Trade with Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific: The UK’s Economic Partnership Agreements

Abstract

While in Malawi for action research on the place of small-scale farmers in commercial agriculture, a colleague and I visited the Phata cooperative in the Lower Shire Valley, a wide lowland plain in the south of the country. With support from a management firm, over 1,100 farmers had pooled their small landholdings to set up a collective estate of over 600 hectares and build an irrigation system drawing water from the Shire River. The cooperative was growing sugar cane and selling it to a nearby mill operated by a multinational enterprise. During the visit, we learned about local initiative and innovation, as farmers sought out opportunities and ultimately reaped economic benefits. We also saw glimpses of changing international arrangements that, in regulating aid and trade, connected