Ecology to technocracy: Scientists, surveys and power in the agricultural development of late-colonial Zambia

This article provides an account of the transformation in agricultural development expertise that took place in late-colonial Zambia. Frustration with the slow pace of agricultural 'improvement' in the Native Reserves forced the socially and ecologically aware approach to rural development fostered during the 1930s-1940s, to give way to the technocratic model now associated with the green revolution agriculture and the 'developmental state'. Through an exploration of these changes, the article seeks to advance ongoing debates concerning the interrelationship between knowledge, intervention, expertise and power in rural development. It focuses on research undertaken by Department of Agriculture (DOA) staff on the Tonga Plateau in Zambia's Southern Province during the 1940s and 1950s. Being both a major maize producing area and home to political organisations that challenged colonial and postcolonial rulers, the Tonga Plateau has long been the subject of concentrated scholarly enquiry. In late colonial Zambia, its political and economic importance made it a living laboratory1 for various scientists and technical experts. The article contributes to the rich historiography of agriculture on the Tonga Plateau by examining the knowledge claims behind various forms of state intervention that took place there.