Overview

This book employs a political ecology lens to unravel how industrial crops catalyse ecological, agrarian, socioeconomic, and institutional transformation. Using the conceptual tools and perspectives of political ecology, namely multi-scalar analysis and attention to marginalisation, social difference, and discourses and narratives, this volume provides a critical and comprehensive assessment of the transformative power of industrial cropping systems. It presents a truly international overview by drawing on a range of case studies from the global South, including soybeans in South America, cashew nuts in Guinea Bissau, cotton in India, maize in China, jatropha in Ghana, sugarcane in Peru and Eswatini, and oil palm in Ghana and Peru. The unique case studies are put into perspective with chapters introducing the key concepts of political ecology and critical dimensions of industrial cropping systems related to large-scale land acquisitions, land grabbing, and marginal land. The individual chapters employ different approaches all rooted in political ecology, thus offering a rich overview of how the field engages with such cropping systems. Overall, this volume contains valuable propositions for improving current policies and practices in industrial crop settings in both developed and developing countries. Through its comprehensive and interdisciplinary outlook, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of political ecology, agrarian studies, development studies, and ecological economics.

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9781032062136

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"""…this volume addresses the political ecology of industrial crops and the factors that have caused expansion and shifts—even transformations—of industrial crops and cropping systems in various regions, stressing the Global South… Understanding how the forces of political ecology are engaged through land acquisitions, shifting demand, and policy changes to support industrial crops helps clarify the balance between food sources and industrial crops"". J. L. Hatfield, formerly, USDA-Agricultural Research Service"

...this volume addresses the political ecology of industrial crops and the factors that have caused expansion and shifts-even transformations-of industrial crops and cropping systems in various regions, stressing the Global South... Understanding how the forces of political ecology are engaged through land acquisitions, shifting demand, and policy changes to support industrial crops helps clarify the balance between food sources and industrial crops . J. L. Hatfield, formerly, USDA-Agricultural Research Service

Author Information

Abubakari Ahmed is a lecturer at the S.D. Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), Ghana. Alexandros Gasparatos is an associate professor at the University of Tokyo and a visiting associate professor at the United Nations University, Japan.

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