Participatory guarantee systems in Senegal: shifting labour dynamics in agroecology

ABSTRACT

Participatory guarantee systems (PGS) are locally-embedded guarantee systems that allegedly empower local smallholders. Although PGS are often implemented in the realm of labour-intensive agroecological farming, empirical evidence about their labour implications remains sparse. This article addresses this gap by providing data from anthropological fieldwork about a PGS in Senegal. Drawing on feminist reproduction theory and feminist political ecology, the analysis suggests that the elaboration of the PGS was an elite-driven process that did not take into account local realities informed by occupational multiplicity and reproductive responsibilities and complicates distributional outcomes on the grounds of class and gender.

KEYWORDS:

• Agroecology
• labour
• feminist reproduction theory
• political ecology
• Senegal

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and constructive suggestions for improvement. Franziska Marfurt expresses her gratefulness to all research participants for sharing their knowledge and experiences. She further thanks Mohammadou Diop, Aji Banna Seck and Khalifa Diallo for translation and research assistance, More Ndoye Diop and Matar Ndoye for commenting on an earlier draft of this article, and the FAPD for providing access to information and members. Special appreciation goes to the families Diop and Bokhayakho-Ba for providing accommodation and for being such joyful company.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 AgroWork is a research project financed by the SNSF, composed of Swiss and Senegalese researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds. The objective is to explore issues related to motivations and labour in agroecology in Sub-Saharan Africa. For further details please visit the website.

2 The definitions of organic and agroecological agriculture often diverge in literature and practice. While organic agriculture makes use of organic fertilisers and pesticides, agroecology normally rejects external inputs and relies on practices such as intercropping, crop diversification and manuring for pest control. However, promoters and smallholders in Senegal do not clearly distinguish the two and often use these notions synonymously, thereby referring to more sustainable practices that exclude the use of chemical fertilisers and herbicides.

3 FENAB has 22,000 members nationwide.

4 ‘Development actors from the Global North’ refers to international organisations such as IFOAM and FAO but also governmental cooperation agencies and NGOs having their headquarters in a country of the Global North. Senegalese development elite’ refers to Senegalese nationals working for the international organisations and NGOs mentioned above, either as direct employees or as employees of national or regional organisations receiving foreign funding and implementing the agendas of the development actors from the Global North.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under [Grant Numbers 176736 and 206127].

Notes on contributors

Franziska Marfurt

Franziska Marfurt is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Geography of Bern University. She is a trained anthropologist interested in questions of labour, land rights, participatory research methods and feminist theories. She has conducted fieldwork on large-scale land acquisition in Sierra Leone and currently researches work-related questions of agroecology in Senegal.

Tobias Haller

Tobias Haller is a professor in the Institute of Social Anthropology at the University of Bern. He has specialised in economic and ecological anthropology with a focus on new institutionalism and political ecology. He is working on issues such as the management of the commons, institutional change, conservation, development and participation, transnational companies, environmental perceptions, mining and large-scale land acquisitions.

Patrick Bottazzi

Patrick Bottazzi is an assistant professor at the Institute of Geography, University of Bern, and a specialist in environmental social sciences. His work is oriented towards community resilience and adaptation to global environmental change and related policies. His current research focuses on human work and agroecological transitions in the Global South.