The Authoritarian face of the "Green Revolution": Rwanda Capitulates to Agribusiness
This is an article from international NGO Grain which examines the effects of the so called ‘green revolution’ on Agribusiness in Rwanda. It illustrates the same recycled neoliberal policies of privatisation and deregulation in Rwanda that have been proven to fail elsewhere. (Mcmichael, 2008) The promise of a ‘green revolution’ in Africa has aimed for ‘development’ and ‘progress’. However, these therms lose all meaning when you understand it is measured in economic development and economic progress. As the article suggests, Rwandan farmers have been pushed into a system which commodifies their livelihoods, pushed into compulsary monoculture which creates a disconnect from their land and their food. The agricultural biodiversity has been eroded and inequality is widening further still. The only winners from this ‘green revolution’ are the corporations entangled in the neoliberal agenda which defines the development agenda
Mcmichael, Philip. 2008. ‘The Peasant as ‘Canary’. Not too early warnings of Global Catastrophe?’. Development. 51: 4
