Asian Smallholders in Comparative Perspective provides the first multicountry, inter-disciplinary analysis of the single most important social and economic formation in the Asian countryside: the smallholder. Based on ten core country chapters, the volume describes and explains the persistence, transformations, functioning and future of the smallholder and smallholdings across East and Southeast Asia. As well as providing a source book for scholars working on agrarian change in the region, it also engages with a number of key current areas of debate, including: the nature and direction of the agrarian transition in Asia, and its distinctiveness vis à vis transitions in the global North; the persistence of the smallholder notwithstanding deep and rapid structural change; and the question of the efficiency and productivity of smallholder-based farming set against concerns over global and national food security.

Eric C. Thompson is an anthropologist whose research spans Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. He is the author of Unsettling Absences: Urbanism in Rural Malaysia and co-editor of Southeast Asian Anthropologies: National Traditions and Transnational Practices.Jamie Gillen is a human geographer of Southeast Asia, focusing on Vietnam. He is the author of Entrepreneurialism and Tourism in Contemporary Vietnam and his current work is on the rural dimensions of Southeast Asian cities.Jonathan Rigg is a rural development geographer and the author of eight books, most recently More than Rural: Textures of Thailand’s Agrarian Transformation, and 70 journal papers. He has undertaken fieldwork in Thailand, the Lao PDR, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Preface List of Contributors Introduction: Asian Smallholders in Comparative Perspective Eric C. Thompson, Jonathan Rigg, and Jamie Gillen Ch1. Cambodia: Political Strife and Problematic Land Tenure Chivoin Peou and Sokphea Young Ch2. Indonesia: Whither Involution, Demographics and Development? Holi Bina Wijaya Ch3. Japan: Government Interventions and Part-time Family Farming Gen Shoji, Kunimitsu Yoshida and Satoshi Yokoyama Ch4. Laos: Responding to Pressures and Opportunities Outhai Soukkhy and Robert Cole Ch5. Malaysia: The State of/in Village Agriculture Ibrahim Ngah and Khairul Hisyam Kamarudin Ch6. Philippines: Fragmented Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Vulnerable livelihoods Edo Andriesse Ch7. Singapore: Making Space for Farming Sakunika Wewalaarachchi and Eric C. Thompson Ch8. Taiwan: Toward the Revitalisation of Smallholder Agriculture Po-Yi Hung Ch9. Thailand: The Political Economy of Post-Peasantry Agriculture Tubtim Tubtim Ch10. Vietnam: From Socialist Transformation to Reform Nguyen Tuan Anh