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The Green Belt Initiative, Politics and Sugar Production in Malawi

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  • Blessings Chinsinga

Abstract

This paper critically examines underlying political economy dynamics of the expansion of sugar cultivation in Malawi within the framework of the Green Belt Initiative (GBI). This is being promoted in the context of a protracted legislative impasse in land reform efforts, targeting primarily land that belongs to smallholder farmers. The paper argues that the promises of employment, technology transfer and infrastructure development, as outlined in the GBI concept paper and touted in the outgrower sugar cane project, remain rhetorical. Communities in the investment sites are experiencing a destabilisation of social relations, precipitated by persistent violent confrontations with a coalition of elites. Corporate and elite interests have coalesced to press on with the GBI experiment, even though the welfare of smallholders is being undermined, and despite the growing resistance through both legal and extra-legal means. This political economy of sugar must be understood in relation to Malawi’s elite politics, a pattern that has persisted across successive regimes.

Suggested Citation

  • Blessings Chinsinga, 2017. "The Green Belt Initiative, Politics and Sugar Production in Malawi," Journal of Southern African Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(3), pages 501-515, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:cjssxx:v:43:y:2017:i:3:p:501-515
    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2016.1211401
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    Cited by:

    1. Roeland Hemsteede, 2024. "Power Relations in Malawi’s Social Cash Transfer Programme: The Flip Side of Domination," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(1), pages 194-215, February.
    2. Kabanga, Lucky & Mooya, Manya M., 2023. "Compensation assessment practices in expropriation of customary land: Evidence from Malawi," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).

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