Business and biotechnology
Monsanto and smallholder farmers: a case-study on corporate accountability
A case study on Monsanto and corporate social responsibility in agricultural extension
Authors:
D. Glover
Publisher:
Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK, 2007
This paper examines Monsanto’s Smallholder Programme (SHP) and considers the implications of the programme on corporate accountability. The intent of the paper is to evaluate how far this programme confirms or modifies conventional understandings of corporate accountability.
The paper discusses the following:
- critical literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR)
- basic details about the SHP
- how ideas of social and environmental sustainability evolved within Monsanto
- how Monsanto articulated its responsibilities in relation to CSR concepts
- how the SHP was represented by the firm in the context of CSR.
This paper shows that the programme was created partly in response to pressure from Monsanto’s critics and anti-biotechnology activists, but also rooted in the company’s strategic determination to commercialise and develop the market for genetically modified (GM) crops and other products. It also finds that the programme was only partially oriented around the needs of resource-poor farmers. The programme was used as a strategic market-development tool, and was a key part of a strategy to create and promote a positive association between GM crops and smallholder farmers. The programme opened up new opportunities for farmers and empowered them to make demands of Monsanto’s field staff, but the accountability that this allowed was limited and imperfect.
The paper demonstrates that the quasi-philanthropic purposes of the programme ultimately succumbed to competing commercial pressures and the programme was closed. It therefore provides an interesting insight into challenges involved in "mainstreaming" CSR.
