11:45 〜 12:00
[HGG01-10] People on the move: Plantation economy as a stepping stone on the edge of the frontier in Sumatra, Indonesia
★Invited Papers
キーワード：プランテーション、フロンティア、移住者社会、インドネシア
The development of plantations in Southeast Asia is widely known to have had a significant impact on the environment and local communities. In particular, land grabbing by companies and the loss of traditional swidden agriculture have been highlighted as important social issues. On the other hand, some people have been able to take advantage of the new economic opportunities offered by plantation development. For instance, some people cultivate more than 10 ha of oil palm. How do we think about these ambivalences?
This study focuses on the people who have been economically successful in the plantation economy, as they have been largely neglected in previous studies. For the analysis, we will discuss the relationship between the plantation economy and local society from the perspective of "frontier society in Southeast Asia", which describes the high mobility in sparsely populated areas. This study explains the dynamics of migrant frontier society through the case of L village in Riau Province, Indonesia, where oil palm plantations are expanding dramatically.
The findings from this study have several implications for discussions on sustainable plantation development and ecosystem conservation in Sumatra: (1) Since not only companies but also individual farmers are driving plantation expansion, agricultural policy makers should consider the livelihoods of these farmers. (2) These farmers do not live in one place, but prefer to move around, which makes it difficult to think of a "sedentary village" for their way of life. (3) It is difficult to predict their oil palm cultivation in the long term because they are not tied to the land and move as soon as new economic opportunities arise elsewhere.
This study focuses on the people who have been economically successful in the plantation economy, as they have been largely neglected in previous studies. For the analysis, we will discuss the relationship between the plantation economy and local society from the perspective of "frontier society in Southeast Asia", which describes the high mobility in sparsely populated areas. This study explains the dynamics of migrant frontier society through the case of L village in Riau Province, Indonesia, where oil palm plantations are expanding dramatically.
The findings from this study have several implications for discussions on sustainable plantation development and ecosystem conservation in Sumatra: (1) Since not only companies but also individual farmers are driving plantation expansion, agricultural policy makers should consider the livelihoods of these farmers. (2) These farmers do not live in one place, but prefer to move around, which makes it difficult to think of a "sedentary village" for their way of life. (3) It is difficult to predict their oil palm cultivation in the long term because they are not tied to the land and move as soon as new economic opportunities arise elsewhere.