Walsh Reflection Essay
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Walsh Reflection Essay
Core Argument of Trojan Horse Aid
The core argument of the novel Trojan Horse Aid by Susan Walsh is that the idea of western capacity building through the introduction of or use of technology when it comes to food production does not promote sustainable livelihood among the locals or farmers. The book provides an essential critique of distinct development practices and programs that undercut peasant strategies while suggesting practical approaches that can be used in the future (Walshe, 2014, 58). Walsh offers a contradiction on development industry partners or works with distinct communities such as Jalqa to improve their livelihood through agriculture. Through the firsthand account of development programs gone aslant, the author recounts how multinational, international, and national organizations failed the Jalqa people in the early millennium. Although the intention was to help potato farmers in Bolivia, most development organizations like UNICEF, FHI, and IPTK pushed for changes that served the organization’s interest, thereby undermining the resilience of the locals while pushing the majority of farmers from their lands. According to the author, the well-intentioned organizations working with the Jalqa communities did not pay much attention to the longstanding knowledge that promoted or supported the survival of the locals in the region, a place where the natural world had the upper hand (Walsh, 2014, 138).
Critiques of the IPTK, FHI, AND UNICEF Development Programs in Ravelo
According to Walsh, although UNICEF, FHI, and IPTK had good intentions for Ravelo’s people, they paid little attention to the longstanding knowledge and understanding that supported the survival of the people. For that reason, she challenges the idea of promoting western capacity building in the region by introducing technologies that relate to food production to promote sustainable livelihood among the locals, especially farmers. UNICEF, FHI, and IPTK tended to view the indigenous farming practices as an antiquated technique while promoting large scale production techniques and western styles technologies like chemical use and mono-cropping (Walsh, 2014, 141). The intention was to lift the locals out of both substance and semi-substance farming types into practicing cash crop farming. Nonetheless, instead of lifting the locals, it resulted in reduced production, thereby enhancing food shortage.
As the locals adopted the organizations’ industrial practices, it resulted in the supply of food becoming less diverse and secure. For instance, the nutrient-dense and native potato variety traditionally grown in the region were replaced by several water-filled types. UNICEF, FHI, and IPTK aimed to use their newly introduced variety in French fry machines and that the variety was chemically intensive when growing. As a result, the locals started losing the knowledge of their ancestral variety and growing them organically. For that reason, the local’s reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides resulted in severe soil infertility and erosion that was fueled by the use of more fertilizers and pesticides (Walsh, 2014, 174). Besides, farmers were also not able to get significant sales from their products’ sales to cover the cost of chemicals they had purchased. Moving to the city became an option whereby the locals moved in search of work.
Walsh’s Perspective about Good Development
According to Walsh, good development is that which does not affect the locals’ way of life. The development should promote people’s sustainable livelihood but not push them to adopt changes that serve their interests. By pushing changes in how the locals undertake their activities, it will mean that the organizations are undermining the locals’ resilience and pushing farmers off their lands. While the use of new technologies is useful for solving food production, the locals’ knowledge should also be included in farming. The worry is that it is challenging to feed the ever-growing global population using technology from the west, like large-scale production procedures. Nonetheless, it should be understood that such techniques come with their share of problems. The techniques have long-term sustainability of the environment, thereby impacting future generations’ ability to meet their needs. As such, most analysts and researchers agree that hunger is less of a question regarding agricultural limit but more of an issue about having access to food and the means that can be used to produce it (Irwin, 2018, 67). For that reason, it is a political and economic issue instead of a technological issue. Walsh argues that capacity building practices should ensure that it starts with adopting the community’s strengths, especially family farmers who have the knowledge of traditional farming and diversity promoted by the locals. Regarding climate change, the long term security of a given population depends on the available options of diversity.
Walsh’s Link to Vanden and Prevost Book
Walsh’s observation in her text looks similar to that of international development, as Vanden and Prevost discussed in their textbook. Just like Vanden and Prevost, Walsh, in her novel, explores the evolution and change that people experienced as a result of influence from government and non-governmental organizations. Vanden and Prevost (2011, 78) text validate a nuanced sensitivity to the abuse and use of power to manipulate people to do what is desired by those in authority. On the other hand, Walsh focuses on describing how the locals were deprived of their culture by non-governmental organizations that had the purpose of fulfilling their interests at the expense of adopting the way of life of the locals into their practices. As such, Walsh saw that it was essential for organizations with influence to show respect to the social conditions of the people they are working for, globalization, and respect the political economy of the people. Although organizations like UNICEF had good intentions for the people, the problem is that they did not take into consideration their way of life. By incorporating their farming techniques, the organizations would have helped ensure that both local and contemporary farming practices are used by farmers, thereby promoting sustainable livelihood.
Finally, Walsh’s observation of the broader patterns in international development as discussed by Vanden and Prevost in their text is that it is essential to understand acknowledge the
Region’s economics, religion, race, gender, history, and setting are respecting people’s traditions. Just like Walsh’s argument and observation, Vendon and Prevost (2011, 116) studied how South American communities experienced a turning point because of the modern nation-state’s start. When intending to improve the locals’ lives, it is essential to understand their way of life before asking them to learn what an organization or a government intends to introduce. By doing so, people’s culture will be affected after being trained to do things in a new way.
References
Irwin, S. M. (2018). Forging pathways to sustainable food systems and rural poverty reduction: insights from a social and economic value chain analysis of aquaculture in the Bolivian Amazon (Doctoral dissertation).
Vanden, H. E., & Prevost, G. (2011). Politics of Latin America: the power game.
Walsh, S. (2014). Trojan-horse aid: seeds of resistance and resilience in the Bolivian highlands and beyond. McGill-Queen’s Press-MQUP.