“Sugar cane will liberate us!”
Large-scale agricultural investments (LSAI) are common in today’s globalised world and frequently involve outgrower schemes. A complex situation involving land conflicts, government bureaucracy and requirements for international best practice in resettlement is causing continuing delays to a Swed...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Formato: | Second cycle, A1E |
| Lenguaje: | sueco Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2015
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| Acceso en línea: | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/8482/ |
| _version_ | 1855571358915756032 |
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| author | Ohlsson, Malin |
| author_browse | Ohlsson, Malin |
| author_facet | Ohlsson, Malin |
| author_sort | Ohlsson, Malin |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | Large-scale agricultural investments (LSAI) are common in today’s globalised
world and frequently involve outgrower schemes. A complex situation involving
land conflicts, government bureaucracy and requirements for international best
practice in resettlement is causing continuing delays to a Swedish LSAI in
Bagamoyo district, Tanzania. A sugar cane factory is to be built and farmers in
surrounding villages will be offered the opportunity to supply sugar cane as
outgrowers to the investor, Bagamoyo EcoEnergy Ltd (EE), on the farmers’ own
land. The Swedish international development cooperation agency (Sida) provided
support to the EE investment through credit guarantees for the ongoing initial
phase of investment.
This thesis investigated farmers’ perceptions of the planned outgrower scheme and
the origins of these perceptions through interviews with farmers in two affected
villages. The theoretical concept of imaginaries was used to analyse farmers’
expectations as regards the outgrower scheme. Imaginaries are long-term visions
where people imagine themselves in the future and are a powerful tool that can
affect subjects’ actions. Here, farmers’ more concrete expectations were examined
and set in relation to the risks that the farmers perceived.
It was found that, despite delays and risks, farmers expected a higher standard of
living from the outgrower scheme. They expressed scepticism about the investor
and were worried about the risks, but they regarded the outgrower scheme for
sugar cane as a large part of the future. This imaginary was strongly influenced by
the one-sided way in which information had been presented to the farmers.
Poverty and lack of agenda-setting power are also limiting the farmers’ choices –
they essentially can only take this opportunity or stay in their current situation.
Their high motivation for the EE outgrower scheme may be because it is regarded
by all actors as the villagers’ only chance to develop economically. The farmers’
expectations and risk perceptions were problematised and compared here with the imaginaries of EE, which hopes to change local farmers’ attitude towards farming as a business, and of Sida, which hopes for policy changes regarding land in Tanzania. |
| format | Second cycle, A1E |
| id | RepoSLU8482 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Swedish Inglés |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU84822015-09-17T13:12:18Z https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/8482/ “Sugar cane will liberate us!” Ohlsson, Malin Agricultural economics and policies Rural population Large-scale agricultural investments (LSAI) are common in today’s globalised world and frequently involve outgrower schemes. A complex situation involving land conflicts, government bureaucracy and requirements for international best practice in resettlement is causing continuing delays to a Swedish LSAI in Bagamoyo district, Tanzania. A sugar cane factory is to be built and farmers in surrounding villages will be offered the opportunity to supply sugar cane as outgrowers to the investor, Bagamoyo EcoEnergy Ltd (EE), on the farmers’ own land. The Swedish international development cooperation agency (Sida) provided support to the EE investment through credit guarantees for the ongoing initial phase of investment. This thesis investigated farmers’ perceptions of the planned outgrower scheme and the origins of these perceptions through interviews with farmers in two affected villages. The theoretical concept of imaginaries was used to analyse farmers’ expectations as regards the outgrower scheme. Imaginaries are long-term visions where people imagine themselves in the future and are a powerful tool that can affect subjects’ actions. Here, farmers’ more concrete expectations were examined and set in