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Value-chain Agriculture and Debt Relations: contradictory outcomes

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  • Philip Mcmichael

Abstract

In the context of the world food crisis ‘value-chain agriculture’ is emerging as a new frontier of publicly subsidised corporate investment, incorporating smallholding farmers into commercial relations to redress apparent food shortages. This paper conceptualises value-chains as technologies of economic and ecological power, using cross-regional case studies to explore the impact of debt relations in extant value-chain relations. While the value-chain project envisioned by the development industry in partnership with the private sector is geared to ‘feeding the world’ the likely outcome is (differentiating) smallholders serving corporate markets at the expense of local food security. I argue that developmentalists seek to resolve the crisis through a ‘spatio-temporal fix’, enclosing smallholders in value-chain technologies financed through debt relations that appropriate value from smallholder communities. At the same time some farmers are seeking to avoid the debt trap by developing strategies to decommodify farming practices to preserve and revitalise their farms as creators of ecological values, rather than simply converters of economic value.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Mcmichael, 2013. "Value-chain Agriculture and Debt Relations: contradictory outcomes," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 671-690.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:34:y:2013:i:4:p:671-690
    DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2013.786290
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    Cited by:

    1. Ríos Núnez, Sandra & Benítez Jiménez, Diócles & Soria Re, Sandra, 2015. "Cadenas agroalimentarias territoriales. Tensiones y aprendizajes desde el sector lácteo de la Amazonía ecuatoriana," Revista Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, CIE, issue 84, pages 179-208, November.
    2. Giuliano Martiniello & Ricardo Azambuja, 2019. "Contracting Sugarcane Farming in Global Agricultural Value Chains in Eastern Africa: Debates, Dynamics, and Struggles," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 8(1-2), pages 208-231, April.
    3. Bélair, Joanny, 2021. "Farmland investments in Tanzania: The impact of protected domestic markets and patronage relations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Sarah Rotz & Evan Fraser, 2015. "Resilience and the industrial food system: analyzing the impacts of agricultural industrialization on food system vulnerability," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 5(3), pages 459-473, September.
    5. Vibeke Bjornlund & Henning Bjornlund & André Rooyen, 2022. "Why food insecurity persists in sub-Saharan Africa: A review of existing evidence," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(4), pages 845-864, August.
    6. Schoneveld, George C., 2022. "Transforming food systems through inclusive agribusiness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    7. Ismail Doga Karatepe & Christoph Scherrer, 2019. "Collective Action as a Prerequisite for Economic and Social Upgrading in Agricultural Production Networks," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 8(1-2), pages 115-135, April.
    8. Jakobsen, Jostein, 2021. "New food regime geographies: Scale, state, labor," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    9. Mutiu A. Oyinlola & Abdulfatai A. Adedeji & Nafisat Olabisi, 2021. "Technology, energy use, and agricultural value addition nexus: an exploratory analysis from SSA countries," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 457-490, May.
    10. Mario Del Roble Pensado-Leglise & Andrew Smolski, 2017. "An Eco-Egalitarian Solution to the Capitalist Consumer Paradox: Integrating Short Food Chains and Public Market Systems," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-15, September.
    11. Cees Leeuwis & Birgit K. Boogaard & Kwesi Atta-Krah, 2021. "How food systems change (or not): governance implications for system transformation processes," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(4), pages 761-780, August.
    12. Rezvani, L., 2020. "Plants and their peasants: a more-than-human approach to plant breeding and seed politics in Brittany, France," ISS Working Papers - General Series 124280, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    13. Helena Shilomboleni, 2020. "Political economy challenges for climate smart agriculture in Africa," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(4), pages 1195-1206, December.
    14. Marion Werner & Jennifer Bair & Victor Ramiro Fernández, 2014. "Linking Up to Development? Global Value Chains and the Making of a Post-Washington Consensus," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(6), pages 1219-1247, November.
    15. Freedom Mazwi & Abel Chemura & George T. Mudimu & Walter Chambati, 2019. "Political Economy of Command Agriculture in Zimbabwe: A State-led Contract Farming Model," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 8(1-2), pages 232-257, April.
    16. Philip McMichael, 2021. "Shock and Awe in the UNFSS," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 64(3), pages 162-171, December.
    17. Diana Mincyte & Karin Dobernig, 2016. "Urban farming in the North American metropolis: Rethinking work and distance in alternative food networks," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(9), pages 1767-1786, September.
    18. Edo Andriesse & Puntita Tanwattana, 2018. "Coping with the End of the Commodities Boom: Rubber Smallholders in Southern Thailand Oscillating Between Near-poverty and Middle-class Status," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 34(1), pages 77-102, March.
    19. Thomas Vetter & Marianne Nylandsted Larsen & Thilde Bech Bruun, 2019. "Supermarket-Led Development and the Neglect of Traditional Food Value Chains: Reflections on Indonesia’s Agri-Food System Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, January.
    20. María G. Lira & James P. Robson & Daniel J. Klooster, 2022. "Commons, global markets and small-scale family enterprises: the case of mezcal production in Oaxaca, Mexico," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(3), pages 937-952, September.

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