The Political Ecology of Bananas: Contract Farming, Peasants, and Agrarian Change in the Eastern Caribbean
296
The Political Ecology of Bananas: Contract Farming, Peasants, and Agrarian Change in the Eastern Caribbean
296eBook
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Overview
Grossman challenges the conventional wisdom on three interrelated issues central to contract farming and political ecology. First, he analyzes the process of deskilling and the associated significance of control by capital and the state over peasant labor. Second, he investigates the impacts of contract farming for export on domestic food production and food import dependency. And third, he examines the often misunderstood
problem of pesticide misuse. Grossman's findings lead to a reconsideration of broader debates concerning the relevance of research on industrial restructuring and globalization for the analysis of agrarian change. Most important, his work emphasizes that we must pay greater attention to the fundamental significance of the "environmental rootedness" of agriculture in studies of political ecology and contract farming.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780807861820 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The University of North Carolina Press |
| Publication date: | 11/09/2000 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 296 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction. Political Ecology and Contract Farming
Chapter 1. The History and Contemporary Context of the Windward Islands Banana Industry
Chapter 2. Environment, Capital, and the State in Banana Contract Farming
Chapter 3. St. Vincent: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives
Chapter 4. Life in a Banana-Producing Village
Chapter 5. The Labor Question
Chapter 6. The Food Question
Chapter 7. The Environmental Question
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Maps
1. St. Vincent and the Grenadines
2. St. Vincent
3. Topography of St. Vincent
4. Food and Banana Gardens, Sample of Households
Figures
1.1. Windwards Banana Exports, 1954-1996
1.2. Banana Prices for Farmers, Adjusted for Inflation, 1964-1994
1.3. Exchange Rates, EC Dollar to British Pound, 1976-1996
2.1. Banana Prices, Current and Real, 1964-1994
2.2. Banana Quality, St. Vincent, 1983-1996
3.1. St. Vincent Trade Deficit, 1955-1993
6.1. Food Imports into St. Vincent, 1956-1993
6.2. Poultry Imports into St. Vincent, 1970-1994
6.3. Banana Exports and Food Imports, St. Vincent, 1970-1994
6.4. Percentage Increase in Cost of Foods, St. Vincent, 1964-1990
6.5. Provisions Production, St. Vincent, 1977-1989
6.6. Provisions Exports from St. Vincent, 1989-1994
6.7. Monthly Banana Sales, Sample of Households, 1989
6.8. Monthly Banana Exports by SVBGA, 1989
Tables
1.1. Characteristics of the Windward Islands Banana Industry, 1992
2.1. Environmental Disasters Affecting the Windward Islands Banana Industry
2.2. Number of Windstorms Causing Sufficient Damage for Holdings to Qualify for Insurance Benefits
2.3. British Aid to the St. Vincent Banana Growers' Association
2.4. Number of Growers, by Amounts Sold, 1992
2.5. Ratio of Extension Agents to Active Banana Growers, St. Vincent, 1987-1994
2.6. Fruit Quality Defects Specified, 1993
2.7. SVBGA Pricing Structures, 1994 and 1996
3.1. Area under Bananas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 1981-1992
3.2. 1985/86 Agricultural Census of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
3.3. Distribution of Land Area according to Slope Classes on St. Vincent
3.4. Distribution of Land on St. Vincent, 1895
4.1. Differences between Male-Headed and Female-Headed Households, Sample Households
4.2. Relation between Wage Labor and Landholdings, Restin Hill
4.3. Distribution of Control over Agricultural Land, Restin Hill
4.4. Differences in Agricultural Holdings, by Gender, Restin Hill
4.5. Distribution of Land under Various Forms of Tenure, Restin Hill
4.6. Distribution of Number of Plots Controlled by Agricultural Households, Restin Hill
4.7. Distribution of Size of Agricultural Plots, Restin Hill
4.8. Relation between Landholdings and Agricultural Patterns, Sample Households
4.9. Livestock Holdings, Restin Hill
5.1. Duration of Systems of Harvesting and Packing Bananas
6.1. Length of Time to Harvest Major Food Crops
6.2. Length of Time Provisions Can Be Left in Ground after They Are Ready for Harvest
6.3. Nutritional Comparison of the Costs of Imported and Locally Produced Foods, 1989
