Social Relation of Production and Conflict of Economic Interests in Smallholder Oil Palm Plantations: A Case Study of Sintang District, West Kalimantan

  • Kharis Fadlan Borni Kurniawan Department of Communication and Community Development Sciences, Faculty of Human Ecology, Bogor Agricultural Insitute, Indonesia
  • Arya Hadi Dharmawan Department of Communication and Community Development Sciences, Faculty of Human Ecology, Bogor Agricultural Insitute, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7628-6103
  • Titik Sumarti Department of Communication and Community Development Sciences, Faculty of Human Ecology, Bogor Agricultural Insitute, Indonesia
  • Mohammad Maksum Department of Agro-Industrial Technology, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia
Keywords: agricultural partnership, power relation smallholders, social relation of production

Abstract

An agricultural partnership is one of the ways adopted by oil palm plantation smallholders to survive and be sustainable in the face of global competition. The agricultural partnership that is based on a contract agreement is also aimed at maintaining the welfare of the involved smallholders. Partnership in agricultural production is part of the management system or mode of economic production agreed upon by both large-scale companies and smallholders. An unbalanced arrangement sometimes occurs due to the power dominance of large-scale company interests that leads to unfair relationships in the partnership between smallholders and large-scale corporations. This study used a qualitative research method with a case study as the main approach. By taking the case of the agricultural partnership of oil palm plantation smallholders in Perembang Village and Begori Village, Regency of Sintang of West Kalimantan, this study found four typologies of social agricultural production relations, namely asymmetric partnership, exploitative partnership, distrust partnership, and forced partnership.

References

Adams, T., Gerber, J. D., Amacker, M., & Haller, T. (2019). Who gains from contract farming? Dependencies, power relations, and institutional change. Journal of Peasant Studies, 46(7), 1435–1457. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2018.1534100

Austin, J. E., & Austin, J. E. (2014). Strategic Collaboration Between Nonprofits and Business. March 2000. https://doi.org/10.1177/089976400773746346

Brad, A., Schaffartzik, A., Pichler, M., & Plank, C. (2015). Contested territorialization and biophysical expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. Geoforum, 64, 100–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.06.007

Brandão, F., & Schoneveld, G. (2021). Oil Palm Contract Farming in Brazil: Labour Constraints and Inclusivity Challenges. Journal of Development Studies, 57(8), 1428–1442. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2021.1919629

Brass, T., & Bernstein, H. (2019). Introduction: Proletarianisation and Deproletarianisation on the Colonial Plantation. Plantations, Proletarians and Peasants in Colonial Asia, May 2013, 1–40. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315827889-1

Cahyadi, E. R., & Waibel, H. (2016). Contract Farming and Vulnerability to Poverty among Oil Palm Smallholders in Indonesia. Journal of Development Studies, 52(5), 681–695. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2015.1098627

Cramb, R. A., & Sujang, P. S. (2013). The mouse deer and the crocodile: Oil palm smallholders and livelihood strategies in Sarawak, Malaysia. Journal of Peasant Studies, 40(1), 129–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2012.750241

Dahrendorf, R. (1957). Class And Class Conflict In Inductrial Society. 358.

Dharmawan, A. H., Mardiyaningsih, D. I., Komarudin, H., Ghazoul, J., Pacheco, P., & Rahmadian, F. (2020). Dynamics of rural economy: A socio-economic understanding of oil palm expansion and landscape changes in east Kalimantan, Indonesia. Land, 9(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/land9070213

Dorner, P. (1992). Small Farmers, Big Business: Contract Farming and Rural Development . David Glover , Ken Kusterer . In Economic Development and Cultural Change (Vol. 40, Issue 4). https://doi.org/10.1086/451989

Fitzherbert, E. B., Struebig, M. J., Morel, A., Danielsen, F., Brühl, C. A., Donald, P. F., & Phalan, B. (2008). How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity? Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 23(10), 538–545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2008.06.012

Gatto, M., Wollni, M., Asnawi, R., & Qaim, M. (2017). Oil Palm Boom, Contract Farming, and Rural Economic Development: Village-Level Evidence from Indonesia. World Development, 95, 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.02.013

Glasbergen, P., & Groenenberg, R. (2001). Partnerships in Sustainable Energy. 13, 1–13.

