Publication

A rising interest in acquisition of land in Sub-Saharan Africa for plantation farming (PF) and large-scale farming (LSF) has revived long-dormant policy debates about this type of farming. Most reactions have been broadly negative in their assessments of what a large expansion of PF and LSF will entail. This paper traces the intellectual and political background of this dominant view and asks whether PF and LSF in 20th century Africa supports the negative prognoses being made now. It concludes low productivity and limited employment generation are not synonymous with PF and LSF, but low job quality is still a problem.