Development delayed: exploring the failure of a large-scale agricultural investment in Tanzania to deliver promised outcomes

Linda Engström

Development delayed: exploring the failure of a large-scale agricultural investment in Tanzania to deliver promised outcomes

Linda Engström

Institutionen för stad och land

Publikation: Avhandling › Doktorsavhandling

6 Nedladdningar

Sammanfattning

Sedan början av 2000-talet har storskaliga jordbruksinvesteringar återinförts som utvecklingsstrategi för Afrikas landsbygd, som en reaktion på globala livsmedels-, klimat och finanskriser. Investeringarna sägs bidra till exempelvis effektiv livsmedelsproduktion, arbetstillfällen och fattigdomsbekämpning. Den nya investeringsvågen har beskrivits som snabbare och mer omfattande än historiska försök med storskaligt jordbruk. En närmare granskning visar emellertid att bara ett fåtal av alla förväntade investeringsprojekt har genomförts. Hittills har det dock gjorts få studier med fokus på just detta. Den här avhandlingen ska undersöka hur och varför ett planerat offentligt-privat partnerskap – ett storskaligt sockerrörsprojekt i Tanzania – inte har lyckats uppnå utlovade resultat. Utifrån intervjuer med beslutsfattare och den lokalbefolkning som berörs av investeringarna visar avhandlingen hur projektets förespråkare presenterar förenklade budskap om en komplex kontext i syfte att "sälja in" ett narrativ om nära förestående framgångar. Avhandlingen visar också hur dessa förenklingar samspelar med kontexten och ger upphov till upprepade förseningar, som orsakar stora problem för lokalbefolkningen och i slutändan leder till att projektet läggs ned. Trots att förseningar är ett vanligt inslag i utvecklingsprojekt har de hittills inte fått någon större uppmärksamhet. De är dock en viktig förklaring till att utvecklingsprojekt misslyckas, och bör inte ses som ofrånkomliga och harmlösa faktorer. Genom diskursanalys och utifrån begreppet ’resilienta narrativ’ visar jag hur projektförespråkarna vidmakthåller bilden av ett lyckat projekt, trots en mängd motstridiga narrativ och problem på plats. Slutligen analyserar jag hur narrativ som stöder investeringen skapas, sprids och konsumeras mellan projektförespråkarna. Med användning av post-development och postkolonial teori positionerar jag mina resultat i debatten om utvecklingsnarrativ och utvecklingsarbetets misslyckande att leverera utlovade resultat, samt reflekterar över eventuella konsekvenser av privatiseringen inom biståndet. Min avhandling visar att även om kontexten där dessa projekt ska implementeras är komplex och delvis oförutsägbar, så har förespråkarna av storskaliga jordbruksinvesteringar ett ansvar att förstå och ta hänsyn till kontexten i policybeslut och projektplaner. Slutligen argumenterar jag för att effekterna av nedlagda eller försenade projekt förtjänar mer uppmärksamhet i både den akademiska och den policyrelaterade debatten.

Originalspråk	Engelska
Kvalifikation	Doktor i filosofi
Förlag	Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Tryckta ISBN	978-91-7760-220-0
Elektroniska ISBN	978-91-7760-221-7
Status	Publicerad - 2018

Nyckelord

delay
development failure
development narratives
land grabbing
largescale agricultural investment
privatisation of development
simplification

SLU-serie

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae

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title = "Development delayed: exploring the failure of a large-scale agricultural investment in Tanzania to deliver promised outcomes",

abstract = "Since the early 2000s, large-scale agricultural investment has experienced a revival on the agenda for rural development in Africa, purported to bring, for instance, efficient agricultural production, reduced import expenditures and poverty alleviation. This new wave of large-scale agricultural investment has been described as more extensive in scale than previous attempts to promote such large farms. However, closer scrutiny reveals that in many countries, the expected flood of investments has so far been only a trickle. So far, few studies have been conducted to investigate this trend of failure. The overarching aim of this thesis is to contribute to the knowledge about how and why this new wave of large-scale agricultural investment failed to deliver proposed outcomes. This is done by exploring the empirical trajectories of, and the reasons behind, the failure of a planned public private partnership, a large scale sugar-cane investment in Tanzania, to deliver promised outcomes. In interviews with project proponents and rural residents targeted by investment, the thesis shows how project proponents simplified complex contexts in order to {\textquoteleft}sell{\textquoteright} narratives of imminent success. Such simplifications interacted with context to produce delays in project implementation and subsequent failure of the project to materialise. Importantly, these delays had severe negative impacts on local communities. Despite delay being a common feature in development projects, it has been little discussed. Combined, these findings suggest that delay is an important, but overlooked, factor when understanding development failure, and that delay should not be conceived as inevitable and innocent. Through discourse analysis and drawing on the concept {\textquoteleft}resilient narratives{\textquoteright}, I analyse discursive practices used by proponents to sustain the image of success, in the face of contradicting narratives and materialities. Mainly drawing on post-development and post-colonial theory, I then position my findings in debates on development narratives and development failure, and advance some reflections on the influence of close collaboration with a private actor in development assistance in relation to these findings. While the context of the case study is highly complex and to a certain extent unpredictable, I argue that proponents have a responsibility to understand this context, and address it in their policies and projects. Finally, I argue that more attention must be paid to the impacts of delayed or non-materialised projects in both academia and policy debates.",

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