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Serving “the Uses of Life”: Gender, History, and Food Security in a Cassava Value Chain Scheme

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2022

Heidi Gengenbach Open the ORCID record for Heidi Gengenbach [Opens in a new window] ,
Alcino Armindo Comé  and
Justino Baptiste Nhabinde
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Abstract

Gengenbach, Comé, and Nhabinde historicize women’s responses to an agricultural “value chain” in Zavala, Mozambique. Inspired by the Green Revolution for Africa (GR4A), the initiative aims to reduce hunger by converting cassava to industrial use for SABMiller’s Impala beer. Women chafed at the proposed remaking of an agrarian foodway long anchored by this edible commodity. Cassava’s inseparable dietary and market value in precolonial times intensified under Portuguese rule even as colonizers disdained it as a feminine “subsistence” crop and then claimed its commercial potential. Weaponizing this gendered binary yet needing women’s support, the Impala scheme has struggled to achieve GR4A food security goals.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article reconstruit historiquement la réponse des femmes comme « Chaîne de valeur » agricole à Zavala, Mozambique. Inspirée par l’Alliance pour une révolution verte en Afrique (AGRA), l’initiative vise à réduire la faim en convertissant le manioc à un usage industriel pour la bière Impala de SABMiller. Les femmes ont été contrariées par la proposition de refonte d’une voie alimentaire agraire longtemps ancrée dans cette denrée comestible. Les valeurs alimentaires agraire et marchandes inséparables du manioc à l’époque précoloniale se sont intensifiés sous la domination portugaise, alors même que les colonisateurs le dédaignaient comme une culture féminine de « subsistance » et revendiquaient ensuite son potentiel commercial. Militarisant cette binarité de genre tout en ayant besoin du soutien des femmes, le schéma d’Impala a eu du mal à atteindre les objectifs de sécurité alimentaire AGRA.

Resumo

Resumo

Neste artigo, procede-se à historicização da resposta das mulheres a uma “cadeia de valor” agrícola no distrito de Zavala, Moçambique. Inspirada na Revolução Verde para a África (Green Revolution for Africa – GR4A), a iniciativa destina-se a mitigar a fome convertendo a produção de mandioca para uso industrial pela cerveja Impala, da empresa SABMiller. A proposta de transformação de uma cadeia alimentar há muito sustentada por este produto agrícola impacientou as mulheres. O indestrinçável valor alimentar e de mercado da mandioca no período pré-colonial aumentou ainda mais sob o regime português, mesmo se os colonizadores a desvalorizavam, classificando-a como um cultivo “de subsistência” feminino, ao mesmo tempo que elogiavam o seu potencial comercial. Tirando partido deste binarismo de género mas precisando do apoio das mulheres, o negócio da Impala tem enfrentado dificuldades para atingir os objetivos de segurança alimentar da GR4A.

Keywords

Mozambiquecassavagenderfood securityvalue chain
Type
Forum: Lost in Translation: Pro-Poor Development in the Green Revolution for Africa
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 65 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 93 - 117
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

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