Epilogue:
Picture Perfect?
Malawi's bright future is here. It doesn't look so great.
As we've seen, development means
little for Malawi. Its gain are small for
most people and come at a steep price.
Tobacco advocates will talk only about
growth, but what kind? Average
Malawians don't get to decide.
Malawi is a small, poor nation.
Its farmers have no choice but to work
with the opportunistic tobacco industry.
That is, even though tobacco damages
food security, social mobility, and land.
Malawi's government and businessmen
largely ignore these effects, continually
investing into the tobacco industry and
echoing the fairy-tale of development.
"naive analysis bears this out: if tobacco is such a profitable crop
why is Malawi still among the poorest nations in the world?"
why is Malawi still among the poorest nations in the world?"
This question forces us to realize that
growth is relative.
Some is better than none, but certainly growth given by tobacco is not enough.
We have to question development's benefits by comparison:
What kinds of lives do people have? |
|
What could their lives be like? |