Brazil’s Tropical Solutions for Africa: Tractors, Matracas and the Politics of ‘Appropriate Technology

This article focusses on mechanical farming technology sponsored by Brazil’s South-South cooperation in Africa. Tractors and matracas are taken as symbols of different agricultural development pathways promoted by Brazilian players. One stark contrast is between high-powered mechanised farming and n...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of development research 2016-07, Vol.28 (3), p.414-430
Main Author: Cabral, Lídia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advocacy
Agricultural development
Agricultural economics
Agriculture
Appropriate technology
Conservation
Cooperation
Development and Social Change
Development Economics
Development Policy
Development Studies
Economic development
Efficiency
Exploitation
Family farms
Farm machinery
Farmers
Farming
Farms
Original Article
Political opposition
Politics
Social Sciences
South-South relations
Studies
Sustainable development
Technology
Technology transfer
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Summary:This article focusses on mechanical farming technology sponsored by Brazil’s South-South cooperation in Africa. Tractors and matracas are taken as symbols of different agricultural development pathways promoted by Brazilian players. One stark contrast is between high-powered mechanised farming and no-till conservation agriculture. Another is between large-scale agriculture and small-scale family farming. Embrapa, widely known as the champion of the Green Revolution in Brazil, has also encouraged a conservation route and the use of no-till and small-scale equipment, such as matracas . The Brazilian Ministry of Agrarian Development, leading advocate of family farming and of political opposition to large-scale farming, has inadvertently sponsored tractors, feeding a new wave of mechanisation across Africa that overlooks the potential of smaller-scale alternatives. Brazilian actors and their African counterparts have instrumentally deployed technology, and tractors particularly, in the pursuit of their interests, whereas considerations about technological appropriateness to local conditions have hardly played a role.
ISSN:0957-8811
1743-9728
DOI:10.1057/ejdr.2016.13