Herbicide Induced Hunger? Conservation Agriculture, Ganyu Labour and Rural Poverty in Central Malawi

Herbicide use is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa. While herbicides promise improved weed-control, labour savings and even reduced land degradation - they are promoted to enable Conservation Agriculture (CA) adoption - there are concerns about their health and environmental risks. Yet, their socio-e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of development studies 2021-02, Vol.57 (2), p.244-263
Main Authors: Bouwman, T.I., Andersson, J.A., Giller, K.E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural conservation
Agricultural development
Agricultural technology
Agriculture
Agrochemicals
Conservation
Coping
Coping strategies
Degradation
Differentiation
Environmental risk
Fairness
Farmworkers
Growing season
Health promotion
Healthy food
Herbicides
Hiring
Households
Housework
Hunger
Labor
Labor relations
Land degradation
Low income groups
Poverty
Rural poverty
Socioeconomic factors
Technology
Temporary employees
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Summary:Herbicide use is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa. While herbicides promise improved weed-control, labour savings and even reduced land degradation - they are promoted to enable Conservation Agriculture (CA) adoption - there are concerns about their health and environmental risks. Yet, their socio-economic implications have been largely ignored. We investigated the effects of herbicide use on casual labour relations (ganyu) in Central Malawi using a survey of 275 households. In rural Malawi doing ganyu is the main coping strategy during the hunger season/growing season. We find that where CA promotion incentivised herbicide use, herbicides became common and substituted much in-season ganyu hiring. Consequently, many households were unable to find work and ended up hungry. While herbicides mainly benefited the better-off who could afford them, these benefits occurred at the expense of the poor and food insecure. Agricultural development initiatives should be aware that herbicides are likely to reduce agricultural labour opportunities and rural wages. Where alternative labour opportunities are limited, this may contribute to social differentiation, hunger and the individualisation of poverty. Our study demonstrates the potential hazards of neglecting the social equity implications of technology promotion - a lesson pertinent to the sustainable intensification agenda, including the promotion of CA.
ISSN:0022-0388
1743-9140
DOI:10.1080/00220388.2020.1786062