IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v66y2015icp104-117.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A “Time of Agric”: Rethinking the “Failure” of Agricultural Programs in 1970s Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Wiemers, Alice

Abstract

Recent interest in a “new green revolution” in Africa has revived debate about state intervention in agricultural markets and biotechnology. These debates take for granted that the first wave of green revolution interventions in Africa failed to influence small-scale food farmers. This essay uses oral historical and documentary evidence from Ghana’s Northern Region to revisit the evidentiary basis of this assessment. Tracing how the production of aggregate data and changing interpretive frameworks in the 1970s and 1980s allowed policymakers to ignore the experiences of farmers, the essay advocates for the role of micro-historical analysis in assessing Africa’s recent agricultural past.

Suggested Citation

  • Wiemers, Alice, 2015. "A “Time of Agric”: Rethinking the “Failure” of Agricultural Programs in 1970s Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 104-117.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:66:y:2015:i:c:p:104-117
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.08.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X14002344
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.08.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Druilhe, Zoé & Barreiro-Hurlé, Jesús, 2012. "Fertilizer subsidies in sub-Saharan Africa," ESA Working Papers 288997, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    2. Goldman, Abe & Smith, Joyotee, 1995. "Agricultural transformations in India and Northern Nigeria: Exploring the nature of Green Revolutions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 243-263, February.
    3. Thomas R. De Gregori, 2004. "Green Revolution Myth and Agricultural Reality?," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2), pages 503-508, June.
    4. Jayne, T. S. & Govereh, J. & Mwanaumo, A. & Nyoro, J. K. & Chapoto, A., 2002. "False Promise or False Premise? The Experience of Food and Input Market Reform in Eastern and Southern Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 1967-1985, November.
    5. Birner, Regina & Resnick, Danielle, 2010. "The Political Economy of Policies for Smallholder Agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1442-1452, October.
    6. Eicher, Carl K., 1995. "Zimbabwe's maize-based Green Revolution: Preconditions for replication," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 805-818, May.
    7. Banful, Afua Branoah, 2011. "Old Problems in the New Solutions? Politically Motivated Allocation of Program Benefits and the "New" Fertilizer Subsidies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1166-1176, July.
    8. Holden, Stein T., 1993. "Peasant household modelling: Farming systems evolution and sustainability in northern Zambia," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 241-267, September.
    9. Tabatabai H., 1986. "Economic decline, access to food and structural adjustment in Ghana," ILO Working Papers 992482483402676, International Labour Organization.
    10. Andrew Shepherd, 1981. "Agrarian Change in Northern Ghana: Public Investment, Capitalist Farming and Famine," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Judith Heyer & Pepe Roberts & Gavin Williams (ed.), Rural Development in Tropical Africa, chapter 7, pages 168-192, Palgrave Macmillan.
    11. Harrigan, Jane, 2003. "U-Turns and Full Circles: Two Decades of Agricultural Reform in Malawi 1981-2000," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 847-863, May.
    12. Wiggins, Steve, 2000. "Interpreting Changes from the 1970s to the 1990s in African Agriculture Through Village Studies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 631-662, April.
    13. Freebairn, Donald K., 1995. "Did the Green Revolution Concentrate Incomes? A Quantitative Study of Research Reports," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 265-279, February.
    14. repec:ilo:ilowps:248248 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Houssou, Nazaire & Diao, Xinshen, 2018. "Effects of tractor ownership on returns-to-scale in agriculture: Evidence from maize in Ghana," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 33-49.
    2. Park, Albert Sanghoon, 2017. "Does the Development Discourse Learn from History?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 52-64.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dorward, Andrew & Kydd, Jonathan & Morrison, Jamie & Urey, Ian, 2004. "A Policy Agenda for Pro-Poor Agricultural Growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 73-89, January.
