Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy

In light of ecological disasters in China and social alienation among the Chinese people, this article argues that ecology must take precedence over economy, agriculture over industry and finance, and life over money and profit. The article focuses on the New Rural Reconstruction Movement and the Loving Home Village campaigns and identifies several grassroots initiatives in search for pathways to social and ecological transition. It presents in detail the trajectories of Little Donkey Farm, Liang Shuming Rural Reconstruction Center, Yun Jianli, and Yang Zhengxi, which are examples of how to mobilize both urban and rural communities to participate in social and ecolo- gical transformation.

The article critically evaluates the attempt by the Modi government to promote the model of zero-budget natural farming (ZBNF) as an alternate path to agrarian development in India. It is well apparent from the analysis of the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) guidelines that the advocates of natural farming have chosen to turn a blind eye to the constraints of Indian agrarian structures in the shift away from selective delinking for food security to global integration, with landlord capitalists and corporate capital in control of the path formation. The cheap nature and cheap labor outlook is built in the input correction emphasis of natural farming and in the assumption of “zero budgets” for the farmer and the government. The ZBNF model will prevent the NMNF from tackling the landscape, structural, and system-level challenges of agrarian transformation. Significant barriers to the adoption of agroecological approaches can be expected to arise due to the lack of commitment to help the peasants and landless proletariat with the protection of the commons and the public investment needed for the promotion of agroecological approaches.

This article analyses the recent contestation over the Nile River due to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and its implications for the agrarian question and water justice. The article focuses on the commodification of the Nile by national governments, whereby technology, rationality, and regulations have become the driving force of the river’s development. The engagement of civil society actors in the GERD dispute reveals several perceptions of “riverhood” of the Nile. As a result, water justice is heterogeneous and challenges building a wide-basin movement.

Seed storage is part of peasant livelihoods in Brazil’s semi-arid region. This study is based on empirical research carried out in the semi-arid region of Sobral, in the north-eastern state of Ceará, with peasants who participate in Seed Houses. The study seeks to understand how peasants engaged in multiple struggles and produced what they identify as “autonomy from the master’s seeds,” even in a context where the so-called master maintains control over land. The main question can be presented as what comes into play in this autonomy constituted by Seed Houses? The investigation intends to contribute to related debates on the agrarian question and the dimensions of autonomy, analysing the ecology of practices associated with seeds exercised through the collective action of the Seed Houses, involving continuities between land and natural resources.

In the absence of adequate social security for migrant workers, the recession forced the mass exodus of millions of circular migrants supported by their rural households of largely left-behind women. Our article looks at what happened after that. How did the returned migrants manage to survive and retain their capacity to work till they were required back in urban employment? This article argues that gendered rural households functioned as safety nets in the severe recession in the Indian economy which highlights the weakness in the state policy and lack of resources in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were safety nets not only for workers directly working in food value chains but also for reverse migrants. Overall, the recession did not just result in a temporary loss of income but also increased inequality and strengthened the oligopoly structure of the Indian economy.