When
Please join us for our Fall 2026 Colloquium series!
Help us welcome Dr. Bill Moseley.
This talk is free to attend and takes place in room S107 of the ENR2 building on Friday, September 18, 2026 from 3:30-5pm. All are welcome!
Decolonizing African Agriculture: Food Security, Agroecology and the Need for Radical Transformation
William G. Moseley, Dewitt Wallace Professor of Geography and Director of the Program for Food, Agriculture and Society, Macalester College, Saint Paul, MN USA. Email: moseley@macalester.edu
In this talk, Moseley discusses his new book analyzing the history of food security and agricultural development initiatives in post-colonial Africa and outlining a vision for future prosperity. The book’s argument has three parts. First, development organizations and governments will only begin to seriously address food insecurity in Africa when they more fully question the assumption that production agriculture is the solution, an idea that is central to crop science or agronomy. Second, agricultural development must be seen as more than the first step in an industrial development process, but as a sustainable livelihood that has value in and of itself. Third, an agroecological approach, combined with good governance, will allow people to have greater control over their food systems, produce healthy food more sustainably, and enhance access to food by the poorest of the poor. Following a broad conceptual introduction emphasizing political agronomy and political ecology, Moseley reviews past food security and agricultural development experiences in four countries where he has undertaken research: Mali, Burkina Faso, South Africa and Botswana. He then examines successful efforts in each of the aforementioned countries and outlines future directions that emphasize agroecology, the application of ecological principles to agricultural systems. He concludes with some ideas about institutions at the national, regional and international levels. To build more resilient food systems and a different kind of development, new institutions will need to emerge that support agroecology and vibrant rurality.