Knowledge  produc.on  among  tobacco  agriculturalists  in  

India:  moving  towards  a  class-­‐based  analysis  

Nithya  Natarajan,  Development  Studies,  SOAS  

Research questions

§  How do different classes produce knowledge on the FCTC and its policies?

§  What are the implications of differentiated knowledge production for accumulation among farmers?

What knowledge?

Marketing knowledge; FCTC policies: 1. VAT on tobacco sales. 2. Ban on Gutka and Paan Masala. 3. Public awareness raising on health

issues.

“…the politics of agronomic knowledge supports and reflects the interests of a much wider set of actors, from national and international public-

sector research organisations to multinational agri-food corporations, food sovereignty campaigners,

farmers and consumers. The analysis of knowledge politics should help explain why

particular agricultural technologies or development pathways are favoured over others”

(Andersson and Sumberg, 2015: 4-5)

 

Contested Agronomy context

Theoretical contestation §  Mainstream literature; sees farmers as

individuals, divorced from broader structures of power.

(World Bank, 2008)

§  Local knowledge/ scientific knowledge debate; dichotomisation and essentialisation of local knowledge.

(Warren et al, 1995, Agrawal, 1995, Briggs, 2013) §  Marxian political economy highlights

power in terms of class, and how actors are embedded in system of capitalism.

(Harriss-White, 2008, Bernstein, 2010)

§ Local hierarchies of power as well as “local”—”scientific” hierarchies of power shape knowledge.

§ Knowledge is used to enable exploitation

and class antagonisms.

Central arguments

Fig. 3, Adapted from Reddy and Gupta, 2004:19

Kangeyam  Palladam  

Idapaddi  

Sun-­‐cured  tobacco:  classes    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

SEED  

SEEDLINGS   SEEDLING  SALES  

IMMEDIATE  POST-­‐HARVEST  SALES  

MINIMAL  CURING  (1-­‐3  MONTHS)  

MAXIMAL  CURING  (6  MONTHS)  

MAXIMAL  CURING  AND  STORAGE  (1-­‐3  

YEARS)  

FURTHER  STORAGE  BY  PETTY  BROKER/  TRADER  

1  YEAR    

SALES  TO  TRADERS  IN  OTHER  STATES  WITH  NO  PROCESSING  

SALES  TO  TRADERS  IN  OTHER  STATES  WITH  PROCESSING  

SALES  TO  TAMIL  NADU  COMPANIES  WHO  

UNDERTAKE  PROCESSING  

SALES  TO  RETAILERS  (TAMIL  NADU  AND  OTHER  STATES)  

-­‐  -­‐  -­‐  HARVEST  -­‐  -­‐  -­‐  

LOAN   CTRI  

PAYMENT  BACK  TO  MONEYLENDER  

AGRI-­‐INPUTS  

WATER  PRODUCTION  

LABOUR  POWER  

CIRCULATION  

Class shapes knowledge production

§  Farmers get information from traders ‒  System of trading in tobacco ‒  Isolation ‒  Tobacco in the shadows

§  Traders’ knowledge networks ‒  Contact during trading season – price-setting ‒  Unions

§  Traders use knowledge to exploit farmers

Tobacco curing and class relations

•  Curing ameliorated class antagonisms.

•  Curing is small-scale and low-capital.

•  Curing levels depended on area.

•  Curing enabled farmers to become traders.

“Fraternal capital”

•  Chari (2004): Gounder’s fraternal accumulation/ distribution, resilience explains huge success in industrial transition.

•  Strong intra-caste accumulation, credit and exclusion of other castes.

•  Large number of Gounder traders and brokers also.

Conclusions § Class-based analysis enables a more

coherent understanding of: § Local hierarchies of power § How they shape knowledge production § How productive activities enable increased

power for farmers

§  ‘Capillary’ forms of power such as caste also shape knowledge production.

(Harriss-White, 2008: 306)

References Agrawal, A. (1995) Dismantling the Divide between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge. Working Paper. Bloomington, Indiana: Workshop in Political Theory and Political Analysis. Andersson, J. and Sumberg, J. (2015) Knowledge Politics in development-oriented agronomy. Introductory Paper prepared for ‘Contested Agronomy, 2016’. IDS, Brighton. Baker, C. A. (1984). The Politics of South India: 1920 – 1937. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bernstein, H. (2001). ‘The Peasantry’ in Global Capitalism: Who, Where and Why? Socialist Register, 37, pp. 25-51. Briggs, J. (2013). Indigenous knowledge: A false dawn for development theory and practice? Progress in Development Studies, 13(3), pp. 231-243. Chari, S. (2004). Fraternal Capital. Delhi: Permanent Black. (FCTC) World Health Organisation (2003) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. [Online] Available from: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2003/9241591013.pdf?ua=1 [Accessed 25.01.2014]. Harriss-White, B. (2008). Rural Commercial Capital. New Delhi: OUP. Reddy K. S. and Gupta P. C. (2004) Report on Tobacco Control in India. New Delhi: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Warren, D. M., Slikkerveer, L. J. and Brokensha D. (eds.) (1995). The Cultural Dimension of Development: Indigenous Knowledge Systems. London: Intermediate Technology Publications. World Bank (2008) World Development Report: Agriculture for Development. Washington DC: The World Bank.