Agrarian Extractivism in Bolivia. (September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: McKay, Ben M.
• Is Part Of: World development. Volume 97(2017)
• Page Start: 199
• Page End: 211
• Publication Date: 2017-09
• Subjects: agrarian extractivism -- new extractivism -- industrial capitalist agriculture -- soy complex -- Bolivia; Economic history -- 1990- -- Periodicals; Economic assistance -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; 330.9
• DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.04.007
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-750X

Abstract

Highlights: The social, economic, and environmental extractive dynamics of Bolivia's soy complex are revealed. Agrarian extractivism challenges legitimating discourses of industrial agriculture. Agrarian extractivism is a politically and analytically useful concept for understanding new dynamics and trajectories of agrarian change. Summary: The expansion of Bolivia's agricultural frontier fueled by the development of a soy complex has become part of the state's three-pronged "neo" extractivist development model based on minerals, hydrocarbons, and soybeans. While Bolivia has a long history of mineral and natural gas extraction, the agricultural sector's highly mechanized and capital-intensive character are relatively new developments. Referred to here as "agrarian extractivism" this paper reveals the very extractive nature of soybean production in Bolivia based on four interlinked dimensions: (1) large volumes of materials extracted destined for export with little or no processing; (2) value-chain concentration and sectoral disarticulation (3) high intensity of environmental degradation; and (4) the deterioration of labor opportunities and/or conditions. It is argued here that "agrarian extractivism" is a politically and analytically useful concept for understanding new dynamics and trajectories of agrarian change as it reveals the very extractive nature of capitalist agriculture, particularly in the context of contemporary land grabbing, flex crops, and the increasingly corporatized agro-food system. Rather than a form of industrial agricultural development which implies value-added processing, sectoral linkages, and employment generation, agrarian extractivism challenges this dominant discourse, revealing the various dimensions of social, economic and environmental exploitation and its negative implications for rural development.