Productivism, Agroecology, and the Challenge of Feeding the World

Abstract

Among all of the possible approaches to reducing hunger in the world, efforts to increase agricultural productivity dominate in development institutions and large philanthropies. In this productivist paradigm, the function of agriculture is narrow, and further investments in industrial agriculture are the greatest need. This view clashes with the intricate diversity and multiple functions of farms and gardens in Yucatan, Mexico. Agroecosystems there are spectacularly diverse. Besides providing many products to eat and sell, those farms are uniquely well suited to feed households in the increasingly erratic weather of Yucatan, where droughts and storms often wipe out certain crops. In a diverse garden, there is nearly always something to eat. There is little evidence that increasing agricultural production alone promotes food security, and there are many instances in which the drive for productivity has exacerbated hunger. In this article, I investigate why productivism has dominated development policy and discourse for so long.

What Opportunities Exist for Making the Food Supply Nutrition Friendly? A Policy Space Analysis in Mexico

“…In considering the opportunities for change to food policy in Mexico, it is also important to recognize that the current dominant approach of increasing productivity or food assistance programs has been shown to be ineffective to increase food security. 66,67 In this study, we see a timely opportunity to reduce this policy dichotomy (food supply vs nutrition) in the case of Mexico with the current working group on food policy. Our analysis indicates this is a moment in the policy space to take advantage of the current vision on the public agenda to have a food system transformation which integrates agricultural and nutrition strategies to improve food systems with the objective of better population nutrition.…”

“…In considering the opportunities for change to food policy in Mexico, it is also important to recognize that the current dominant approach of increasing productivity or food assistance programs has been shown to be ineffective to increase food security. 66 , 67 …”

Understanding the Impact of Historical Policy Legacies on Nutrition Policy Space: Economic Policy Agendas and Current Food Policy Paradigms in Ghana

“… 72 Such a ‘productivist paradigm’ narrows the scope and imagination for considerations of nutrition, among other social and equity issues, within agricultural policy. 73 In this study, interviewees talked about ‘success’ in agriculture in relation to the amount produced (including in relation to ‘self-sufficiency,’ but without reference to for whom it was produced), diversification (but without reference to what was produced), price of foods, and farmer access to export markets. In other domains of global health, dominant neoliberal economic paradigms have also resulted in tight, economically-grounded metrics with major implications for the ways in which successful interventions are understood and defined, raising concerns about the potential for innovation and creative risk-taking in addressing major global challenges to be stifled.…”

Social-ecological interactions in a disaster context: Puerto Rican farmer households’ food security after Hurricane Maria

“…While food security is traditionally considered through an economic lens (e.g. enough money) [46,101,102], disasters create new circumstances or impacts that are not always safeguarded by economic access [40,80]. Such circumstances may be especially pronounced in island communities where the biophysical impacts of an event may be widespread, and the safety nets available may be physically and economically distant [16,44,45].…”