"The social construction of "shared growth

Zambia Sugar and the uneven terrain of social benefit

Bibliographic Data

ID2285673
AuthorsLaura A German (0000-0003-4943-4515, Department of Anthropology University of Georgia Athens GA 30602 USA, corresponding author), Lowery Parker (Department of Geography University of Georgia Athens GA 30602 USA)
Year2019
Volume19
Issue1
Pages181-201
Publication date2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Agrarian Change (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1471-0358 • E-ISSN: 1471-0366
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/joac.12270
OpenAlexW2803461430
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited72

Recent years have witnessed a growing trend in agricultural investment and large-scale farmland acquisition in the Global South and a rapid expansion of scholarship and public debate over the nature, consequences, and desirability of these trends. The polarization of this debate into "win/lose" narratives raises the question of whether, and under what conditions, the logic of capital accumulation driving farmland acquisition and investment can engender broad-based social benefits akin to "shared growth." This paper sheds light on this question through a detailed look at the recent expansion of Zambia Sugar's Nakambala Estate in Mazabuka, Zambia. We explore outcomes linked to two of the most prominent pathways through which social benefits are said to accrue: smallholder incorporation and employment. Findings demonstrate the unevenness of outcomes linked to both pathways, with the concrete benefits both claimed and observed through some measures quickly eroding under the weight of alternative performance metrics. The unevenness produced by the intensification of capitalist relations is manifested not just between those differentially positioned with respect to the incoming investment ("outgrower," "employee," and "land loser") but within each of those conditions. This ambiguity opens spaces for competing representations of the promises and pitfalls of these processes, while highlighting the shaky ground on which shared growth and inclusive business agendas stand

Ambiguity · Economic growth · Economic system · Economics · Estate · Investment (military · Narrative · Political economy · Political science · Scholarship · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Land Rights and Reforms · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion · Finance