ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the development dynamics that have unfolded in the region in the agricultural sector. The focus of the chapter is on the ‘agrarian question’ of the 21st century, namely: what is the impact of the forces of change generated by the capitalist development of agriculture? Until recently and throughout the 20th century, the main role of agriculture in the capitalist development process had been to constitute a proletariat in the form of a wage-labouring working class and to replenish the industrial labourforce in the form of a reserve army of surplus labour. However, in the current context of extractive capitalism, the role of agriculture is equally as important but it has changed. The chapter analyses the development and resistance dynamics of the forces of change, with reference to the interaction of extractive capital (agro-extraction) and industrial capital (corporate agribusiness).
