Land is changing : contested agricultural narratives in Northern Malawi (chapter 7)

Abstract

Examines the mutual conditioning of alternative visions of agriculture in the Ekwendeni region, where agribusiness deepens colonial monoculture, degrading soils with inorganic fertilizers and hybrid seeds, and small-holder supports are removed under the assumption that peasant agriculture is unthinkable, or an obstacle to development and food security. Under pressure from agribusiness and structural adjustment policies, an alternative vision emerges in the Soils, Food and Healthy Communities projects (SFHC) across over a hundred villages, dedicated to agro-ecology and sustaining gender and inter-generational relations on the land.