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Contesting Africa’s New Green Revolution

Biotechnology and Philanthrocapitalist Development in Ghana

Jacqueline A Ignatova author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:17th Jun '21

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Contesting Africa’s New Green Revolution cover

An in-depth exploration of the impact of GM crops in Ghana, and what the ‘new Green Revolution’ means for development in Africa and beyond.

Genetically modified crops have become a key element of development strategies across the Global South, despite remaining deeply controversial. Proponents hail them as an example of ‘pro-poor’ innovation, while critics regard them as a threat to food sovereignty and the environment. The promotion of biotechnology is an integral part of ‘new Green Revolution for Africa’ interventions and is also intimately linked to the rise of ‘philanthrocapitalism,’ which advances business solutions to address the problem of poverty. Through interviews with farmers, policymakers and agricultural scientists, Jacqueline Ignatova shows how efforts to transform the seed sector in northern Ghana – one of the key laboratories of this ‘new Green Revolution’ – may serve to exacerbate the inequality it was notionally intended to address. But she also argues that its effects in Ghana have been far more complex than either side of the debate has acknowledged, with local farmers proving adept at blending traditional and modern agricultural methods that subvert the interests of global agribusiness.

Ignatova’s important book illuminates profound problems with public-private partnerships that skirt democratic accountability and empower wealthy interests at the expense of local communities. But it’s not a despairing account: she centres Ghanaian activists and policy-makers who are pioneering a new type of philanthropy, one emphasizing interdependency and social justice over anti-democratic efforts to privatize seed commons. A revelatory and insightful study. * Professor Linsey McGoey, University of Essex, UK *
Like a combine through a field of genetically modified maize, Jacqueline Ignatova cuts through the rhetoric surrounding the 'Green Revolution for Africa' to reveal the underlying power, politics and inequities that shape agricultural development in contemporary Ghana. Full of rich empirics and analytical insights, this book is essential reading for those seeking a comprehensive understanding of how public-private partnerships and philanthropy-driven initiatives are reshaping smallholder agriculture across the African continent. * Marcus Taylor, Associate Professor & Head of Department, Global Development Studies, Queen’s University, Canada *

ISBN: 9781786996558

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 476g

216 pages