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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Dynamics of African Agricultural History: Is it Time for a New Development Paradigm?
Author:Niemeijer, DavidISNI
Year:1996
Periodical:Development and Change
Volume:27
Issue:1
Period:January
Pages:87-110
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:agricultural history
agricultural ecology
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
History and Exploration
External link:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.1996.tb00579.x
Abstract:Much of the present-day perception of African agriculture is still indirectly based on the coloured accounts of the early explorers and administrators. It involves an often static conception of 'traditional' African agriculture. This has led to an inappropriate research and development paradigm which treats African agriculture as a disrupted equilibrial system that needs readjustment to return to an equilibrial and productive state. Building on the literature on African agricultural history, this paper challenges the common perception of African society and agriculture. A diachronic study of African agricultural history reveals that many of the preconceptions of African society and agriculture are invalid: agriculturists are not inert, but respond in innovative and dynamic ways to the perturbations of their natural and social environment. Their survival is not so much dependent on the establishment of a fine-tuned equilibrium, but rather on the dynamic responses to external disturbances. It is likely that the agro-ecosystems in large parts of Africa function mainly as non-equilibrial (unstable), but nevertheless persistent systems. This has important implications for development interventions and agricultural research. It requires a shift from a synchronic approach to a diachronic approach that is based on an understanding of the past. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.
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