Peasant Agroecology in Africa and Latin America
Peasant Agroecology in Africa and Latin America
- Boaventura MonjaneBoaventura Monjane1) Research Fellow, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, South Africa 2) Fellow of the International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counter-Strategies of the Rosa Lexumburg Stifftung 3) Solidarity Programme Officer for West Africa and Haiti, Grassroots International, USA OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8944-629X
- , and Peter M. RossetPeter M. Rosset1) Professor-Researcher, Departamento de Agricultura, Sociedad y Ambiente, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Chiapas, Mexico; 2) Collaborating Professor, Programa de Pós–Graduação em Desenvolvimento Territorial na América Latina e Caribe (TerritoriAL), Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” (UNESP), São Paulo, Brazil; 3) Permanent Professor, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociologia (PPGS) de la Universidade Estadual do Ceará (UECE), Brazil; 4) Bualuang ASEAN Chair Professor, Puey Ungphakorn School of Development Studies, Thammasat University, Thailand 5) Visiting Researcher, Social Research Institute (CUSRI), Chulalongkorn University, Thailand Emeritus Level, National System of Researchers (SNI), CONACYT, Mexico Productivity Scholar PQ-2, CNPq, Brazil. OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1253-106
Summary
Agroecology is a word with multiple definitions. Some define it as a narrow set of technologies to make farming more sustainable, while in a broader sense it is multifaceted and seen as: (a) critical thought —offering critical analysis of agrifood systems, both dominant and alternative—; (b) an inter- and trans-disciplinary science, both a ‘Western science’ and a ‘peasant science’, concerning how agoecosystems and food systems function, which provides the understanding needed to development transformative alternatives; (c) a variety of agricultural practices that allow sustainable farming without farm chemicals; and (d) a social movement that fights for social and environmental justice in the food system. Agroecology is currently being contested by different food system actors and is at risk of co-optation by various institutions and players, who attempt to redefine it within the confines of industrial food production, thereby diluting its transformative potential. Despite such attempts at appropriation, peasant agroecology, in particular, has a fundamental role as an alternative to the industrial food system, underlying the construction of local, sustainable food systems rooted in peasant agriculture and the principles of agroecology. In Africa and Latin America, for example, agroecology is an historical practice deeply embedded in indigenous and peasant knowledge systems, that today is critical to sustainable food production while offering challenges to dominant paradigms of agricultural development. There are intricate relationships among peasants, agroecology, and the broader struggle for food sovereignty, and social movements play a pivotal role of in advocating agroecological practices and resisting corporate control over food systems, agriculture, land, and territory.
Subjects
- Food Politics and Policy