Southeast Asian agriculture: Why such rapid growth?

TitleSoutheast Asian agriculture: Why such rapid growth?
Annotated RecordAnnotated
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsDe Koninck R, Rousseau J-F
Secondary TitleL'Espace Geographique
Volume2013
Issue2
Pagination135-155
Key themesAgriculturalModernization, Conversion-FoodSecurity, Environment
Abstract

Since the early 1960s, notwithstanding dire predictions of agricultural theorists and colonial observers, agricultural growth has been strong among most Southeast Asian countries. More recently, this expansion has reached the maritime domain, with the rapid development of aquatic production through sea-based aquaculture among others. In recent territorial expansion and increase in yields for export crops has been faster than for food crops. The growing submission of the region’s agricultures to the demands of the global market goes hand with the increasing role played by agro-food multinationals which are replacing the states in monitoring the national agricultural domains, pioneer fronts included.
URLhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/281668320_Southeast_Asian_agricultures_Why_such_rapid_growth
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Overall relevance: 

This article provides a long-term overview of agricultural expansion in Southeast Asia 1960-2010, reassessing with the benefit of hindsight some classic analyses and predictions of the 1960s (Boserup) and 1970s (Barker, Bray) relevant to agricultural growth in the region. The main message is that growth has continued, both through intensification and extensification, against predictions and with increasing orientation to global markets while continuing to feed the region’s growing populations. However, the recent shift from state-led to private sector dominance of agricultural growth raises troubling questions about the ability of such growth to serve the needs of the rural poor

Key Themes: 
  • Agricultural modernisation: key ideas and debates relevant to land tenure security - Improved rice yields in all countries results from a combination of green revolution technologies and investment in irrigation, but the increases vary between countries. Continued expansion onto the land frontier allows for quite extensive patterns of farming to persist. New crops such as coffee, cocoa and aquacultural products on the coastal margins are part of this continuing frontier development and have received state support, including investment in road infrastructure that connects these areas with national and global markets
  • Land zoning, planning, conversion and food security - Agricultural expansion in Southeast Asia has, in aggregate terms, more than kept pace with population growth. This has allowed Southeast Asian countries to maintain and improve aggregate food sufficiency. However, the analysis is too broad-brush to provide a disaggregate analysis of what more recent land appropriation for commercial crops means for the food security of those displaced
  • Land and the environment: pollution, deforestation, climate change, conservation zoning - Counter to statements and predictions from the 1970s onward that the land frontier in Southeast Asia had largely reached its limits, conversion of forest land for agriculture has continued apace. The two exceptions are the Philippines and Thailand
  • FDI and land access: economic land concessions, contract farming, short term and long term renting - In contrast to the largely spontaneous smallholder and state-driven expansion of agriculture during much of the period under study (1960-2010), large corporations now drive investment, both through technology-based intensification and in large scale land investments on the frontier
Research basis: 

This paper is based largely on FAO data, and it provides relevant caveats on reliability and coverage. Demographic data is sourced mainly from the UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs. The principal author has been studying agrarian change in Southeast Asia since the 1960s, with primary field experience in Malaysia. He also led the Challenge of the Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia (ChATSEA) program 2005-2010