Is De-agrarianization Inevitable? Subsistence, Food Security and Market Production in the Uplands of Negros Occidental, the Philippines
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
Abstract
Market liberalization and agrarian reform have done little to reverse poverty in the uplands of Negros Occidental. The mean income of households participating in this research (n=347) was only marginally above the rural poverty line and virtually all relied on seasonal work and remittances from family members living elsewhere for household (and in many cases farm) reproduction. Combined with demographic pressure and competition for land, rural households face considerable pressure to reduce their livelihood dependence on agriculture. At the same time, this research shows that reconfigurations of the agro-ecological relations, exchange relations and social relations on which agriculture is based (reconfigurations that speak to politics and processes of re-peasantization) have significant potential to improve the livelihoods and food security of small farmers. Self-provisioning of farm inputs, access to markets organized according to alternative conventions, and formal education were all shown to be associated in different ways with improvements both to household income and to household food self-provisioning.
How to Cite
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
food sovereignty and empowering peasants, Journal of Peasant Studies, 38(3), pp. 587–612.
Bello, W., Docena, H., Guzman, M. de and Malig, M. (2009) The Anti-development State: The Political Economy
of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines. Manila: Anvil.
Borras, S. (2006) Redistributive land reform in ‘public’ (forest) lands? Lessons from the Philippines and
their implications for land reform theory and practice, Progress in Development Studies, 6(2), pp. 123–145.
Borras, S. (2007a) ‘Free market’, export-led development strategy and its impact on rural livelihoods,
poverty and inequality: the Philippine experience seen from a Southeast Asian perspective, Review of
International Political Economy, 14(1), pp. 143–175.
Borras, S. (2007b) Pro-poor Land Reform: A Critique. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.
Borras, S. and Franco, J. (2005) Struggles for land and livelihood: redistributive reform in agribusiness
plantations in the Philippines, Critical Asian Studies, 37(3), pp. 331–361.
Carpenter, D. (2005) The in situ conservation of rice plant genetic diversity: A case study from a Philippine
barangay, Agriculture and Human Values, 22, pp. 421-434.
Carpenter, D. (2010) Complementarity in the conservation of traditional and modern rice genetic resources
on the Philippine island of Bohol, in: S. Lockie and D. Carpenter (eds) Agriculture, Biodiversity
and Markets: Livelihoods and Agroecology in Comparative Perspective, London: Earthscan.
DFID (Department for International Development) (2001) Sustainable Livelihoods Guidance Sheets. London:
Department for International Development.
Franco, J. and Borras, S. (2007) Struggles over land resources in the Philippines, Peace Review, 19(1), pp.
67–75.
Goldoftas, B. (2006) The Green Tiger: The Costs of Ecological Decline in the Philippines. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Isakson, R. (2009) No hay ganancia en la milpa: the agrarian question, food sovereignty, and the on-farm
conservation of agrobiodiversity in the Guatemalan highlands, Journal of Peasant Studies, 36(4), pp.
725–759.
Johnson, A. (2005) Making Market Systems Work Better for the Poor (M4P): An Introduction to the Concept.
Manila: Asian Development Bank and London: Department for International Development.
Lockie, S. (2008) Conversion or co-option? The implications of ‘mainstreaming’ for producer and consumer
agency within fair trade networks, in: C. Farnworth, J. Jiggins and E. Thomas (eds) Creating Food
Futures: Trade, Ethics and the Environment, Aldershot: Gower.
Lockie, S. and Carpenter, D. (2010) Agrobiodiversity and sustainable farm livelihoods: policy implications
and imperatives, in: S. Lockie and D. Carpenter (eds) Agriculture, Biodiversity and Markets: Livelihoods
and Agroecology in Comparative Perspective, London: Earthscan.
Lukasiewicz, A. (2011) Migration and gender identity in the rural Philippines, Critical Asian Studies, 43(4),
pp. 577–593.
McMichael, P. (2006) Peasant prospects in the neoliberal age, New Political Economy, 11(3), pp. 407–418.
McMichael, P. (2009) A food regime analysis of the ‘world food crisis’, Agriculture and Human Values, 26,
pp. 281–295.
Murdoch, J., Marsden, T. and Banks, J. (2000) Quality, nature and embeddedness: some theoretical considerations
in the context of the food sector, Economic Geography, 76(2), pp. 107–125.
Nagano, Y. (2004) Labor migration and survival strategy of sugarcane workers in Negros Occidental: the
case of Hacienda Hilongga, in: H. Umehara and G. Bautista (eds) Communities at the Margins: Reflections
on Social, Economic and Environmental Change in the Philippines, Manila: Ateneo de Manila University
Press.
Neilson, J. and Pritchard, B. (2009) Value Chain Struggles: Institutions and Governance in the Plantation Districts
of South India. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Ploeg, J.D. va n der (2010) The peasantries of the twenty-first century: the commoditisation debate revisited,
Journal of Peasant Studies, 37(1), pp. 1–30.
Ponte, S. and Gibbon, P. (2005) Quality standards, conventions and the governance of global value chains,
Economy and Society, 34(1), pp. 1–31.
PPDO (Provincial Planning and Development Office) (2004) Negros Occidental Social and Economic Trends
2004. Bacolod City: Province of Negros Occidental.
Rigg, J. (2005) Poverty and livelihoods after full-time farming: a South-East Asian View, Asia Pacific Viewpoint,
46(2), pp. 173–184.
Rigg, J. (2006) Land, farming, livelihoods, and poverty: rethinking the links in the rural South, World
Development, 34(1), pp. 180–202.
Tschumi, P. and Hagan, H. (2008) A Synthesis of the Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) Approach. Bern:
Swiss Agency of Development and Cooperation.
Zimmerer, K. (2003) Just small potatoes (and ulluco)? The use of seed-size variation in ‘native commercialized’
agriculture and agrobiodiversity conservation among Peruvian farmers, Agriculture and Human
Values, 20, pp. 107–123.
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
This license is acceptable for Free Cultural Works.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.