Political ecology of industrial crops [electronic resource] / edited by Abubakari Ahmed and Alexandros Gasparatos.

"This book employs a political ecology lens to unravel how industrial crops catalyse ecological, agrarian, socioeconomic and institutional transformation. Using the conceptual tools and perspectives of political ecology, namely multi-scalar analysis, and attention to marginalization, social difference, and discourses and narratives, this volume provides a critical and comprehensive assessment of the transformative power of industrial cropping systems. It presents a truly international overview by drawing on a range of case studies from the Global South, including soybeans in South America, cashew nuts in Guinea Bissau, cotton in India, maize in China, jatropha in Ghana, sugarcane in Peru and Eswatini, and oil palm in Ghana and Peru. The unique case studies are put into perspective with chapters introducing concepts of political ecology and critical dimensions of industrial cropping systems related to large-scale land acquisitions, land grabbing, and marginal land. The individual chapters employ different approaches all rooted in political ecology, thus providing a rich overview of how the field engages with these cropping systems. Overall, this volume offers valuable propositions for improving current policies and practices in industrial crop settings in both developed and developing countries. Providing a comprehensive and interdisciplinary outlook, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of political ecology, agrarian studies, development studies, and ecological economics"-- Provided by publisher.