"The Baby of the Government" : a case study of the implementation of the Massive Food Production Programme and genetically modified maize into smallholder farming in rural South Africa
Massive Food Production Programme (MFPP) is a development programme initiated by the South African state with the aim of increasing the agricultural production and generating economic development. The initial plan of the programme was to improve the quality of life in rural areas by changing the sma...
| Autores principales: | , |
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| Formato: | L3 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco |
| Publicado: |
SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development
2008
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| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855572030722670592 |
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| author | Nilsson, Anna Karlsson, Hanna |
| author_browse | Karlsson, Hanna Nilsson, Anna |
| author_facet | Nilsson, Anna Karlsson, Hanna |
| author_sort | Nilsson, Anna |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | Massive Food Production Programme (MFPP) is a development programme initiated by the South African state with the aim of increasing the agricultural production and generating economic development. The initial plan of the programme was to improve the quality of life in rural areas by changing the smallholders' agricultural techniques and make them adopt methods of industrial agriculture and modern seed varieties. The agro-chemical company Monsanto has an important role in MFPP, as an input supplier as well as a provider of technical advice. In some of the villages that participated in MFPP the smallholders have been growing genetically modified maize, as did the villagers in Xopozo. Xopozo is a rural village in the province Eastern Cape where part of the fieldwork of this study was made. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the objectives, implementation and results of MFPP have been interpreted by different actors. MFPP has failed or been stopped before the planned ending date in many villages where it was implemented. We attempted to analyse the reasons for this failure. The study also includes an analysis of the introduction of genetically modified crops in MFPP, how this corresponds with the objectives and how the usage was interpreted by different actors in MFPP. The study is based on interviews with officials at different levels within the Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture (ECDA), agricultural extension officers involved in MFPP representatives form Monsanto and villagers in Xopozo. The methods employed are mainly semi-structured interviews but also PRA methods and observations.
Our conclusion is that MFPP is a top-down planned programme, and that there has not been any possibility for the participating smallholders to affect its planning or implementation. Lack of information within MFPP explains a part of the failure of the programme. The actors interpreted the objectives and the purpose of the programme in different ways. The lack of information and participation from smallholders are important factors to why MFPP failed. Another important factor behind the failure are the views on poverty and development coming from the ECDA. MFPP is merely offering technical solutions in form of increased food production. Because of the focus of increasing food production genetically modified crops match the objectives of MFPP. This focus in combination with the views about poor people as lazy, passive and irrational has contributed to the failure of MFPP. |
| format | L3 |
| id | RepoSLU12262 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2008 |
| publishDateSort | 2008 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU122622017-11-01T11:34:32Z "The Baby of the Government" : a case study of the implementation of the Massive Food Production Programme and genetically modified maize into smallholder farming in rural South Africa Nilsson, Anna Karlsson, Hanna rural development development programme smallholders genetically modifed crops South Africa poverty Massive Food Production Programme (MFPP) is a development programme initiated by the South African state with the aim of increasing the agricultural production and generating economic development. The initial plan of the programme was to improve the quality of life in rural areas by changing the smallholders' agricultural techniques and make them adopt methods of industrial agriculture and modern seed varieties. The agro-chemical company Monsanto has an important role in MFPP, as an input supplier as well as a provider of technical advice. In some of the villages that participated in MFPP the smallholders have been growing genetically modified maize, as did the villagers in Xopozo. Xopozo is a rural village in the province Eastern Cape where part of the fieldwork of this study was made. