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“No one is talking about food”: making agriculture a “business” in Ghana

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  • Joeva Sean Rock

    (University of Cambridge)

Abstract

At the turn of the 21st century, a collection of donors created the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to spark a “new” Green Revolution on the African continent. Since its inception, AGRA’s mission has revolved around a series of interventions designed around the idea of making agriculture a “business.” In this paper, I ask how AGRA puts such discourses into practice with a particular focus in Ghana. To do so, I draw on a television show produced by AGRA called Kuapa, organizational literature, and to a lesser extent, interviews, to assess how AGRA materializes its goals in Ghana. Ultimately, I argue that a focus on discourse not only provides insight into how AGRA conceptualizes agricultural transformation, but also how AGRA pursues agronomic, political, and social changes in the countries in which it intervenes.

Suggested Citation

  • Joeva Sean Rock, 2023. "“No one is talking about food”: making agriculture a “business” in Ghana," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1259-1272, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:40:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s10460-023-10424-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-023-10424-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Abdul-Rahim Abdulai, 2022. "A New Green Revolution (GR) or Neoliberal Entrenchment in Agri-food Systems? Exploring Narratives Around Digital Agriculture (DA), Food Systems, and Development in Sub-Sahara Africa," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(8), pages 1588-1604, August.
    2. Adu-Gyamfi Poku & Regina Birner & Saurabh Gupta, 2018. "Why do maize farmers in Ghana have a limited choice of improved seed varieties? An assessment of the governance challenges in seed supply," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(1), pages 27-46, February.
    3. Ian Scoones & John Thompson, 2011. "The Politics of Seed in Africa's Green Revolution: Alternative Narratives and Competing Pathways," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(4), pages 1-23, July.
    4. Ragasa, Catherine & Dankyi, Awere & Acheampong, Patricia & Wiredu, Alexander Nimo & Chapoto, Antony & Asamoah, Marian & Tripp, Robert, 2013. "Patterns of adoption of improved maize technologies in Ghana:," GSSP working papers 36, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Philip McMichael & Mindi Schneider, 2011. "Food Security Politics and the Millennium Development Goals," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 119-139.
    6. Siera Vercillo & Miriam Hird-Younger, 2019. "Farmer resistance to agriculture commercialisation in northern Ghana," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 763-779, April.
    7. Jonathan Harwood, 2018. "Another Green Revolution? On the Perils of ‘Extracting Lessons’ from History," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 61(1), pages 43-53, December.
    8. Dawson, Neil & Martin, Adrian & Sikor, Thomas, 2016. "Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications of Imposed Innovation for the Wellbeing of Rural Smallholders," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 204-218.
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