Harrison, EA and Mdee, AL orcid.org/0000-0002-8260-1840 (2017) Size isn’t everything: narratives of scale and viability in a Tanzanian irrigation scheme. Journal of Modern African Studies, 55 (2). pp. 251-273. ISSN 0022-278X
Abstract
This paper explores tensions over scale and viability in irrigated agricultural development in Tanzania. A revival of ambition to transform African agriculture has reawakened debate over what type of agriculture can best deliver increased production and poverty reduction for rural populations. This paper examines these debates through the lens of an ethnographic study of an irrigated rice farm in Tanzania. With a chequered history of state and donor intervention management, Dakawa, Rice Farm in Mvomero District is now collectively farmed by a cooperative society of ‘small farmers’. It is widely hailed as a success, both of irrigation production, and of ‘small farmers’ in delivering this. However, such narratives of smallness and success obscure a more complex reality in which smallness of scale may be more of a discursive tool than a reflection of empirical reality. Although notions of ‘viability’ and‘success’ in such development interventions are themselves also contested and depend on perspective, there is evidence that there are fundamental problems of both short- and long-term viability.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | (c) 2017, Cambridge University Press. This article has been published in a revised form in Journal of Modern African Studies [http://doi.org/10.1017/S002227817000027]. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. |
Keywords: | Tanzania; water scarcity; politics of irrigation; agricultural development; sustainability |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 09 Feb 2017 12:05 |
Last Modified: | 03 Aug 2018 13:27 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/S002227817000027 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:112114 |