Changing Policies, Shifting Livelihoods: The Fate of Agriculture in Guinea‐Bissau

Abstract

MARINA PADRÃO TEMUDO AND MANUEL BIVAR ABRANTESHow do African agricultural livelihoods change under stressful conditions? How do market and agricultural policies and development interventions impact on both agricultural and social change, and consequently on food self-sufficiency? Which long-term factors can contribute to 'depeasantization'? Is the 'New Green Revolution' the best and only solution for African food insecurity? These are the main questions this paper sets out to address, using southern Guinea-Bissau as a case study. On the basis of long-term ethnographic fieldwork, we look at farmers' responses to external and internal pressures, and analyse how 'depeasantization' progresses and livelihoods have been losing their resilience. Chances to reverse this trend, although difficult to implement, may still be feasible.

Cashew cultivation in Guinea-Bissau – risks and challenges of the success of a cash crop

“…In times of increasing population density, and when the sale of land is becoming a common practice, cashew orchards can act as land tenure insurance (Temudo and Abrantes, 2012). In this respect, the cashew nut tree possesses several advantages: it is a rapid growing tree which does not require much care or manpower to establish and maintain and, above all, produces a non-perishable fruit with an assured market.…”

Currículo, memória e fragilidades: contributos para (re)pensar a educação na Guiné-Bissau

“…Atualmente o país vive um ambiente de crise alimentar e um state failure e ao longo do tempo tem experienciado um longo processo de depeasantization do meio rural, ampliado pelo aumento de matrículas de jovens na escola (Temudo & Abrantes, 2013;2015). Devido à sua condição económica e social, encontra-se bastante dependente da ajuda pública ao desenvolvimento, bilateral e multilateral, particularmente para os serviços públicos, sendo a educação e a saúde os setores com maior dependên-cia.…”

The Pen and the Plough: Balanta Young Men in Guinea‐Bissau

“…At the beginning of the twentieth century, many Balanta started to migrate to the south, driven by land scarcity and a desire to escape colonial forced labour. There, they concentrated exclusively on mangrove swamp rice and related technologies and became surplus rice producers for export during late colonial times (Ribeiro, ; Temudo, ; Temudo and Abrantes, ).…”

“…This article draws on long‐term research which focused on agricultural, environmental and social change and the impact of development and conservation interventions since 1993 (see e.g., Temudo, , , ; Temudo and Abrantes, , ). Starting in 2008, research was conducted by both authors, using a mixed‐methods approach which was largely qualitative, but which also included some quantitative data collection, transects and direct observation of fields and forests, as well as Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technologies.…”