Paradox of mainstreaming agroecology for regional and rural food security in developing countries

Laxmi Prasad Pant

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2016, vol. 111, issue C, 305-316

Abstract: Paradox of mainstreaming agroecology refers to an apparent contradiction between upscaling niche innovations to produce more food in sustainable ways, and the concerns for a loss of core values and principles of agroecology in the mainstreaming process. This paper examines this paradox of mainstreaming and sidestreaming (continuity of niche practises) using longitudinal case studies of agroecological innovations in soil and water conservation, crop improvement, crop intensification, and market differentiation in the regional and rural contexts of developing countries. Findings suggest that there are latent and salient paradoxes of mainstreaming niche innovations, respectively explaining cooperative and competitive interactions with the incumbent regime of industrial food and agriculture. While the former paradox involves continuity of niche practises as well as regime conditions through incremental adaptations, the latter comprises regime shifts through transformational adaptations. However, as these two paradoxes are in flux a latent paradox can become salient when competitive elements of seemingly cooperative niche-regime interactions unravel.

Keywords: Transformations; Adaptive transition cycle; Regime shifts; Agroecology; Innovation; Food security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162516000676
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:111:y:2016:i:c:p:305-316

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2016.03.001

Access Statistics for this article

Technological Forecasting and Social Change is currently edited by Fred Phillips

More articles in Technological Forecasting and Social Change from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().