Contenu du sommaire : Agriculture in Southeast Asia: an update

Shifting cultivation is often described as “traditional”, inflexible and outdated, in contrast with “modern”, mechanised and chemical agriculture. This belief leads to overlooking farmer know-how, accumulated over generations to exploit natural resources while adapting itself to the mutations of the physical, social and economic environment.Research conducted in Phongsaly provides an idea about how complex and consistent a shifting cultivation system can be and how farmers optimise family labour but also limit their risks. External interventions—policies, projects, etc.—are aimed at improving the farmers' livelihood by converting their farming practices. When these interventions overlook how diversified slash-and-burn agriculture is, they often lead to oversimplifying the farming systems, impoverishing people and exposing them to natural and economic risks. These actions are then counterproductive. In the interest of the Lao nation, as a community, the policies and their implementation should be rethought so as to hold highland farmers of ethnic minorities in higher esteem and to widen the viewpoint, currently limited to a caricature of the mountains and forest, upheld by the culturally and politically dominant lowland inhabitants.

In 1997-1998 the economic crisis hit almost all industries and Indonesia's GNP experienced a negative growth (-13.2% in 1998). Under these circumstances, the oil palm sector showed its strength and resilience. Oil palm plantation area and output respectively increased by almost 7% and 6% per year between 1996 and 2001. All three coexisting management systems—private estates, smallholders and government-owned estates—experienced this growth. Smallholders' welfare in oil palm producing areas is significantly higher than most of other tree crop or annual crop smallholders and oil palm, with an average net income of 500 dollars per hectare, and this attracts more and more farmers. This paper combines secondary data and field survey results to address two key issues for the future of the oil palm smallholder sector. First is the question of the contribution of oil palm to the emergence and existence of wealthy households on a long-term run; are the conditions currently met to guarantee them a sustainable livelihood? Second is the political issue of smallholder development versus private estate development in relation to growth and equity; what are the terms of the alternative? Finally, this paper discusses policy options and implementation issues.

Bordering Thailand, the southern part of Xayabury province is engaged in international trade and has experienced agricultural growth like nowhere else in Laos. The rapid transformation from manual slash-and-burn agriculture to mechanized, chemical-based cropping systems is often cited by Laotian authorities as a model of development. But a careful study of changes underway indicates that the reality is far less encouraging than it would appear at first. If many farmers have indeed bolstered their incomes over the last twenty years, it is no less true that some of the poorest peasants have become increasingly poorer and that the new techniques cause serious erosion, as they have not been able to prevent the expansion of cultivated areas on sloping lands.

The process of commercialisation-diversification in the highlands of upper northern Thailand and the accompanying dismissal of self-subsistence are documented based on the findings from seven case studies carried out in different agricultural and social situations during the past decade. The characteristics of the key driving forces powering this agrarian transition such as rapid economic growth, decrease in the share of labour employed in the agriculture, urbanization and changes in food consumption patterns, and improved communication infrastructures, are presented in the Thai context. The environmental impact of these profound agrarian transformations on the degradation of key renewable resources, particularly soil erosion, is assessed. Their socio-economic consequences on an extensive differentiation among farming households and equity issues are also discussed. Finally the authors draw several lessons from this Thai experience that illustrate the very strong adaptive capacity of small highland farmers. They could be useful in similar agro-ecological zones of neighbouring countries that are presently experiencing the same kind of agricultural transition in the Montane Mainland Southeast Asia ecoregion. Particularly, the article underlines the need for more holistic and integrated approaches to agricultural development and the management of renewable resources in highland agro-ecosystems to alleviate poverty while conserving the resource base.

In northeast Thailand, 85% of the farmers are smallholders who are unable to meet their basic needs from agricultural production only. These tiny farms survive thanks to non-farm income, which faces increased difficulties as other economic sectors ran out of steam during the recent economic crisis of the late 1990s. In this context, farmers have to rely more on their agricultural production activity and income. But how can this be made possible in a region well-known for its very constraining soil and climatic conditions? To answer this question, and to examine the whole complexity of agricultural development issues, this article proposes an analysis of recent agrarian transformations and an understanding of farmers' current practices and strategies. A diagnostic analysis of a village agrarian system located in Khon Kaen Province in upper northeast Thailand was carried out in 2002 by using a combination of field observations, interviews with key witnesses of the local history, and a farm survey of 26 diverse households. The recent history illustrates that farmers have shown a high adaptability to rapid changes in their economic environment, such as changing market demand for agricultural products and labour. The differentiation among farming households has led to different types of farmers with different resources, practices, and strategies. Families belonging to the most frequent type have a very tiny holding and their members are permanently or seasonally involved in unskilled off-farm activities. Their low and unstable total cash income is often insufficient to meet the family's basic needs and they become deeply indebted. As efforts to improve water availability are being made, many Isarn families could improve their living conditions by diversifying their agricultural production systems with more small-scale fruit, vegetable, fish, or livestock production to improve household food security and cash income, eventually combined with non-agricultural activities. But currently, such a strategy is still out of reach for numerous very poor farmers facing elimination across the region, and government support to help them catch up is still needed.