Large-scale land acquisitions have increased in scale and pace due to changes in commodity markets, agricultural investment strategies, land prices, and a range of other policy and market forces. The areas most affected are the global “commons” – lands that local people traditionally use collectively — including much of the world’s forests, wetlands, and rangelands. In some cases land acquisition occurs with environmental objectives in sight – including the setting aside of land as protected areas for biodiversity conservation.

Cattle breeds regarded as indigenous to Zimbabwe include the Mashona, Tuli and Nkone. History of the breeds, their development and promotion, and development of breed societies for each breed is described by Harvey (1987). Since commercial livestock production was introduced in Zimbabwe in the early colonial period, both the breeding policy and beef production have been based on the use of exotic breeds. The reason given was that the indigenous breeds were not productive and could not support commercial beef production.

This document lists and summarises studies by ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute) and its predecessors, ILCA (International Livestock Centre for Africa) and ILRAD (International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases), on the adoption and impact of their research output. It will be updated regularly as old activities are completed and new ones are started.