Bellwood-Howard, Imogen and Dancer, Helen (2021) [Blog] Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference. Future Agricultures, APRA blog.

PDF - Accepted Version Download (274kB)

Abstract

African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.

Item Type:	Other
Keywords:	Africa, Agriculture, COVID-19, Social difference
Schools and Departments:	School of Law, Politics and Sociology > Law
SWORD Depositor:	Mx Elements Account
Depositing User:	Mx Elements Account
Date Deposited:	23 Nov 2021 10:27
Last Modified:	07 Dec 2022 14:49
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/103049

View download statistics for this item

📧 Request an update