Brazil’s  contested  agronomy  for  Africa:    insights  from  Embrapa’s  knowledge  

encounters  in  Mozambique  

Lídia  Cabral    

China  and  Brazil  in  African  Agriculture  h,p://www.future-­‐agricultures.org/research/cbaa  

Contested  Agronomy:  whose  agronomy  counts?  Ins=tute  of  Development  Studies,  23-­‐25  February  2016  

(replacing)  short-­‐handled  hoes    

(learning  from)  Escolas  na  machamba  

Two  vigne9es  

Embrapa:  43  yrs  old,  46  units,  2,444  researchers  

The  Embrapa  ‘miracle’  

‘Since  1996  Brazilian  farmers  have  increased  the  amount  of  land  under  cul=va=on  by  a  third,  mostly  in  the  cerrado.  (...)  And  it  has  increased  produc=on  by  ten  =mes  that  amount.  But  the  availability  of  farmland  is  in  fact  only  a  secondary  reason  for  the  extraordinary  growth  in  Brazilian  agriculture.  If  you  want  the  primary  reason  in  three  words,  they  are  Embrapa,  Embrapa,  Embrapa.’  

(The  Economist,  Aug.  26th  2010,  my  emphasis)  

Embrapa  goes  to  Africa  

‘To  have  Embrapa  in  the  city  of  Accra,  in  Ghana,  is  the  beginning  of  a  peaceful  revolu=on  that  will  have  as  result  the  germina=on  of  grain,  food,  products  that  can  do  in  the  African  savannah  the  same  revolu=on  that  Embrapa  carried  out  in  the  Brazilian  cerrado’    

(President  Lula  speaking  at  inaugura=on  of  Embrapa  Ghana,  2006)  

‘Affini=es  of  historical  ethnical,  cultural,  linguis=c  and  economic  nature  –  as  well  as  shared  heritage  and  aspira=ons  –  favor  the  expansion  and  realiza=on  of  south-­‐south  coopera=on  and  contribute  to  its  success’    

(ABC,  Diálogo  Brasil-­‐África,  2010)   • Need to interr

ogate the

narratives of agricu

ltural

success and of tropic

al

technology that underpin

Embrapa’s South-South

cooperation practices

• Contested agronom

y

perspective – is Em

brapa’s

agronomy disputed?

• Need to interro

gate

claims of suitability of

Brazil’s tropical techn

ology

for Africa (based of agro-

climatic affinities) and of

horizontality in knowledge

exchange

• Knowledge encoun

ters

perspective – are Embrapa

professionals’ experie

nces any

different from typical ai

d

workers

Embrapa  professionals  in  Mozambique  •  14  researchers  from  11  units  and  two  

departments  at  Embrapa  HQ    •  Their  exper=se:  agronomy,  rural  sociology,  

rural  economy,  chemistry,  sta=s=cs…  

•  Working  across  3  coopera=on  projects  

•  Only  2  based  in  Mozambique;  others  opera=ng  through  short  term  missions  

•  Ac=vi=es  comprising  collec=on  of  soil  samples,  crop  adapta=on  experiments,  training,  studies    

 

Disputed  knowledge  base    Dominant   Confined  

•  Cerrado  transforma=on  (Brazil’s  Green  Revolu=on)  as  success  template  

•  Science  (and  Embrapa)  as  key  to  Brazil’s  agricultural  success  

•  Brazilian  leadership  on  tropical  agricultural  science    

•  Science  as  separated  from  policy  and  poli=cs  and  should  remain  neutral  

•  Cri=cal  of  Cerrado  modernisa=on  and  ready-­‐made  recipe  of  success  

•  Favourable  of  agro-­‐ecological  alterna=ve  (cri=cal  of  use  of  hybrids)  

•  Science  as  driven  by  interests  of  the  be,er-­‐off  in  the  sector  

•  Emphasis  put  on  social  func=on  of  research  (should  serve  social  objec=ves  of  public  policy)  

ContrasEng  encounters  Dominant   Confined  

•  Mozambican  agriculture  as  primi=ve  and  rudimentary  

•  Take  science  to  Africa  to  modernise  its  agriculture    –  passing  on  improved  tropical  varie=es  that  help  replicate  Brazil’s  success  

•  Frustra=on  with  lack  of  coopera=on  from  local  counterpart  (lack  of  competence  and  commitment,  not  interested  in  learning  in  absence  of  financial  incen=ves)  

•  Emphasis  on  results  –  how  well  Brazilian  cul=vars  responded  to  local  condi=ons  

•  A,empt  to  correct  backward  prac=ces  –  ‘short-­‐handled  hoe’  episode  

•  Cri=cal  of  unidirec=onal  ‘pass  the  baton’  mode  of  knowledge  transmission  

•  Emphasis  on  process  of  mutual  learning  finding  more  embedded  solu=ons    

•  Interested  in  understanding  the  other  and  developing  a  rela=onship  

•  Frustra=on  with  short  =meframe  of  project  and  rush  to  deliver  

•  Finds  poten=al  for  learning  from  Mozambican  prac=ces  –  ‘escolas  na  machamba’  

In  sum  

•  Brazil’s  ‘tropical’  agronomy  for  Africa  is  dominated  by  a  view  of  replicable  success  delivered  through  technological  transfer  (this  is  driven  by  interests  beyond  knowledge  reproduc=on)  

•  This  dominant  framework  and  unidirec=onal  mode  of  knowledge  transfer  are  being  disputed  from  within,  challenged  by  different  epistemologies  and  values  (and  ins=tu=onal  and  par=san  poli=cs)  

•  Claimed  natural  affini=es  Brazil-­‐Africa  not  sufficient  to  ensure  a  fruihul  and  horizontal  knowledge  exchange    

•  Personal  aitudes  ma,er!  

Further  research  

•  What  is  the  role  played  by  the  life  trajectories  of  Embrapa  professionals  (where  they  studied,  what  studied  and  genera=on)?  –  Embrapa’s  old-­‐school  US-­‐trained  agronomists  more  conserva=ve?  

–  Young  genera=ons  fail  to  engage  with  Embrapa’s  ‘epic  past’  (Navarro  and  Alves  2014)  

 

•  What  evidence  of  actual  bi-­‐direc=onal  South-­‐South  exchange  in  agricultural  coopera=on  prac=ces?  –  Are  Brazilian  experts  different  from  typical  aid  workers,  from  the  point  of  view  of  Mozambican  counterparts?