Contesting Africa’s New Green Revolution

Jacqueline A. Ignatova is an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Development at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, USA. She is vice chair of the board of F.A.R.M. (Feed All Regardless of Means) Cafe and a co-founder of the Watauga Seed Library in Boone, North Carolina. Her work has been featured in Third World Quarterly and African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal.

• Acknowledgments List of abbreviations PrefaceIntroductionChapter 1: Green Revolution discourse, structural adjustment, and the “enabling environment” for agribusinessChapter 2: Philanthrocapitalism and the politics of public-private partnershipsChapter 3: Biocapital, “pro-poor” biotechnology, and legislative changes in the seed sectorChapter 4: Technological savior or terminator gene? Biotechnology, food security, and the political economy of hypeChapter 5: Experts, entrepreneurs, and the “last mile user”Interlude: On “mixing”Chapter 6: Neocolonial anxietiesConclusion

Ignatova’s important book illuminates profound problems with public-private partnerships that skirt democratic accountability and empower wealthy interests at the expense of local communities. But it’s not a despairing account: she centres Ghanaian activists and policy-makers who are pioneering a new type of philanthropy, one emphasizing interdependency and social justice over anti-democratic efforts to privatize seed commons. A revelatory and insightful study.