Land Investments, Food Systems Change and Democracy in Kenya and Mozambique

Abstract

In Africa, food systems intersect with dynamics such as demographic growth, urbanisation, and climate change, as African food systems are key drivers of livelihood provision, development, and human-environment interactions. The governance of African food systems shapes how food systems are changing as a response to these dynamics, which will have important social, economic, and ecological impacts for generations of Africans. This article positions large land investments in food system changes in central Kenya and northern Mozambique based on a large-scale household survey and interviews, and uses these findings to debate the concept of food democracy. Large land investments contributed to more modern food systems, which impacted land availability, household’s engagement in agriculture, and supply chains. These changes shifted power and control in local food systems. But even in the ‘extreme’ example of land investments, local perspectives challenge what could, and could not, be included in a democratic food system.

Editorial: New Perspectives on Food Democracy

“…Other articles advance the notion of food democracy by applying it to new thematic areas, such as the context of economic deprivation (Prost, 2019) or the historical design of urban food policy (Hasson, 2019). Broadening this perspective on the production of food democracy, two further articles examine the role of technological conflict in the creation of food democracy (Friedrich, Hackfort, Boyer, & Gottschlich, 2019) and the role of land investment in Africa in the rise and fall of the democratic quality of African food systems (Dekeyser, 2019).…”

Design and Implementation of a Workshop for Evaluation of the Role of Power in Shaping and Solving Challenges in a Smart Foodshed

“…Over time, power became associated with the ability to control the production, processing, and movement of foods and the resources required for their making. Other writings use power to refer more pointedly to an individual's or organization's ability to influence policy change and provide control over some aspect of the food system [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. This influence may come from control over the built environment [6], having an economic advantage [8], and/or the ability of those with influence to maintain the standing they have in a situation [9].…”