    2. Mockshell, Jonathan & Birner, Regina, 2020. "Who has the better story? On the narrative foundations of agricultural development dichotomies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    3. Mockshell, Jonathan & Birner, Regina, 2015. "Donors and domestic policy makers: Two worlds in agricultural policy-making?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-14.
    4. Holden, Stein T., 2018. "The Economics of Fertilizer Subsidies," CLTS Working Papers 9/18, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Centre for Land Tenure Studies, revised 16 Oct 2019.
    5. Gabre-Madhin, Eleni Z. & Haggblade, Steven, 2004. "Successes in African Agriculture: Results of an Expert Survey," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 745-766, May.
    6. Jayne, Thomas S. & Mason, Nicole M. & Burke, William J. & Ariga, Joshua, 2018. "Review: Taking stock of Africa’s second-generation agricultural input subsidy programs," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 1-14.
    7. Christian Otchia, 2014. "Agricultural Modernization, Structural Change and Pro-poor Growth: Policy Options for the Democratic Republic of Congo," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 3(1), pages 1-43, December.
    8. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Chamberlin, Jordan & Cunguara, Benedito & Muyanga, Milu & Mangisoni, Julius, 2017. "A comparative political economic analysis of maize sector policies in eastern and southern Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 243-255.
    9. Valbuena, Diego & Tui, Sabine Homann-Kee & Erenstein, Olaf & Teufel, Nils & Duncan, Alan & Abdoulaye, Tahirou & Swain, Braja & Mekonnen, Kindu & Germaine, Ibro & Gérard, Bruno, 2015. "Identifying determinants, pressures and trade-offs of crop residue use in mixed smallholder farms in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 107-118.
    10. Poulton, Colin & Davies, Rob & Matshe, Innocent & Urey, Ian, 2002. "A Review Of Zimbabwe'S Agricultural Economic Policies: 1980 - 2000," ADU Working Papers 10922, Imperial College at Wye, Department of Agricultural Sciences.
    11. Fujimoto, Takefumi & Suzuki, Aya, 2021. "Do Fertilizer and Seed Subsidies Strengthen Farmers' Market Participation? the Impact of Tanzania NAIVS on Farmers' Purchase of Agricultural Inputs and Their Maize-Selling Activities," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315044, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Adesugba, Margaret Abiodun, 2014. "Irrigation potential in Nigeria: Some perspectives based on factor endowments, tropical nature, and patterns in favorable areas:," IFPRI discussion papers 1399, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. Jayne, Thomas S. & Villarreal, Marcela & Pingali, Prabhu L. & Hemrich, Gunter, 2004. "Interactions between the Agricultural Sector and the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: Implications for Agricultural Policy," ESA Working Papers 23804, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    14. Bezu, Sosina & Kassie, Girma T. & Shiferaw, Bekele & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob, 2014. "Impact of Improved Maize Adoption on Welfare of Farm Households in Malawi: A Panel Data Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 120-131.
    15. Resnick, Danielle & Haggblade, Steven & Babu, Suresh & Hendriks, Sheryl L. & Mather, David, 2018. "The Kaleidoscope Model of policy change: Applications to food security policy in Zambia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 101-120.
    16. Birner, Regina & Resnick, Danielle, 2010. "The Political Economy of Policies for Smallholder Agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1442-1452, October.
    17. Nin-Pratt, Alejandro & McBride, Linden, 2014. "Agricultural intensification in Ghana: Evaluating the optimist’s case for a Green Revolution," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 153-167.
    18. Jayne, T.S. & Mason, Nicole M. & Burke, William J. & Ariga, Joshua, 2016. "Agricultural Input Subsidy Programs in Africa: An Assessment of Recent Evidence," Food Security International Development Working Papers 245892, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    19. Nicole M. Mason & Thomas S. Jayne, 2014. "Fertiliser subsidies and smallholder commercial fertiliser purchases: crowding out, leakage, and policy implications for Zambia," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 527-528, June.
    20. Murathi Kiratu, Nixon, 2014. "An Assessment of the Impact of Kilimo Plus Subsidy Program on Smallholder Farmers' Food Security and Income in Nakuru North District, Kenya," Research Theses 243470, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:66:y:2015:i:c:p:104-117. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.