The “Nested” Power of TNCs: Smallholders’ Biggest Challenge

The plight of smallholder farmers vis-à-vis their highly concentrated input providers and distributors is well known. This article highlights the embeddedness of dyadic power relations within broader economic, political, and social institutions governing the relations between transnational corporations (TNCs) and smallholders. It provides a Gramscian gaze into the deep roots of TNCs in the neoliberal historic bloc and argues that challenging the power of the TNCs requires a comprehensive strategy that goes much beyond the capacity of smallholders. It requires a broad-based popular movement crossing the North-South divide.