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the objectives, implementation and results of MFPP have been interpreted by different actors. MFPP has failed or been stopped before the planned ending date in many villages where it was implemented. We attempted to analyse the reasons for this failure. The study also includes an analysis of the introduction of genetically modified crops in MFPP, how this corresponds with the objectives and how the usage was interpreted by different actors in MFPP. The study is based on interviews with officials at different levels within the Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture (ECDA), agricultural extension officers involved in MFPP representatives form Monsanto and villagers in Xopozo. The methods employed are mainly semi-structured interviews but also PRA methods and observations. Our conclusion is that MFPP is a top-down planned programme, and that there has not been any possibility for the participating smallholders to affect its planning or implementation. Lack of information within MFPP explains a part of the failure of the programme. The actors interpreted the objectives and the purpose of the programme in different ways. The lack of information and participation from smallholders are important factors to why MFPP failed. Another important factor behind the failure are the views on poverty and development coming from the ECDA. MFPP is merely offering technical solutions in form of increased food production. Because of the focus of increasing food production genetically modified crops match the objectives of MFPP. This focus in combination with the views about poor people as lazy, passive and irrational has contributed to the failure of MFPP. Massive Food Production Programme (MFPP) är ett utvecklingsprogram, initierat av den sydafrikanska staten med ändamål att öka jordbruksproduktionen och där igenom att generera ekonomisk utveckling. Den ursprungliga planen för programmet var att förbättra livssituationen för småbrukare på landsbygden genom att få dem att använda konventionella jordbrukstekniker och utsädessorter. Det agrokemiska företaget Monsanto har varit en viktig aktör i MFPP, som leverantör och som deltagare i form av rådgivning. I vissa av de byar som medverkade i MFPP odlades genmodifierad majs, exempelvis i Xopozo. Xopozo är den by på landsbygden i Eastern Cape där vi har genomfört delar av vårt fältarbete. Studien syftade till att undersöka hur programmets mål, utförande samt resultat uppfattas av olika aktörer inom MFPP. Eftersom MFPP i flera fall misslyckades och har avbrutits i förtid på många platser har vi analyserat bakomliggande faktorer för misslyckandet. Studien innefattar också en analys av hur användandet av genmodifierade grödor överensstämmer med målen och hur användandet av dessa har tolkats av olika aktörer inom MFPP. Materialet som denna studie baseras på består av intervjuer med tjänstemän på olika nivåer på jordbruksdepartementet i Eastern Cape (ECDA), rådgivare inom MFPP, representanter från Monsanto och bybor i Xopozo. Som metod för insamling av data har främst semistrukturerade intervjuer används, och i viss utsträckning även PRA- metoder samt direktobservationer. Vår slutsats är att MFPP var ett toppstyrt program utan möjligheter för deltagarna att påverka planering och utförande. Detta grundas på ett dåligt fungerande informationsflöde inom MFPP och aktörernas olika tolkningar av programmets mål, syfte och implementering. Bristen på information samt bristen på deltagande är viktiga faktorer som resulterade MFPP:s misslyckade. Utmärkande i denna studie är synen hos aktörer vid ECDA på fattigdom och utveckling. På grund av ECDA:s fokusering vid ökad livsmedelsproduktion så matchar användandet av genmodifierade grödor programmets mål. Detta fokus i kombination med en syn på fattiga som lata, passiva och irrationella har bidragit till MFPP:s misslyckades. SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development 2008 L3 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/12262/ |
| spellingShingle | rural development development programme smallholders genetically modifed crops South Africa poverty Nilsson, Anna Karlsson, Hanna "The Baby of the Government" : a case study of the implementation of the Massive Food Production Programme and genetically modified maize into smallholder farming in rural South Africa |
| title | "The Baby of the Government" : a case study of the implementation of the Massive Food Production Programme and genetically modified maize into smallholder farming in rural South Africa |
| title_full | "The Baby of the Government" : a case study of the implementation of the Massive Food Production Programme and genetically modified maize into smallholder farming in rural South Africa |
| title_fullStr | "The Baby of the Government" : a case study of the implementation of the Massive Food Production Programme and genetically modified maize into smallholder farming in rural South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | "The Baby of the Government" : a case study of the implementation of the Massive Food Production Programme and genetically modified maize into smallholder farming in rural South Africa |
| title_short | "The Baby of the Government" : a case study of the implementation of the Massive Food Production Programme and genetically modified maize into smallholder farming in rural South Africa |
| title_sort | "the baby of the government" : a case study of the implementation of the massive food production programme and genetically modified maize into smallholder farming in rural south africa |
| topic | rural development development programme smallholders genetically modifed crops South Africa poverty |