ABSTRACT
This article argues that the case studies to be published in a special issue together with this article make three arguments about the deployment of Green Revolution technologies in development strategies. These arguments identify the importance of context in understanding sustainable outcomes, and the claim that technical fixes such as the increasing use of synthetic fertilizers and increased yields do not necessarily alleviate hunger and poverty over the long term. The third argument is that interventions built upon existing social, political and economic inequalities will only deepen unequal access, distribution and control of food and food-producing resources for rural people. In the second half of this essay, these arguments frame responses to the world food crisis of 2007–2008 as exemplified in the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development report. These responses are overshadowed by the large-scale foreign land acquisitions currently underway in many countries where hunger and malnutrition are pressing social and moral issues. Working towards sustainable futures in food and agriculture involves the construction and development of food networks that are contextualized, reliant on agro-ecological paradigms, the provision of dignified and decent livelihoods for food producers, democratically controlled provisioning for surrounding communities and regions as well as secure land rights for small-scale farmers. This is the vision of political ecology of rural development that moves beyond technical fixes and market regulation to considerations of justice and equity in resource access and control.
