Fragmented livelihoods:

a reflection on why few peasants living in poverty join an organization in Niassa (Mozambique)

Abstract

This article examines the reasons why peasants living in poverty are unlikely
to form or join an organization defending their rights and interests. The study is based on
ethnographically inspired fieldwork in the Niassa province, northern Mozambique, and takes
peasants’ accounts of their livelihoods as the point of departure. The livelihood analysis is
placed within a historical and structural process. The article suggests that four dimensions of
fragmentation of peasants’ livelihoods hamper the conditions for collective organizations.
Firstly, every peasant household is, at any given point in time, engaged in a number of different
livelihood activities to ensure its production and reproduction. Secondly, the composition of
these activities varies between households. Thirdly, the activities are constantly changing.
Fourthly, there is socio-economic differentiation among peasant households. These four
dimensions make it difficult to identify central and enduring interests and conflicts peasants
are engaged in that could be the foundation for their collective organization.