R. A. Cramb

Economics of smallholder rubber expansion in Northern Laos

In Northern Laos, as elsewhere in the Southeast Asian uplands, there is an agricultural transition underway from subsistence production based on shifting cultivation to commercial production based on tree crops. In response to demand from China, rubber smallholdings are being established by shifting cultivators in Northern Laos, encouraged by government land-use policy. We examine the bio-economics of smallholder rubber production in an established rubber-growing village and model the likely expansion of smallholder rubber in Northern Laos. Data were obtained from key informants, group interviews, direct observation, and a farm-household survey. Latex yields were estimated using the Bioeconomic Rubber Agroforestry Support System (BRASS). A financial model was developed to estimate the net present value for a representative rubber smallholding. This model was then combined with spatial data in a Geographical Information System (GIS) to predict the likely expansion of rubber based on resource quality and accessibility. Implications are drawn for upland development in the region.

Shifting cultivation and sustainable agriculture in East Malaysia: A longitudinal case study

Abstract This paper examines the sustainability of shifting cultivation in Sarawak, East Malaysia, through a case study of the responses of two villages to demographic and economic forces during the period from 1979–1980 to 1988–1989. It is concluded that the farming system of which shifting cultivation is a part (which includes perennial cash crops) is sustainable in two senses: it is resilient to exogenous disturbances; it exhibits a non-negative trend in output. Shifting cultivation makes an important contribution to the overall stability and sustainability of the farming system and should be evaluated on this basis.

Recognizing contemporary roles of swidden agriculture in transforming landscapes of southeast Asia.

Geography Department, AS2-04-21, 1 Arts Link, Kent Ridge. National University of Singapore117570, Singapore, emailgeoadz@nus.edu.sg†Program on Environment, East-West Center, 1601 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96848, U.S.A.‡Department of Biological Sciences, 14 Science Drive 4, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117543

Conservation Farming Projects in the Philippine Uplands: Rhetoric and Reality

The phenomenon of agricultural land degradation in the Philippine uplands has been regarded by scientists and policy-makers as a major environmental and rural development problem. Numerous conservation farming projects have been implemented in the past two decades to address this problem, apparently with little success. Most of these projects have espoused the currently fashionable principles of community-based sustainable development. This paper examines case histories of three completed upland conservation projects. The aim is to compare the rhetoric of project documents and evaluations with the reality of on-going land management practices as seen from the perspective of the land managers themselves

Landcare and Livelihoods: The Promotion and Adoption of Conservation Farming Systems in the Philippine Uplands

Slow adoption of conservation farming systems in the Philippine uplands is a major problem. To address this, the landcare approach, based on community landcare groups, is being piloted in several locations. The results of a study to evaluate the impact of the Landcare Program in Barangay Ned in Southern Mindanao are presented. The sustainable rural livelihoods approach was used as a framework for the evaluation. The study focused on two impacts, the adoption of conservation practices and the formation and development of landcare groups, drawing on four data sources—project reports, key informants, a questionnaire survey, and case studies of landcare groups. The Ned Landcare Program has been associated with rapid adoption of conservation farming practices and the rapid formation of landcare groups linked in an association. The main effect of the Program was to enhance human capital through practical, farmer-led training and extension, enabling farmers to incorporate soil conservation and agroforestry technologies in their farming systems, with desirable outcomes for livelihood security and environmental sustainability. The social capital formed, especially through the landcare association, was crucial to these outcomes. Ongoing partnerships with adequately resourced facilitating agencies were required to maintain the Landcare Program in the long term.

The role of traditional institutions in rural development: Community-based land tenure and government land policy in Sarawak, Malaysia

Abstract Traditional local-level institutions are frequently considered obstacles to rural development and so attempts are made by the state to impose “dissonant” institutional forms from above. In contrast, this paper argues that traditional institutions should be viewed as the building blocks of a modern, development-oriented institutional structure. The argument is applied to the case of the Iban system of community-based land tenure and its relationship with government land policy in the Malaysian state of Sarawak.

