ABSTRACT

Over the last decade there has been renewed interest in food security and the state of the global food system. Population growth, climate change and food price spikes have combined to focus new attention on the technologies and institutions that underpin the production and consumption of food that is varied, nutritious and safe.

Knowledge politics within development-oriented agronomy set the stage for some models of agricultural development to be favoured over others, with very real implications for the food security and wellbeing of many millions of people. Agronomy for Development demonstrates how the analysis of knowledge politics can shed valuable new light on current debates about agricultural development and food security. Using bio-physical and social sciences perspectives to address the political economy of the production and use of knowledge in development, this edited collection reflects on the changing politics of knowledge within the field of agronomy and the ways in which these politics feed and reflect the interests of a broad set of actors.

This book is aimed at professionals working in agricultural research as well as students and practitioners of agricultural, rural and international development.

 

chapter 2|17 pages

On the movement of agricultural technologies

Packaging, unpacking and situated reconfiguration

chapter 4|15 pages

GM Crops ‘for Africa’

Contestation and knowledge politics in the Kenyan biosafety debate

chapter 5|20 pages

Systems Research in the Cgiar as an Arena of Struggle

Competing discourses on the embedding of research in development

chapter 6|12 pages

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back in Farmer Knowledge Exchange

‘Scaling up’ as Fordist replication in drag

chapter 7|13 pages

When the Solution Became a Problem

Strategies in the reform of agricultural extension in Uganda

chapter 8|17 pages

Sweet ‘Success’

Contesting biofortification strategies to address malnutrition in Tanzania

chapter 9|15 pages

Crops in Context

Negotiating traditional and formal seed institutions

chapter 10|14 pages

Laws of the Field

Rights and justice in development-oriented agronomy