Agricultural

Transformations and
Rural Development

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 (precipitation),

soil and vegetation
B- Behavioral - how ecosystem
is perceived-physical and
behavioral may be in conflict
C- Operational - culture, values,
class structures, institutions and
tradition, political system,
technology level-farm
management, land tenure-all
influence and govern machinery
of production, consumption and
exchange

Agricultural System

A-Physical Environment

B-Behavioral
Environment

C-Operational
Milieu

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)
Latifundia 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

Green Revolution
Green Revolution - production revolution in
grains associated with discovery of new hybrid
seed varieties of wheat, rice, and corn
Resulted in high farm yields and allow double and
triple cropping due to rapid maturity
But such seeds are dependent upon expensive
inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and above all
require adequate water.
Produces higher incomes and may allow family
members to divert to other non-farm occupations

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

Rubber Plantations
Originally collected from wild
trees in South America, now
90% of rubber production
comes from plantations of
rubber trees in Southeast Asia.
Thailand (southern) is largest
producer where small holdings
are dominant; Malaysia,
Indonesia and Nigeria
Strong prices for latex have
produced a boom
Huge demand from China
rubber tires and other products
as well as global demand for
rubber gloves (HIV)

Oil Palm Plantations

Oil palm originally from West

Africa has overtaken rubber in
many nations
Malaysia currently accounts for
51 % of world palm oil production
and 62% of world exports
Other producers are Indonesia,
Nigeria, Ivory Coast and
Colombia
Numerous food and non-food
applications: frying media;
margarines, shortenings, soap,
oleochemicals and other
products
Nutritional and health value?

Sedentary
Dry
Farming

Sedentary dry farming- mostly smallholders growing

cereal grains usually millets and sorghums
Sahel countries- Burkina Faso Chad, Mali, Niger,
Sudan- desertification and aridity
Occasionally grown under irrigation where population
density is generally low

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)
In the ideal case, shifting cultivation is a cycle where farmers come back to
the original place after a couple of years. The picture shows a newly
prepared land in the center. In the 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.(R)

Fires, Slash and Burn and

Indonesia

Slash/burn practiced in
Borneo by Dayaks w/o
creating ecological crisis
Burning has become
excessive
Clearing old rubber
plantations is major cause of
firesillegal but cheap
But local people also clear by
fire as they farm larger areas
In dry years fire and smoke
damage have huge
consequences for property
and health and the ecology
of the forest

Highland Market Gardens

High elevation areas allow
crops: carrots, tomatoes,
cabbage, flowers
Labor intensive vegetable or
tea production for urban
markets
Well organized and export
orientation
Examples: Cameron
Highlands, Malaysia;
Berastagi, Sumatra; Baguio,
Philippines; Kandy, Sri Lanka

Constraints on Rural Developing

World 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

in Latin America, Asia, and Africa
Common characteristic is the position of the
family farm in all three areas
Latin America and Asia have very different
heritages and cultures but peasant life is similar
Rural cultivator whose prime aim is survival
Farming techniques are scaled to his level of
capital: human and animal power rather than
mechanization
Food crops are dominant: corn, rice and
soybeans

Contrasting Peasant Agriculture:

Latin America
But nature of agrarian existence differed dramatically
Latin America- pattern of dualism known as latifundio
(large land holdings > 15 persons) and minifundio
(smallest farms <2 persons)
Problem: small number of latifundios control a large
proportion of agriculture while vast number of
minifundios scratch out existence
Problem: latifundios relatively inefficient because
high proportion of land may be left idle
Problem: little reinvestment of profits to improve
productivity

Contrasting Peasant Agriculture: Latin

America

Land owners often value their holdings not for their

contribution to national agricultural output but for
power and prestige
Many small farmers exist on benevolence and goodwill
of landowner-permits them a meager living
In return small farmers give up to 80 % of production of
output
Tenant farmers may have to provide both output and
free labor to the patron
Improved agricultural productivity in LA means more
than seeds, fertilizers, higher output prices, and
improved marketing
It means a reorganization of social and institutional
structures for peasants to lift themselves up

Contrasting Peasant Agriculture: Asia

In LA- 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; Myrdals vicious
circles of poverty!!

Contrasting Peasant Agriculture:

Africa
As in LA and Asia, subsistence on small plots is
typical, but organization is very different
African agricultural systems dominated by three
characteristics:
1. Importance of subsistence farming in the
village community
2. Existence of land in excess of immediate
needs (allows shifting cultivation)
3. Rights of each family to have access to land
and water in immediate area (if you do not
belong to community you are excluded)

Contrasting Peasant Agriculture:

Africa

Low productivity subsistence is characteristic of most

traditional African agricultureWhy?
1. Traditional tools and limited technology restrict area that
can be planted- although land is available (Animal power
restricted)
2. Small areas intensively cultivated- subject to diminishing
returns and increased labor inputs-shifting cultivation
appropriate?
3. Scarcity of labor during the growing season-planting and
weeding. Only one rainy period over much of Africa,
demand for workers at this time exceeds supply
Net result is virtually constant level of agricultural output
and labor productivity throughout Africa

Off-Farm Employment
Off-farm employment (OFE) is a critical yet
imperfectly understood phenomenon
Micro-level issues which address the nature
of the employment, its prevalence and
income impact must be further understood
OFE is central in many household survival
strategies and a substantial proportion of
income may be derived from off-farm work

The Location of Off Farm

Employment
Many families meet subsistence needs by
producing crops on farm and working at off farm
jobs
The latter is often much more lucrative
Off farm employment applies to two different
situations:
1. Local -e.g. working on a neighbors land or
operating a small shop
2. Regional- e.g. coffee harvesting in another
region, factory work and trader- vendor in nearby
town

Activity Forms in the Peasant

Economy

Productive activities of rural peasants production for direct use in household (food
processing, husking of grain, etc), non-farm
income earning on farm (handicraft production),
work on household farm (land prep, weeding,
harvesting) and off-farm wage labor both farm
(harvesting coffee) and non-farm (trishaw driver or
factory worker).
Reproductive activities of rural peasants - daily
maintenance of the household: cooking, sweeping,
collecting firewood and water (Senegal), mending
and washing clothes. These may be differentiated
by biological (childbearing), generational
(socialization and education of children), and daily
(cooking, collecting water).
.

Peasants and Commodity

Production
Commodification or Commoditization
- the increasing production of goods and
services for the market (e.g. peanuts in
Senegal).
Petty commodity production - form of
production in capitalism that combines
capital and labor within small, typically
household or family enterprises