Raising Cane The Political Economy Of Sugar In Western India

This book uses the life stories of peasants and their families to evaluate grand theories of rural development. It offers "voices from below" as a corrective to the assumptions of theorists and policymakers who are isolated, in their urban, elite surroundings, from the realities of village life.



In Maharashtra state, nearly one hundred sugar factories are owned and operated by peasants. Large in scale and efficient in operation, these factories are organized as cooperatives, with half a million cane growers as their voting members. In many cases, the co-ops have out-competed factories owned by industrial capitalists. This book describes th