Coordination work – Tuning and timing rice production in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Agricultural growth poles and development corridors are key instruments for fostering economic growth in rural areas and widely employed across the African continent. This paper contributes to the growing body of scholarship that empirically investigates how these large-scale spatial development strategies ‘hit the ground’. Drawing on ethnographic research within the Bagré Growth Pole Project in Burkina Faso and focusing on its key sector, rice, we develop the notion of coordination work. Coordination work captures the quotidian dimension of a growth pole project that is the instruments and interventions aimed at aligning different actors, activities, and arrangements in the project zone. Deploying a practice theoretical lens, we empirically unfold three modes of coordination work, namely the work of agricultural advisors on demonstration fields, consultancy support to farmer groups and unions, and the setting up of a binding agricultural calendar. We contend that a focus on coordination work illuminates the underlying assumptions and effects of distinct measures and instruments while also pointing to the cross connections between them. Ultimately, we show how specific project components change socio-ecological rhythms by tuning and timing practices at the center of megaprojects.