Agricultural innovation from above and from below: Confrontation and integration on Rwanda's hills
(2014) African Affairs — Vol. 113, n° 450, p. 108-127 (2014)
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- Abstract
- In its 2008 World Development report, the World Bank pleads for a ‘Green Revolution’ for sub-Saharan Africa, particularly pointing to the importance of including smallholder farmers. This article focuses on the banana cropping system in Rwanda, and on the agricultural innovations introduced within this system. We first consider macro-level innovations that insert themselves into a broader logic of a modernised agricultural sector, and are thus in line with the rationale of the Green Revolution. We analyse how such ‘top-down’ innovations are received on the ground. On the other hand, we illustrate how smallholders also develop their own innovations ‘from below’ in response to or independent of top-down innovations. In our conclusion, we argue that the risk-coping rationale of small-scale farmers and their capacity to innovate ‘from below’ should receive much more attention in the elaboration of Rwanda’s agricultural strategies.
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Citations
Van Damme, J., Ansoms, A., & Baret, P. (2014). Agricultural innovation from above and from below: Confrontation and integration on Rwanda’s hills. African Affairs, 113(450), 108-127. https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adt067 (Original work published 2014)