6.4. Seasonality of Banana-Related Activities, Sample Households
6.5. Relationship between Land Use and Distance from Residences, Sample Households
6.6. Relationship between Land Use and Slope, Sample Households
7.1. Distribution of Number of Pesticides Reported Used in Restin Hill, by Household, from July-August 1988 to July-August 1989
7.2. Number of Households in Restin Hill in Which Members Reported Using Various Pesticides, from July-August 1988 to July-August 1989
7.3. Pesticide Use on Selected Food Crops in Restin Hill, from July-August 1988 to July-August 1989
7.4. Female Use of Pesticides in Households That Included Adult Males and Adult Females, Restin Hill, from July-August 1988 to July-August 1989
What People are Saying About This
A rich portrait of the history and current state of banana farming in St. Vincent . . . a tour de force in demonstrating the virtue of detailed local knowledge and of bringing 'ecology' back into political ecology.—Economic Geography
A rich, geographically contextualized volume. . . . Grossman's application of the political ecology framework to an analysis of the impact of globalization on peasant agriculture constitutes a ground-breaking accomplishment. . . . The result is a relatively rare outcome in which a highly theoretical work has clear human applications presented in a manner that, with adaptations to account for local differences, can be extrapolated to the realities of millions of others in similar situations in marginalized agrarian communities around the world. . . . Will interest anyone who is concerned with the Caribbean or with agricultural issues more generally.—Geographical Review
Lawrence Grossman demonstrates that peasant persistence in export production is related less to the resilience of household economies than to the interests of the multinational firms that market peasant produce in the developed world. . . . This careful, insightful, frequently brilliant analysis of contract farming reveals the constraints and opportunities of the contemporary global system, and restores some measure of agency to the peasant communities that are involved in it.—Journal of Political Ecology
A wide-ranging, intellectually challenging, and substantive work. . . . A detailed, scholarly contribution combining judicious use of data and penetrating analysis. Highly recommended.—Choice
This book makes a major contribution to the research on the application of regulation theory and Fordist and post-Fordist practices in agriculture. As a study of the grassroots impact of global trade policies, it will be valuable to Caribbeanists, anthropologists, economists, and agriculturalists, as well as geographers.—Janet Momsen, University of California, Davis
This book is a welcome addition to a growing and increasingly charged literature on transnational firms and contract farming in the 'South.' By drawing on concepts from geography, ecology, and anthropology, and by skillfully presenting a wealth of local data, Grossman makes his book accessible to a range of disciplines and scholars. If there is a single lesson that can be drawn from the work, it is that even under the most constraining of circumstances (i.e., contract farming) Caribbean peasants maintain a range of creative strategies of resistance and survival.—Peter D. Little, University of Kentucky
Should be required reading for anyone interested in contemporary labor transformation, the globalization of Third World agriculture, the interplay between local-level environmental and international political-economic forces, rural economic development, and peasant adaptation. Skillfully blending detailed micro-level actor-oriented description, thorough historical analysis, and sophisticated theoretical disputation, Grossman debunks several prevailing myths about the internationalization of agriculture. Broad in scope, rich in description, and sophisticated in analysis, this important new work is bound to stimulate additional studies of contemporary peasant adaptation.—Hymie Rubenstein, University of Manitoba
Grossman's book is a richly textured and very detailed field-based study that answers many of the key questions on contract farming, globalization, agrarian change and the environment. It is one of few geographic and social science publications that synthetically, critically, and clearly maps this complex terrain.—Abdi Ismail Samatar, University of Minnesota