Transcript Agricultural Transformations and Rural Development Southeast Asian Perspectives

Agricultural
Transformations and
Rural Development
Southeast Asian Perspectives
Agricultural Systems
 Useful to view agriculture in a systems
framework: inputs, outputs and linkages
 Inputs- labor, fertilizer, seeds, land
preparation, land quality and tenure
 Outputs- production in form of mature
crops and income earned and allocated
 Linkages- labor intensity > type of crop
(rice, rubber, etc); land size>income
earned and traditional system
 But inputs, outputs are linked through
three overlapping milieu or environments
 A- Physical - Ecosystemespecially climate
Agricultural Systems
(precipitation), soil and
vegetation
 B- Behavioral - how
ecosystem is perceivedA-Physical Environment
physical and behavioral
may be in conflict
 C- Operational - culture,
values, class structures,
institutions and tradition,
political system,
technology level-farm
management, land
C-Operational
B-Behavioral
tenure-all influence and
Milieu
Environment
govern machinery of
production, consumption
and exchange
Agrarian Structure
 Agrarian structure refers to ways in which
agricultural system is developed on the land and
includes land ownership, cropping system, and
institutions
 Land tenure- who owns or controls the land
 Communal tenure- land held by village where
villagers enjoy usufruct (right to use and profit)
 Estates –large estates where wage laborers are
employed by private sector firms (agri-business),
or plantations held by public sector
 Freehold- outright ownership with land being
transferred and divided equally among (usually
males)
 Tenancy- farmers pay owners for use of land
either in cash or kind (production)
Forms of Agriculture
http://www.askasia.org/frclasrm/lessplan/l000008.htm

Wet rice (sawah or padi) cultivation- rice grown in an
embanked field relying on natural rainfall or irrigation.
Highly labor intensive and naturally fertile. Irrigation adds
fertility through deposition of material in suspension.
Capable of involution and highly impacted by the Green
Revolution- hybrid seeds, fertilizers and pesticides used
to enhance productivity but assumes abundant water
Plantation or Estate Agriculture
 Plantation or Estate Agriculture- foreign capital or public
sector capital; large scale with rubber, oil palm, coffee
and sugar cane being dominant; high labor
requirements-labor supply problems; stimulated by
Western now Eastern demand as well; significant capital
investment-planting, processing, re-planting
Sedentary Dry Farming
 Sedentary dry farming- mostly smallholders
growing cereal grains usually millets and
sorghums- occasionally grown under irrigation
where population density is generally low
Example: Khorat Plateau
Shifting Agriculture
 Shifting cultivation- sometimes referred to as ‘swidden’ and means
occupancy of the land interrupted by lengthy rest periods, clearing field
and burning vegetation, sowing food crops; supports only a small
population; extensive type of agriculture; diversity of crops planted to
insure against natural hazard
 Shifting cultivation usually starts with cutting trees and a fire which
clears a spot for crop production (L)
 (R) newly prepared land in the center, background is untouched forest,
in the foreground the piece of land which has been left idle to re-growth
of a secondary forest from the previous cropping cycle, and on the right
the secondary growth awaiting cultivation during the next cropping
cycle.
Highland Market
 Higher elevation
Gardens
areas which allow
cultivation of
temperate crops
 Largely labor
intensive vegetable or
tea production for
urban markets
 Usually well
organized and if so
export is possible
 Examples: Cameron
Highlands, Malaysia;
Berastagi, Karo
Highlands, Sumatra;
Baguio, Philippines
Constraints on Rural Southeast
Asian Agriculture
 Small size of farms limit productivity of
labor
 Reduction in size of land parcels under
inheritance tends to increase tenancy
 Weak local or regional markets
 Expensive inputs unless subsidized by
government
 Farm to market transport often poor and
may be seasonal- collapsing in the wet
season
Contrasting Peasant Agriculture: Asia
 In Latin America and Africa- too much land
under control of too few people
 In Asia- too many people crowded onto too little
land
 Three forces have molded the traditional pattern
of land ownership into its present condition
 1. European rule-private property, rise of
landlord and creation of individual land titles
 2. Rise in power of the moneylender- with land
titles land became a negotiable asset
 3. Rapid growth of Asian populations- impact
has been severe fragmentation; as holdings
shrink production falls below poverty level;
peasants forced to borrow at usurious rates;
large debts; forced to pay high rents with scarce
land; labor abundant so wages are low; Myrdal’s
vicious circles of poverty!!
Southeast Asia’s Green Revolution
 What is the Green Revolution?
 Basically a worldwide attempt to revolutionize
production of wheat and rice in many Third
World countries
 Most important development is the application
of new seeds or hybrid referred to as HYVs
(high yielding varieties)
 In Southeast Asia International Rice Research
Institute, Los Banos, Philippines
Hybrid Rice
 Especially responsive to fertilizers in conditions
of adequate water supply and effective
management
 Spectacular yields- more than double normal
which allows nations to achieve rice self
sufficiency and eliminates need to import
 HYVs are locationally selective- best results
where cheap irrigation is available
 Geographic effect relate to distribution pattern of
research coops and relation to control center
 Successful where overcrowding encourages
intensity of production
 New seeds substitute for both land and labor
since productivity of both is increased
 Raise yields and are a substitute for land –very
critical
Impact of Green Revolution
 Commercial and environmental risks are raised with
increased dependence on success in the market
 Forced boom in irrigation and water control schemes
 Rise in fertilizer and pesticide consumption
 Increased dangers from new plant diseases
 Bottlenecks in labor supply- harvest time
 Widened income gap between rich and poor farmers
 Forces view of agricultural production as a technology
(imported) dependent process- progress translated into a
narrow technical problem
 Real problem is social task of releasing untapped and
wasted human resources
 Real problem also involves politicians and vested interestswealthy who benefit from status quo
 Such people can and do influence access to knowledge and
availability of credit needed by farmers to purchase inputs
Summary Impacts
 Demands access to critical inputs: water,
fertilizer, pesticides which may be costly for
poor farmers and incites over borrowing
 Information and access to information is
critical—remote farmers?
 Green Revolution may exacerbate income
differentials
 Case studies show failure results from access
to inputs but also inability to adjust to needs of
new system, lack of farmer experience and
disease
Toward a New Strategy for Rural
Development
 1. Land Reform- (reorganization of land
holdings and tenure structures by expropriation
and consolidation of fragmented and tiny
holdings) farm structures and tenure patterns
must fit need to:
 a. increase food production
 b. promote wider distribution of benefits of
agrarian progress – uneven land ownership
single most important factor in explaining
inequitable distribution of income
Toward a New Strategy for Rural
Development
 2. Supportive Policies- need state policies that
provide incentives and opportunities
 a. assure access to needed inputs
 b. corresponding changes in rural institutions
that control production (e.g banks and money
lenders)
 c. expand supporting government services
(credit, education, rural transport, health)
Toward a New Strategy for Rural
Development
 3. Integrated Development Objectives
 a. need simultaneous changes in income,
employment, education, health and
housing
 b. lessening of rural-urban imbalances
 c. capacity of rural sector to sustain these
improvements over time