Losing practices, relationships and agency: ecological deskilling as a consequence of the uptake of modern seed varieties among South African Smallholders

ABSTRACT

Technological changes embedded in the processes of agrarian modernization have profoundly reshaped agricultural environments, practices, discourses and institutions worldwide. This article explores how social–ecological relations shift in agricultural practices following the introduction of modern seed varieties, including hybrid and genetically modified (GM) seeds and their co-technologies. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic work in smallholder maize farms in South Africa, we introduce the concept of ecological deskilling in agriculture and describe three dimensions related to it: loss of ecologically based practices, loss of relational knowledge, and loss of socio-ecological agency. Our findings suggest that the introduction of modern seed varieties may contribute to the process of ecological deskilling due to the disruption of the co-evolution of knowledge between smallholder farmers and agroecological environments. We argue that this form of deskilling can undermine food sovereignty and farmers’ agency. It can also narrow future possibilities and pathways for sustainable agricultural development.

KEYWORDS:

• Biotechnology
• agrarian modernization
• deskilling
• smallholder farmers
• gmos
• maize
• socio-ecological

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the research assitants and translators involved in this research who made this work possible and all of the maize farmers and other participants whom took part in this research. We acknowledge the funding received for The Agri/Cultures Project from the Research Council of Norway. This work was also supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation and National Research Foundation of South Africa. Any opinion, finding and conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material is that of the author(s) and the NRF does not accept any liability in this regard. We would like to thank Biowatch South Africa for facilitating introductions to farmers linked with their agroecology projects. The research was conducted as part of Maya Marshak’s PhD research with approval from The University of Cape Town Faculty of Science Research Ethics Committee (approval code: FSREC 09 – 2016). All participants were informed of the purpose of the research before interviews were carried out. Consent to carry out interviews was obtained from each participant. Interviews were only recorded where participants were comfortable with this. All participants were informed that their personal identity and institutional identity would be kept anonymous unless they agreed otherwise.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway [231146]; South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation and National Research Foundation of South Africa. [84429].