Who gains from contract farming? Dependencies, power relations, and institutional change

Adams, Timothy; Gerber, Jean-David; Amacker, Michèle; Haller, Tobias (2018). Who gains from contract farming? Dependencies, power relations, and institutional change. The journal of peasant studies, 46(7), pp. 1435-1457. Taylor & Francis 10.1080/03066150.2018.1534100

Text Who gains from contract farming Dependencies power relations and institutional change.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (2MB) | Request a copy

The paper highlights the mechanisms through which outgrower contract farming creates dependencies at the local level. Using sugarcane case study in Malawi, we show that dependencies are created through redefinition of use rights to customary land and through the redefinition of cash flows into outgrower communities. Through this two-dimensional process, corporations can secure access to land, exert control over local communities and transform the local social relations of reciprocity serving as the pillars of resistance. Our results indicate that contract farming changes rural agrarian relations, transforms local family institutions by carefully selecting a few household members with influence into the scheme and selectively dispossessing the poor community members.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

10 since deposited on 22 Mar 2019
0 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item