Access to productive agricultural land by the landless, land poor and smallholder farmers in four Lower Mekong River Basin countries

TitleAccess to productive agricultural land by the landless, land poor and smallholder farmers in four Lower Mekong River Basin countries
Annotated RecordAnnotated
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsLamb V, Middleton C, Leonard R, Nga_Dao _
Pagination1-94
Key themesDispossession-grabbing, MarginalisedPeople, Policy-law
Abstract

With a focus on the Lower Mekong countries, this study considers the intersecting issues of land access, livelihoods, management of risk and poverty for men and women smallholder farmers, the land poor and the landless, and how these issues might be addressed in policy and practice. While there has recently been insightful analysis concerning land access, livelihoods, and global land insecurity, we know much less regarding specific mechanisms that keep rural agricultural smallholders and the landless or land poor struggling and it is these issues that we address within this report
Availability

Contact author
Countries

Regional
Document Type

Report

Annotations

Overall relevance: 

The research examines and identifies the trends of land access and exclusion, and gender and innovation across four country studies. It provides context through histories of land policy and land access. The study looks for similarities in the “powers of exclusion” and access to natural resources, for the land-poor and landless, and on the gender-land relationships that shape the situation in each country. At the same time, the research also insightfully analyzes the intersecting issues of land access, livelihoods, and the management of risk and poverty for male and female smallholders, the land poor and the landless. It considers how these issues might be addressed through policy recommendations at multiple levels (local, national, and regional). As a result, the authors argue that land and livelihood security depend not only on obtaining land titles, but also on having access to infrastructure, water resources, agricultural extension services, and political and social justice. The powers of exclusion are considered as a key analytical frame, highlighting different types of power, including those of regulation, market, force, and legitimation, which may marginalize people from their land

Key Themes: 
  • Agricultural modernisation: key ideas and debates relevant to land tenure security - There has been a rapid change from subsistence farming to large-scale commercialized agriculture in Asia. At the same time, since the 1980s industrial and urban transformation has been rapidly emerging. In this regard, “de-agrarianization” has influenced and impacted both negatively and positively upon economic and social transformation in agriculture. Some researchers and activists have criticized these transformations and argue that land access in rural area is becoming more difficult for rural smallholders, leading to poverty and inequality
  • Land zoning, planning, conversion and food security - The process of land conversion through tourism, conservation, industrial and urban development can be exclusory. Changing opportunities for employment across the region are also identified, particularly in urban areas and in Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. These changes are leading to multi-local livelihood strategies among many rural households, as they seek to manage risk and diversify their incomes
  • Marginalized people's land rights and access: ethnic minorities, poor and women - The research pays particular attention to understanding the local and regional gender dynamics of access to land. For example, when examining relationships between women, men and land, it is clear that dispossession through land concessions affects men and women differently, and in many ways place a greater burden on women. in addition, analysis of field research indicates that conventional assumptions frequently overlook the dynamics of livelihoods, gender, and the shifts in labour that are occurring through domestic migration
  • Land policy and land law - The research builds on ways that Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID) can highlight the agency and creativeness of local resource users (including smallholders, land-poor, male and female farmers) to make change. The country studies consider the use of innovation in agricultural livelihoods, access to justice, and inclusivity. In Cambodia, innovations in agriculture, such as the System Rice Intensification (SRI) and the strengthening of farmer networks, have increased yields for those involved. As a result, there are opportunities for up-scaling and cross-border innovation, going beyond national policy
Research basis: 

This report provides reviews current academic and grey literatures, news and NGO reports on land issues for the Lower Mekong Basin countries of Thailand, Lao PDR, Vietnam, and Cambodia. It includes an assessment of the current land policies, distribution, land uses and change, and conflict. The research was approached through a political ecology framework that looks to understand rural lives and livelihoods, access to land and natural resources, and the implications of development and agrarian change for local resource users. This approach is “bottom up”, but at the same time maintains a focus on how local processes are influenced by and influence development process at multiple scales. As a balanced approach and to provide meaningful recommendations, the report understands “land” and land access as part of a broader constellation of food, water, and energy. (Provided by Phouthamath Sayyabounsou)