Why current agroecology rhetoric stands to protract farmer poverty in the developing world

Abstract

Like in the rest of the world, the vision for the future of agriculture in the developing world is highly contested. At the centre of this oft-polarized debate, a growing constituency of advocates suggests a large-scale shift to agroecology as the key to transforming Africa's agriculture. Yet, this rhetoric is not only quixotic in its vision for an African agricultural revolution but also profoundly dissociated from the realities of African agriculture. If the aim is to revolutionize African agriculture, rigid philosophical fixations on an idealized farming system are not the answer. For resource-poor farmers looking to lift themselves out of poverty in Africa and the rest of the developing world, such a narrative will only protract the status quo. Most crucially, it represents a pathway that stands to drive them deeper into poverty. Agricultural transformation in the developing world requires a pragmatic outlook, one that leverages the best of agroecology and modern agricultural solutions for smallholder farmers.