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AGRA (formerly known as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) was founded in 2006 by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Gates Foundation to initiate agricultural transformation in Africa. Although critics have argued that AGRA’s approach insufficiently addresses the needs of African smallholder farmers, there has been little analysis of the broader politics and networks that shape AGRA, a gap this paper aims to fill. Using a network analysis and key informant interviews, we identify the actors that constitute AGRA’s network, and describe related power constellations. Our paper illustrates that AGRA’s network is dominated by foundations, intergovernmental organisations and corporations, with decision-making located within Global North institutions. We reveal that the alliance displays characteristics of an ideological advocacy network and conclude that it can be considered a neoliberal food regime. We suggest better control mechanisms to hold accountable organisations without a political mandate, and to increase the transparency of their activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kelp are large seaweeds that provide a variety of contributions to humans and the environment. In South Africa, kelp forests are expanding as a consequence of climate change. Considering this expansion, assessing local perceptions and values around kelp's contributions may assist with the implementation of inclusive management strategies. The lack of consideration of non-market and non-use values is a gap in kelp valuation studies, with kelp ecosystems and their use rarely valued outside of classical economic valuation frameworks. This study sought to fill this research gap, intending to assess local perceptions about varied value dimensions associated with kelp using a pluralistic valuation approach. Drawing from a sample population of Recreational Users and/or Coastal Community Members, Environmental Managers and Conservationists, and Kelp and/or Abalone Industry, the study investigated perceptions of value towards kelp in the Western Cape region of South Africa. Results indicate that the perceived value of kelp extends far beyond its economic value as a harvested resource. Rather, individuals highly value kelp's ecological and social contributions, and have strong relational values towards kelp, recognizing its role in enhancing their quality of life and well-being. While most individuals did not display significant negative perceptions around kelp, some individuals in the Kelp and/or Abalone Industry indicated frustrations with kelp management strategies and kelp concession permit allocation processes. These findings highlight the need to incorporate local perceptions in integrated marine resource management solutions that recognize the plurality of values not only around kelp in the Western Cape but marine biodiversity at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benefit-sharing agreements are a new, prescriptive way of treating trade, biodiversity and the commercial use of traditional knowledge. However, these agreements have met with surprisingly little critique as a development paradigm. Through the lens of the industry around rooibos, a plant native to South Africa, we offer new, critical perspectives on the potential pitfalls of so-called access and benefit sharing (ABS) agreements. Rooibos underpins a well-established tea industry and was central to a much-lauded benefit-sharing agreement with Indigenous San and Khoi communities. We argue, however, that ABS as a model not only fails to challenge the engrained powers of state, capital, race and patriarchy, but even appears to legitimise (falsely) these powers because of its inability to grapple with local contexts and struggles over identity, representation and land. Despite its guise as an apolitical regulatory instrument, ABS entrenches existing marginalities, exclusions and structural inequities. Using a mixed methods approach that focuses on deep listening and draws from decades of research in the region, we demonstrate what happens when the depoliticising ABS framework collides with the complex and contentious politics of communities fractured by colonialism and apartheid. We conclude that ABS remains disconnected from, and structurally ignorant of, the wider political and economic struggles faced by marginalised communities. Aided by an intervening and complicit state, the agreements instead serve as legal compliance mechanisms that perpetuate epistemic injustices by maintaining a 'business as usual' approach without fundamentally shifting power relations or economic disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about agroecology as the future to the sustainable farming. It discusses impact of rapid anthropogenic change on the earth and humanity. It states that industrial agriculture is touted as the only way to feed the world's growing population and provide nutrition for the people across the world. It also mentions that need to establish alternative agricultural pathways that maximize livelihood creation and sustainable food production.

Millions of small-scale farmers on the African continent save and exchange the seed of their traditional crops, yet the social and cultural values of these systems remain under-researched. Through ethnographic research conducted in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa, this study sets out to improve understanding about the mechanisms and significance of traditional seed exchange networks. Findings suggest that traditional crops are central; their seed is highly valued; and systems of exchange play complex and nuanced roles. Critical for food sovereignty, these systems act as a back-up in the case of harvest failure, and enhance social cohesion through strengthening community and familial ties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Concerns about ecological sustainability and inequality are driving increased formalization of the natural product trade, including both biotrade of bulk, raw materials (or nontimber forest products [NTFPs]) and bioprospecting for genetic resources. However, there has been little interrogation as to whether the policy tools used to achieve sustainability and equity goals are appropriate and effective. This article addresses this gap by examining efforts to formalize biotrade, including the blurred regulatory lines that increasingly exist between biotrade and bioprospecting. Two case studies are explored from southern Africa—baobab andPelargonium. Findings emphasize the unintended consequences that can arise from overregulation and poorly formulated laws, including the further marginalization of women and/or poor communities; elite capture; weakening small businesses; and leakage across political boundaries. Conclusions underpin the need to pursue solutions that are better informed and more respectful of local knowledge and needs, and that draw upon both customary and statutory laws and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological changes embedded in the processes of agrarian modernization have profoundly reshaped agricultural environments, practices, discourses and institutions worldwide. This article explores how social–ecological relations shift in agricultural practices following the introduction of modern seed varieties, including hybrid and genetically modified (GM) seeds and their co-technologies. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic work in smallholder maize farms in South Africa, we introduce the concept of ecological deskilling in agriculture and describe three dimensions related to it: loss of ecologically based practices, loss of relational knowledge, and loss of socio-ecological agency. Our findings suggest that the introduction of modern seed varieties may contribute to the process of ecological deskilling due to the disruption of the co-evolution of knowledge between smallholder farmers and agroecological environments. We argue that this form of deskilling can undermine food sovereignty and farmers' agency. It can also narrow future possibilities and pathways for sustainable agricultural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]