Farming for Walmart: the politics of corporate control and responsibility in the global South
Sara D. Elder (Liu Scholar, University of British Columbia) and Peter Dauvergne (Former Liu Director, University of British Columbia)
July 8, 2015
This publication is available for download here.
Source: Journal of Peasant Studies: Critical Perspectives on Rural Politics and Development
Liu Scholar, Sara D. Elder and former Director of the Liu Institute, Peter Dauvergne, analyse corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a business tool and as a way to promote food security in the global South. Their research draws on 65 interviews with supply chain personnel and a 2013 survey of 250 smallholder farmers in Nicaragua. Contrary to private governance literature, Walmart’s efforts to control supply chains in Nicaragua are not advancing rural sustainability; feelings of mistrust and unfairness persist among farmers, and many are returning to local markets to regain independence. This analysis extends our understanding of why CSR is failing to help agrarian societies and confirms CSR as principally a business strategy.
