Conjuring ‘Win-World’ – Resilient Development Narratives in a Large-Scale Agro-Investment in Tanzania

Abstract

Through a case study of a public-private partnership (PPP) for development in which the Swedish development agency Sida supported a Swedish company trying to implement a large-scale agro-investment in sugarcane in Tanzania, we unpack the underpinnings of what we call 'win-world', a resilient development narrative maintained by actors promoting the investment. Rich empirical descriptions show that this narrative was highly resilient to accumulated academic knowledge and current real-world problems. We found that the privatisation of development increased the resilience of the narrative to evidence of its own shortcomings.

Neither sustainable nor inclusive: a political economy of agricultural policy and livelihoods in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia

“…Yet, the barriers to agricultural policy being shaped by this evidence are significant (Isgren 2016). It runs counter to a deeply embedded and hegemonic policy rhetoric, where modernisation is equal to hybrid seeds, inorganic fertilisers, and large-scale mono-cropping (Engström and Hajdu 2019).…”

“…In Tanzania, the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Programme, an investment strategy under Kilimo Kwanza (Agriculture First) aims to focus investment and commercialisation of agriculture in the central zone. However this has created space for local elites and companies to accumulate land and prosper at the expense of vulnerable groups and small producers (Chung 2017;Rasmussen and Lund 2018;Engström and Hajdu 2019). Similar criticisms are made of large-scale land acquisitions and PPPs such as the Green Belt initiative in Malawi (Chinsinga 2017), and the farm block initiative and out-grower schemes in Zambia (Sitko and Jayne 2014;Matenga 2017).…”

Governing a Liminal Land Deal: The Biopolitics and Necropolitics of Gender

“…The origins and evolution of the EcoEnergy Sugar Project have been discussed at length elsewhere (see e.g. Chung , ; Engström and Hajdu ). For the purposes of this paper, I begin the analysis from late 2011 (roughly six years after the inception of the project and two years before the official land transfer), when the Tanzanian government began publicising the investment through radio broadcasts, newspapers announcements and roadside notice boards.…”

“…Projects like this are not uncommon. Increasing evidence suggests that many of the prominent land deals signed during the global land rush of the early 2000s have “backfired” (GRAIN :2) or are struggling to materialise for a wide range of reasons, including financial setbacks (Engström and Hajdu ), domestic politicking (Burnod et al ), grassroots and transnational activism (Gingembre ), historical resource conflicts (Chung ), as well as lower than expected yields and profits (Schönweger and Messerli ). In Africa, it is estimated that out of the 22 million hectares contracted over the past decade for agriculture, only about 3% is currently under production (Johansson et al ).…”

Towards a green modernization development discourse: the new green revolution in Africa

“…Flagged by a depoliticized green language of climate smartness, sustainable intensification and land mobility, public and corporate interests subscribe to a resilient and linear historical narrative of modernization that risks reinforcing a pattern of rural depopulation (Borras and Franco 2018;Davis 2006;Engström and Hajdu 2018;Li 2010). 34 Registered in the long-standing dualist ontology undergirding this narrative, the emerging green modernization discourse would perceive such trends as progressive change.…”