Paper short abstract:

In the Northern Corridor of Tanzania, the farmers, in the line of survival or to accumulate, try to reconstruct the social and economic links at different levels -regional, national or even international- by speeding up the precarious mobility between multiple territories, between country and town.

Paper long abstract:

In the Northern Corridor of Tanzania, the old agricultural systems, which supported the households' livelihood and determined the forms of rural-urban linkages, are currently "in transition" if not brought to a breakdown. It is the farmers themselves, in the line of survival who try to reconstruct the social and economic links at different levels -regional, national or even international- by speeding up the precarious mobility between multiple territories, between country and town.At the global level, the contemporary neoliberalism has established a new "territorial game" which is economically very competitive and supposes the breakdown of the former system of territorial regulations. At the local level, different blockages lead to the redefinition of the reference areas within which people organize their systems of resources in order to sustain their livelihood, to survive and/or to accumulate. The current situation is very complex and diverse as these new areas are very flexible according to the circumstances, or the opportunities that may open for individuals or collective persons. The former social and geographical categories are not very useful to understand the new dynamics. In the Tanzania Northern Corridor,the main blockages refer to the land problem. To deal with, small and big farmers or investors, etc. have to reconsider the way they will follow to access to, to utilize and/or to allocate the land or the space in general as a resource.

Paper short abstract:

East Africa became a major global player of the cut roses industry providing more than 2/3 of the Dutch auctions. This business connects suburban and rural locations with the global markets. This presentation focuses on this value chain and its impacts on local territories in East Africa.

Paper long abstract:

In the last 20 years East Africa became a major global player of the cut roses industry providing not less than 2/3 of the Dutch auctions with it products. This 1 billion E business connects very small suburban and rural locations with the global markets and contributes to the structural diversification of national economies. This presentation will focus on the actual fonctionning of this new (disrupting ?) value chain, at any scale trying to move away from a afrocentred approach of Africa. How does this GVC actually works ? Who are the major players of this business ? How do they impact on the local settings' development ? How do these products get over borders and penetrate the global markets ? How do they successfully compete with Latin American, Asian or European roses ?

We would like to use the cut rose GVC case study as a tool to revisit the paradigms of dependency and domination which are often considered hackneyed and now blurred in analyses of globalization. We would focus on the actual fonctionning of this new (connecting and disrupting ?) value chain, at any scale, trying as much as possible to move away from a afrocentred approach of Africa. Finally we would really like to discuss with other contributors in order to draw further future avenues for collective researches.

Paper short abstract:

Scarcely populated on the border of Mount Elgon saturated rural land, Ngenge subcounty attracts a increasing number of external actors. Interests and representations compete to take advantage of the emerging opportunities.

Paper long abstract:

Large scale agricultural investments carry a heavy historical and symbolic weight. The impact on sub-Saharan peasant communities has been already extensively criticized. In this presentation, far from contesting this work we focus on the local strategies to make the best out of this situations. We argue that winner and losers from the recomposition of rural areas are not as foreseeable as they seem.

The subcounty of Ngenge is located in eastern Uganda, between the heavily populated Mount Elgon and the agro-pastoralist Karamoja. For decades it was almost deserted by its population due to insecurity and relentless cattle rustling. In the 2000s, the returning population was followed by a wide range of external investors. Medium/large scale land transactions were completed and directed to the production of food stuffs (sunflowers, sesame, sorghum…) for international markets. In the meantime, an increasing number of farmers coming mostly from the neighboring mount Elgon (Sebei and Bagisu), engaged in rice and horticulture in the wettest part of the area. Ngenge is still scarcely populated but attracts a growing number of people and land prices are exploding. While being outside of the major east African agricultural development corridors, Ngenge provides original insights on the consequences of external agricultural investments on the control of resources by local population. Complex strategies are developed to take advantage of the fast-changing context. The stakes of this processes are indeed very high, especially for the originally displaced population.

Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the interplay between grassroots technological innovation and socioeconomic transformation in rural Africa. It discusses how newly-introduced technologies have been shared with others and diffused throughout the community by allowing everyone access to new resources.

Paper long abstract:

African villages have always been exposed to a continuous inflow of new farming technologies. Recently, in many parts of rural Africa, capitalistic farmers (including foreign investors) have introduced the latest farm machines and new seeds to implement large-scale monoculture farming, which also affected neighboring rural communities in many ways. Expansion of commercial agriculture has often been accompanied by a large-scale land appropriation, leading to varying scales of land conflicts and disruption among indigenous communities.

In contrast to such a disruptive and coercive nature of Green Revolution-type of technological change, grassroots innovation process among African villagers have often worked to maintain harmony or connection with existing skills, communal ties, and natural environment. By applying knowledge and skills of external origin, villagers constantly introduce changes not only in their production process but also in other aspects of everyday life including cooking, brewing, and so forth. Such grassroots innovations may be initiated by one marginalized person, but gradually spread through the whole community, by allowing resource-poor villagers access to land, labour or other resources which may be needed to adopt a new technology. This diffusion process is often closely linked to local circulation of cash. Drawing on empirical case studies in Zambia and Tanzania, this paper will examine how new technologies have been introduced and diffused in rural communities, thereby revealing a socially-inclusive character of grassroots innovation process.