Alternatives to Land Grabbing: Smallholder Engagement in Commodity Booms in Southeast Asia

Given the widespread smallholder impulse to engage in commodity booms in Southeast Asia and the potential for this engagement to offer a more inclusive development pathway than large-scale plantation production, we examine three issues: What are the agro-economic factors favouring or obstructing smallholder modes of commodity production relative to large-scale production entities? What are the incentives for agribusiness firms to contribute to smallholder commodity production through roles other than direct farm management? Can smallholder commodity production be broadly inclusive in the face of tendencies towards agrarian differentiation and the market imperatives of agribusiness firms? We present a preliminary exploration of these questions through localised case studies of smallholder engagement with four commodity sectors – oil palm, rubber, cassava, and teak.