> Countries like Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea that practiced land reform to wrench land away from idle landlords and distribute it widely, have had this success.

This is an interesting view. how did they avoid being punished for this?

Zimbabwe tried redistributing farms but it turned out horribly for them.

Would be interested In understanding how Zimbabwe attempt was different to these countries.

Here in South Africa land reforms is a politically charged issue. Due to apartheid we have a deeply unequal society, where productive farm land is concentrated in primarily in a few hands. Split along racial lines.

I recall meeting some labourers on a farm here in the western cape. They worked on a farm that had been “claimed” by colonisers who arrived in the 1800’s, and then handed down in families.

Where as this labourer ancestors has been in that area for generations before the colonisers got there.