This article demonstrates the politics of the policy processes of adaptation using the case of crop diversification. Competing narratives among different actors illustrate the complexity of practically translating crop diversification in practice. The context in which policy processes take place matter a great deal since adaptation policies’ chance of success cannot be judged abstractly in their theoretical or technical attributes without considering the institutional, political and cultural context in which they are applied. This draws attention to the fact that policy processes are less of a linear sequence but more of a political process, underpinned by a complex mesh of interactions and ramifications between a wide range of stakeholders who are driven and constrained by the competing interests and contexts in which they operate.