention towards adaptation to climate change in transitional climatic zones: A case study of Hwedza District in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Environmental Management 198 (2017): 233-239.

^[42] Chatiza, Kudzai, Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe: An analysis of policy implications for post-disaster institutional development to strengthen disaster risk management (Oxford 2019: Oxfam International).

^[43] https://www.uz.ac.zw/index.php/research-arts

^[44] Bhatasara, Sandra, Understanding climate variability and livelihoods adaptation in rural Zimbabwe: A case of Charewa, Mutoko (Unpublished PhD Thesis, Rhodes University, 2015); Bhatasara, Sandra, and Admire Nyamwanza, ‘Sustainability: a missing dimension in climate change adaptation discourse in Africa?’, Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences 15, no. 1 (2018): 83-97.

^[45] Bhatasara, Sandra, ‘Rethinking climate change research in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences 7 (2017): 39-52.

^[46] Mutopo, Patience, Gendered dimensions of land and rural livelihoods: The case of new settler farmer displacement at Nuanetsi Ranch, Mwenezi District, Zimbabwe (Brighton 2012: LDPI).

^[47] Government of Zimbabwe, Assessment of Learning Needs, 4.