relation to the risks that the farmers perceived. It was found that, despite delays and risks, farmers expected a higher standard of living from the outgrower scheme. They expressed scepticism about the investor and were worried about the risks, but they regarded the outgrower scheme for sugar cane as a large part of the future. This imaginary was strongly influenced by the one-sided way in which information had been presented to the farmers. Poverty and lack of agenda-setting power are also limiting the farmers’ choices – they essentially can only take this opportunity or stay in their current situation. Their high motivation for the EE outgrower scheme may be because it is regarded by all actors as the villagers’ only chance to develop economically. The farmers’ expectations and risk perceptions were problematised and compared here with the imaginaries of EE, which hopes to change local farmers’ attitude towards farming as a business, and of Sida, which hopes for policy changes regarding land in Tanzania. Storskaliga markinvesteringar i jordbrukssyfte är vanliga i dagens globaliserade värld. Vid dessa investeringar tillämpas ofta kontraktsjordbruk. Genom markkonflikter, omständlig statlig byråkrati och åtagandet att följa en internationell hög standard vid tvångsförflyttningar har en svensk markinvestering i Bagamoyodistriktet i Tanzania dragit ut på tiden. En sockerrörsindustri ska anläggas och lokala bönder erbjuds att bli kontraktsjordbrukare och sälja sockerrör till investeraren Bagamoyo EcoEnergy Ltd (EE), odlade på byarnas egen mark. Swedish international development cooperation agency (Sida) har bidragit med lånegarantier till EE för att de ska kunna starta investeringen. Den här uppsatsen har undersökt hur böndernas förväntningar på storskaliga markinvesteringar ser ut och var förväntningarna kommer ifrån. Bönder från två byar har intervjuats och givit sin syn på risker och förhoppningar samt berättat hur de fått information om kontraktsjordbruket. Resultatet presenteras med hjälp av begreppet imaginaries. Begreppet innebär de långsiktiga visioner som visar vart människor ser sig själva i framtiden. Imaginaries påverkar människors handlingar för att nå sina visioner. De mer konkreta förväntningarna är beskrivna och sätts i relation till de risker som bönderna beskriver. Trots förseningar och det risktagande som kontraktsjordbruket innebär, visar resultatet från fältarbetet att bönderna förväntar sig en högre levnadsstandard till följd av kontraktsjordbruket. Många bönder var skeptiska mot företaget och var oroliga över flertalet risker men den överväldigande majoriteten av bönderna ser sin framtid i det planerade kontraktsjordbruket. Den här visionen var tydligt influerad av det ensidiga sättet information presenteras till bönderna. Fattigdom och litet handlingsutrymme begränsar böndernas val. I stort sett har de valet att ta möjligheten till kontraktsjordbruk eller att behålla sin nuvarande situation. Den höga motivationen att bli kontraktsjordbrukare kan vara ett resultat av att kontraktsjordbruket anses av alla aktörer vara böndernas enda väg till ekonomisk utveckling. Böndernas förväntningar och de upplevda riskerna problematiseras och jämförs med de imaginaries som Sida och EE har. Sidas förhoppning är att långsiktigt kunna förändra landlagstiftningen i Tanzania. Investeraren EE hoppas kunna få de lokala bönderna att se på sitt jordbruk som ett företag. 2015-09-15 Second cycle, A1E NonPeerReviewed application/pdf sv https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/8482/1/ohlsson_m_150915.pdf Ohlsson, Malin, 2015. “Sugar cane will liberate us!” : smallholder imaginaries about a planned outgrower scheme connected to a large-scale agricultural investment in Tanzania. Second cycle, A1E. Uppsala: (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Urban and Rural Development (LTJ, LTV) > Dept. of Urban and Rural Development <https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/view/divisions/OID-595.html> urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-s-4840 eng |
| spellingShingle | Agricultural economics and policies Rural population Ohlsson, Malin “Sugar cane will liberate us!” |
| title | “Sugar cane will liberate us!” |
| title_full | “Sugar cane will liberate us!” |
| title_fullStr | “Sugar cane will liberate us!” |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Sugar cane will liberate us!” |
| title_short | “Sugar cane will liberate us!” |
| title_sort | “sugar cane will liberate us!” |
| topic | Agricultural economics and policies Rural population |
| url | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/8482/ https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/8482/ |