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Every farmer is a farmer? : A critical analysis of the emergence and development of Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana

Boda, Chad LU ; Ekumah, Bernard LU ; Isgren, Ellinor LU ; Akorsu, Angela D. ; Ato Armah, Frederick and Tetteh Hombey, Charles (2024) In Geoforum 150.
Abstract
Smallholder farmer-based rural social movements have been heralded as a promising source of political power with the potential to effectively promote sustainable trajectories of agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. However, the very early stages of rural social movement building remain understudied, including under what conditions such nascent efforts are likely to lead to effective political influence and foundations for broader collective action. Drawing on insights from organizational studies and resource mobilization theories, we provide an analytical narrative of the emergence and development of a smallholder farmer-based policy advocacy organization, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG). Through... (More)
Smallholder farmer-based rural social movements have been heralded as a promising source of political power with the potential to effectively promote sustainable trajectories of agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. However, the very early stages of rural social movement building remain understudied, including under what conditions such nascent efforts are likely to lead to effective political influence and foundations for broader collective action. Drawing on insights from organizational studies and resource mobilization theories, we provide an analytical narrative of the emergence and development of a smallholder farmer-based policy advocacy organization, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG). Through analysis of organizational documents and an extensive open-ended focus group interview with PFAG’s founders, long-term members, and current staff, we discuss how PFAG managed to overcome the “liability of newness” faced by new organizations, and how its resulting organizational structure influences its modes of resource mobilization and thus type and coverage of its advocacy and service delivery activities. Considering this developmental narrative, we elaborate several challenges that PFAG faces in pursuit of its ambitions to expand its influence in Ghanaian agricultural policy and practice. Our findings indicate the need for PFAG to address emerging contradictions in project activities and uneven geographical coverage, manage tensions between advocacy and service delivery objectives and to work towards establishing an umbrella agenda capable of providing for the diverse and evolving needs of their membership base. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Geoforum
volume
150
article number
103995
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85188515739
ISSN
1872-9398
DOI
10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.103995
project
Mobilizing farmer organisations for sustainable agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a61b3be4-23ef-4b20-9442-dc467dc5f7e5
date added to LUP
2024-04-02 15:57:19
date last changed
2024-04-16 12:49:20
@article{a61b3be4-23ef-4b20-9442-dc467dc5f7e5,
  abstract     = {{Smallholder farmer-based rural social movements have been heralded as a promising source of political power with the potential to effectively promote sustainable trajectories of agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. However, the very early stages of rural social movement building remain understudied, including under what conditions such nascent efforts are likely to lead to effective political influence and foundations for broader collective action. Drawing on insights from organizational studies and resource mobilization theories, we provide an analytical narrative of the emergence and development of a smallholder farmer-based policy advocacy organization, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG). Through analysis of organizational documents and an extensive open-ended focus group interview with PFAG’s founders, long-term members, and current staff, we discuss how PFAG managed to overcome the “liability of newness” faced by new organizations, and how its resulting organizational structure influences its modes of resource mobilization and thus type and coverage of its advocacy and service delivery activities. Considering this developmental narrative, we elaborate several challenges that PFAG faces in pursuit of its ambitions to expand its influence in Ghanaian agricultural policy and practice. Our findings indicate the need for PFAG to address emerging contradictions in project activities and uneven geographical coverage, manage tensions between advocacy and service delivery objectives and to work towards establishing an umbrella agenda capable of providing for the diverse and evolving needs of their membership base.}},
  author       = {{Boda, Chad and Ekumah, Bernard and Isgren, Ellinor and Akorsu, Angela D. and Ato Armah, Frederick and Tetteh Hombey, Charles}},
  issn         = {{1872-9398}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Geoforum}},
  title        = {{Every farmer is a farmer? : A critical analysis of the emergence and development of Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.103995}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.103995}},
  volume       = {{150}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}