The Fall and Rise Again of Plantations in Tropical Asia: History Repeated?
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. A Simple Framework for Analyzing Drivers of Agrarian Structure
2.1. Economic Fundamentals
2.2. Biased Economic Policies
2.3. “High Modernism”
3. Case Studies of Four Commodities, 1850–circa 2000
3.1. Rubber—A Quintessential Smallholder Crop
Country | % of World Production, 2005 | % Rubber Area in Smallholdings |
---|---|---|
Thailand | 32 | 91 |
Indonesia | 25 | 85 |
Malaysia | 12 | 93 |
India | 9 | 88 |
Total | 78 | 83 |
3.2. Tea: A long Struggle to Keep Plantations Alive
3.3. Oil Palm—Transiting to Smallholders?
3.4. Cassava—The Forgotten Plantation Crop
3.5. Common Elements in the Rise and Fall of Plantations in the 20th Century
4. A Rebirth of Plantations on the Frontier in the 21st Century
4.1. A New Land Rush on the Frontier
Global Area of Concessions (M ha) | Area in SE Asia (M ha) | Median Size of Concession (M ha) | Two Top Countries Globally a (M ha) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Oil palm | 7.76 | 4.93 | 14,000 | Indonesia, PNG |
Rubber | 2.95 | 1.74 | 8000 | Cambodia (61), Laos (23) |
Cassava | 0.55 | 0.32 | 7850 | Cambodia (7), Laos (5) |
4.2. A Commodity Boom Driven by Emerging Asian Economies
4.3. A New Political Economy
4.4. Weak State Institutions
4.5. Are the 21st Century Plantations Here to Stay?
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Byerlee, D. The Fall and Rise Again of Plantations in Tropical Asia: History Repeated? Land 2014, 3, 574-597. https://doi.org/10.3390/land3030574
Byerlee D. The Fall and Rise Again of Plantations in Tropical Asia: History Repeated? Land. 2014; 3(3):574-597. https://doi.org/10.3390/land3030574
Chicago/Turabian StyleByerlee, Derek. 2014. "The Fall and Rise Again of Plantations in Tropical Asia: History Repeated?" Land 3, no. 3: 574-597. https://doi.org/10.3390/land3030574
APA StyleByerlee, D. (2014). The Fall and Rise Again of Plantations in Tropical Asia: History Repeated? Land, 3(3), 574-597. https://doi.org/10.3390/land3030574