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ToolsForsyth, Tim and Springate-Baginski, Oliver (2022) Who benefits from the agrarian transition under violent conflict? Evidence from Myanmar. Journal of Rural Studies, 95. pp. 160-172. ISSN 0743-0167
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Agricultural commercialization and livelihood diversification have been proposed as ways to bring economic prosperity to rural zones after long-term violent conflict. Critics, however, argue that these market-based interventions exacerbate, rather than resolve, older social divisions, and that commercialization needs to be seen as part of agrarian transition processes. This paper contributes to the analysis of livelihoods-based interventions under violent conflict by presenting research from Kachin State, Myanmar. Drawing on 276 household surveys plus interviews, the paper argues that agrarian transition has only occurred within larger landholders who have been able to increase farm size by expanding commercial agriculture onto land historically used for shifting cultivation. Smallholders, however, have been unable to expand agriculture in this way, partly because of the reallocation of agricultural land to favored investors, including Chinese banana plantations. Meanwhile, access to non-agricultural livelihoods is largely restricted to laboring in Burmese army-controlled jade mines, or to traders arriving from outside the region. These findings indicate a different outcome to research elsewhere in Myanmar that suggests agrarian transition processes can benefit landless people; and instead supports evidence elsewhere in Asia that the agrarian transition can become “truncated” if smallholders do not participate. Making the agrarian transition inclusive requires greater attention to the ethnic, and other social barriers for participation by smallholders and rural landless, rather than facilitating commercialization alone.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | Funding Information: The research was funded by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE), project: MK29 Working together for a better Kachin landscape. The authors wish to thank the Shalom (Nyein) Foundation (Myitkyina) and Friends of Wildlife (Yangon) for collaboration; Julia Fogerite and Kevin Woods for help in the early part of research; and three anonymous referees for valuable comments. Funding Information: The research was funded by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) , project: MK29 Working together for a better Kachin landscape. The authors wish to thank the Shalom (Nyein) Foundation (Myitkyina) and Friends of Wildlife (Yangon) for collaboration; Julia Fogerite and Kevin Woods for help in the early part of research; and three anonymous referees for valuable comments. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier Ltd |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | agrarian transition,livelihoods,myanmar,violent conflict,geography, planning and development,development,sociology and political science,sdg 16 - peace, justice and strong institutions ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3305 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development) |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > The State, Governance and Conflict Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Global Environmental Justice Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Water Security Research Centre University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research |
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| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Sep 2023 08:30 |
| Last Modified: | 29 Sep 2023 08:30 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/93131 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.09.003 |
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