Shifting Terrain: Political Struggles and Agroecological Approaches to Food Sovereignty in Malawi

Abstract

A call for a new Green Revolution for Africa was recently spearheaded by powerful institutions such as the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations, which has included millions of dollars in investment in fertilizer, hybrid and genetically-modified seeds and increased integration into global markets for African farmers. The Malawian government has actively promoted this model of high-input agriculture through fertilizer and hybrid seed subsidies. More recently they have signaled an interest in large-scale irrigation with plans to displace hundreds of smallholder farmers for monoculture irrigated sugar cane and maize production.