Re-Inventing Dualism: Policy Narratives and Modes of Oil Palm Expansion in Sarawak, Malaysia

Abstract The policy narrative underpinning the current rapid expansion of large-scale, private, oil palm plantations in Sarawak, Malaysia, implies a dualistic conception of the agrarian transformation underway, such as prevailed in the 1950s. This narrative is inconsistent with the history of smallholder commercialisation in Sarawak. Post-1981 policy has sought to limit smallholder development and deliver large land areas to private estates, thus ‘re-inventing’ a dualistic agrarian structure. Oil palm expansion in Sarawak has various potential pathways and is driven in its present direction, not by dualistic economics, but the exercise of state power to maximise opportunities for surplus extraction and political patronage.

Cost-benefit analysis of alternative forms of hedgerow intercropping in the Philippine uplands

Considerable resources have been expended promoting hedgerow intercropping with shrub legumes to farmers in the Philippine uplands. Despite the resources committed to research and extension, persistent adoption by farmers has been limited to low cost versions of the technology including natural vegetation and grass strips. In this paper, cost-benefit analysis is used to compare the economic returns from traditional open-field maize farming with returns from intercropping maize between leguminous shrub hedgerows, natural vegetation strips and grass strips. An erosion/productivity model, Soil Changes Under Agroforestry, was used to predict the effect of erosion on maize yields. Key informant surveys with experienced maize farmers were used to derive production budgets for the alternative farming methods.The economic incentives revealed by the cost-benefit analysis help to explain the adoption of maize farming methods in the Philippine uplands. Open-field farming without hedgerows has been by far the most popular method of maize production, often with two or more fields cropped in rotation. There is little persistent adoption of hedgerow intercropping with shrub legumes because sustained maize yields are not realised rapidly enough to compensate farmers for establishment and maintenance costs. Natural vegetation and grass strips are more attractive to farmers because of lower establishment costs, and provide intermediate steps to adoption. Rural finance, commodity pricing and agrarian reform policies influence the incentives for maize farmers in the Philippine uplands to adopt and maintain hedgerow intercropping.

The mouse deer and the crocodile: oil palm smallholders and livelihood strategies in Sarawak, Malaysia

The dominant view among policy-makers in Sarawak, a resource frontier state in Malaysian Borneo, is that the only viable way to involve smallholders in the oil palm boom that has transformed the agricultural economy of that island is to consolidate them into larger production entities with externally provided management and finance. However, despite lack of government support, the area of smallholder oil palm has increased dramatically in the past decade in those regions with access to roads and palm oil mills. We argue that, once processing infrastructure is in place, oil palm smallholders can readily take advantage of this infrastructure to pursue a profitable livelihood option, with lower cost and greater flexibility than large-scale operations. In this paper we explore the characteristics of oil palm smallholders in Sarawak and the complex and varied processes by which they have inserted themselves into the rapidly expanding landscape of large-scale plantation development. We develop a typology of oil palm smallholders and present a case study based on a questionnaire survey of 72 farm-households in five longhouse-communities in northern Sarawak. The analysis shows the economic viability of independent oil palm smallholders and identifies appropriate means of support that could raise incomes and spread benefits more widely.

Remoteness and rural development: economic impacts of rural roads on upland farmers in Sarawak, Malaysia

Although Sarawak has a rapidly growing economy, the benefits of growth have been focused largely in the urban centres. However, the majority of the population lives in rural areas, where poverty, although on the decline, prevails. Attention is given to the role of rural roads in countering remoteness and, hence, promoting more equitable development. To assess the impact of rural roads, two roads were used for comparison. One provided Iban communities with access to Belong, a small district town. The other provided Bidayuh communities with access to Kuching, the capital city. This paper focuses on three economic impacts of roads - agricultural production, employment, and household income. Findings show that the impact of roads varied within an area (a function of remoteness) and bet\veen areas (also a function of remoteness). Impacts were considerably greater when roads provided communities with access to a major urban centre compared with a small town. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the governments strategy of rural development.