Stasis and Change in Forty Years of Southeast Asian Agriculture

Agricultural change in Southeast Asia over the last three decades is reviewed within the context of structural change of the region's economies. An agricultural typology is outlined and the degree to which agricultural systems have remained static is examined leading to the identification of various kinds and degrees of change amongst the systems – extensification, intensification and disintensification. The paper concludes that while macro-level structural change is the basic process driving changes in agriculture, there remain important issues of long-term sustainability, poverty and distribution of benefits.