Outgrowing and the politics of inclusive business models: The case of Tanzania's Kilombero Sugar Company

Document Type

Article

Department

Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Abstract

Currently, development partners and governments have embraced the catch phrase ‘inclusive business model’ to describe corporate expansion into smallholder agriculture – processes which are also described by critics as ‘land grabbing’. This article examines a sugarcane production partnership between an agribusiness and outgrowers in Kilombero, Tanzania. It argues that while the studied model has some elements of limited inclusivity, the hyped-up narratives of win-win optimism are not entirely applicable, because there are winners and losers in such business arrangements. Instead, governments and stakeholders need to invest in developing rural farmers’ agency to ensure farmers benefit from their farming and influence decision making processes

Comments

This work was published before the author joined Aga Khan University.

Publication (Name of Journal)

Asian Journal of African Studies

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