Work in agro-industry and the social reproduction of labour in Mozambique: contradictions in the current accumulation system

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the tensions between job creation and employment quality in the system of accumulation in Mozambique. Addressing job quality is central because Mozambique’s economic structure has mostly failed to generate stable work and pay and dignified working conditions. However, this is neglected in the mainstream view of labour markets, which is dominated by dualisms and limited by its blind spot regarding social reproduction. The authors follow a political economy approach informed by a social reproduction lens and draw on original primary evidence on agro-industries. They argue that low-quality jobs reflect the current mode of organisation of production, in which companies’ profitability depends on access to cheap and disposable labour and relies on workers’ ability to engage in multiple, interdependent paid and unpaid forms of work to sustain themselves. Unless the co-constitutive interrelations between production and reproduction are understood and addressed, the fragmentation of livelihoods will intensify the social system crisis.

RESUMO

Este artigo discute as tensões entre a criação do emprego e a qualidade de emprego no sistema de acumulação em Moçambique. Abordar a questão da qualidade do emprego é central porque a estrutura económica de Moçambique tem sido incapaz de gerar trabalho e remunerações estáveis, e condições de trabalho dignas. Contudo, este facto é negligenciado na visão dominante sobre mercados de trabalho, marcada por dualismos e limitada pela sua invisibilidade às dinâmicas de reprodução social. Este texto segue uma abordagem de economia política informada por lentes de reprodução social e baseia-se na evidência primária original sobre as agro-indústrias. Argumenta-se que a baixa qualidade do emprego reflecte o modo actual de organização da produção, no qual a rentabilidade das empresas está assente no acesso à força de trabalho barata e descartável, que é dependente da capacidade dos trabalhadores se envolverem em formas de trabalho (pago e não pago) múltiplas e interdependentes para o seu sustento. A menos que as inter-relações co-constitutivas entre produção e reprodução sejam entendidas e abordadas, a fragmentação dos modos de vida irá intensificar a crise do sistema social.

KEYWORDS:

• Mozambique
• labour markets
• accumulation
• social reproduction
• transformation

PALAVRAS-CHAVE:

• Moçambique
• mercados de trabalho
• acumulação
• reprodução social
• transformação

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all those who directly and indirectly contributed to the research process, including the interviewees in Mozambique, and especially the workers without whom this research would have not been possible. We would like to thank the editors of the special issue – Elisa Greco and Carlos Nuno Castel-Branco – and the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful and helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Xitique is a local term, meaning ‘savings’, for informal rotating savings and credit groups based on mutual trust.

2 Interview with plantation worker D, Naconda, 11 December 2014.

3 Interview with former plantation worker E, Chimbonila, Mussa, 13 December 2014.

4 Interview with cashew-processing factory worker F, 9 November 2019.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rosimina Ali

Rosimina Ali is a researcher at the Institute for Social and Economic Studies (IESE), in Maputo. Her research is focused on the political economy of labour markets, social reproduction, socioeconomic transformation and dynamics of capital accumulation, with a specific focus on Mozambique. In 2012, she completed her master of science in development economics at SOAS University of London, and she has more than 10 years’ work experience as a researcher at IESE. Email: [email protected]

Sara Stevano

Sara Stevano is a senior lecturer in economics at SOAS University of London. She is a development and feminist political economist specialising in the study of the political economy of work, well-being (food and nutrition), inequalities and social reproduction. Working at the intersections between political economy, development economics, feminist economics and anthropology, she takes an interdisciplinary approach to theories and methods. Her work focuses on Africa, with primary research experience in Mozambique and Ghana. Email: [email protected]