ABSTRACT

This article examines the recent uptake of tractor ploughing services in northern Ghana. It examines the historical continuities in mechanisation and the emergence of a class of medium-scale commercial farmers. In the light of this, it questions the thesis that the recent uptake of mechanisation and emergence of medium-scale farmers reflects the successes of market liberalisation. It is critical of neoclassical theories of agricultural transformation rooted in theories of induced innovation and argues for a political economy approach that links agricultural transformation to processes of social differentiation and the historical role of the state in promoting agricultural commercialisation.

摘要

本文考察了加纳北部最近采用拖拉机耕作服务的情况。它考察了机械化的历史连续性和中等规模商业农民阶级的出现。有鉴于此，它质疑最近机械化的采用和中等规模农民的出现反映了市场自由化的成功的论点。它批判植根于诱导创新理论的新古典农业转型理论，并主张将农业转型与社会分化过程和国家在促进农业商业化方面的历史作用联系起来的政治经济学方法。