Teaching them to fish: entrepreneurial ideology and rural projects in South Africa

One of the great puzzles of development work is the way money can easily be spent without much result. In South Africa, government development work in rural villages is oriented to food security and sustainable agriculture. In this article I want to trace the dominance of ‘entrepreneurialism’ as an ideology which has a major impact on agricultural development in the villages, to suggest reasons why projects based on this approach fail, and to outline an alternative strategy. To consider this as an ideology is to note its blind spots, to examine its class location, the interests which it serves, and the way it has become part of common sense. While this article outlines relevant government policies, a key focus is the viewpoints of agricultural officers, located as they are in the ‘professional-managerial class’ While their perspective in some ways reflects their class interests, they are at the same time attempting to truly bring development to the poor In this context, entrepreneurialism acts as a barrier to more effective strategies.