Jelsma, I., Woittiez, L. S., Ollivier, J., & Dharmawan, A. H. (2019). Do wealthy farmers implement better agricultural practices? An assessment of implementation of Good Agricultural Practices among different types of independent oil palm smallholders in Riau, Indonesia. Agricultural Systems, 170(June 2018), 63–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2018.11.004

Li, T. M. (2017). Intergenerational displacement in Indonesia’s oil palm plantation zone. Journal of Peasant Studies, 44(6), 1160–1178. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2017.1308353

Luna, J. K., & Luna, J. K. (2018). The chain of exploitation : intersectional inequalities , capital accumulation , and resistance in Burkina Faso ’ s cotton sector accumulation , and resistance in Burkina Faso ’ s cotton sector. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 0(0), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2018.1499623

McCarthy, J. F., & Cramb, R. A. (2009). Policy narratives, landholder engagement, and oil palm expansion on the Malaysian and Indonesian frontiers. Geographical Journal, 175(2), 112–123. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2009.00322.x

Merten, J., Röll, A., Guillaume, T., Meijide, A., Tarigan, S., Agusta, H., Dislich, C., Dittrich, C., Faust, H., Gunawan, D., Hein, J., Hendrayanto, A., Knohl, A., Kuzyakov, Y., Wiegand, K., & Hölscher, D. (2016). Water scarcity and oil palm expansion: Social views and environmental processes. Ecology and Society, 21(2). https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-08214-210205

Moulin, M., Wohlfahrt, J., Caliman, J. P., & Bessou, C. (2017). Deciphering agricultural practices and environmental impacts in palm oil plantations in Riau and Jambi provinces, Indonesia. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 24(6), 512–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2016.1239232

Mugwagwa, I., Bijman, J., & Trienekens, J. (2020). Typology of contract farming arrangements: a transaction cost perspective. Agrekon, 59(2), 169–187. https://doi.org/10.1080/03031853.2020.1731561

Orsato, R. J., Clegg, S. R., & Falcão, H. (2013). The Political Ecology of Palm Oil Production. Journal of Change Management, 13(4), 444–459. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2013.851916

Profile, S. E. E. (2014). Why do Farmers Prefer Oil Palm ? Lessons Learnt from Bungo District , Indonesia. September 2010. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-010-9122-2

Putri, E. I. K., Dharmawan, A. H., Hospes, O., Yulian, B. E., Amalia, R., Mardiyaningsih, D. I., Kinseng, R. A., Tonny, F., Pramudya, E. P., Rahmadian, F., & Suradiredja, D. Y. (2022). The Oil Palm Governance: Challenges of Sustainability Policy in Indonesia. Sustainability (Switzerland), 14(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031820

Raharja, S., Marimin, Machfud, Papilo, P., Safriyana, Massijaya, M. Y., Asrol, M., & Darmawan, M. A. (2020). Institutional strengthening model of oil palm independent smallholder in Riau and Jambi Provinces, Indonesia. Heliyon, 6(5), e03875. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03875

Ruml, A., & Qaim, M. (2021). Smallholder Farmers’ Dissatisfaction with Contract Schemes in Spite of Economic Benefits: Issues of Mistrust and Lack of Transparency. Journal of Development Studies, 57(7), 1106–1119. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2020.1850699

Santika, T., Wilson, K. A., Budiharta, S., Law, E. A., Poh, T. M., Ancrenaz, M., Struebig, M. J., & Meijaard, E. (2019). Does oil palm agriculture help alleviate poverty? A multidimensional counterfactual assessment of oil palm development in Indonesia. World Development, 120(April), 105–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.04.012

Semedi, P. (2014). Palm oil wealth and rumour panics in West Kalimantan. Forum for Development Studies, 41(2), 233–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/08039410.2014.901240

Soh, A. C., Mayes, S., Roberts, J., Barcelos, E., Amblard, P., Alvarado, A., Alvarado, J. H., Escobar, R., Sritharan, K., Subramaniam, M., & Arulandoo, X. (2017). Elaeis oleifera × Elaeis guineensis interspecific hybrid improvement. In Oil Palm Breeding: Genetics and Genomics. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315119724.

Smith, N. (1984). Uneven Development, Nature, Capital and the Production Space. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Susanti, A., & Maryudi, A. (2016). Development narratives, notions of forest crisis, and boom of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. Forest Policy and Economics, 73, 130–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2016.09.009.

Van Huijstee, M. M., Francken, M., & Leroy, P. (2007). Partnerships for sustainable development: a review of current literature. Environmental Sciences, 4(2), 75–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/15693430701526336

Vivian, D. J. (2018). Plantation Life. In A New Plantation World. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108242165.008

Wendschlag, M. (2009). Handbook of New Institutional Economics. In Scandinavian Economic History Review (Vol. 57, Issue 3). https://doi.org/10.1080/03585520903122574

Wulansari, I. (2017). Industrialisasi minyak sawit di Indonesia: Resistensi warga Dusun Tanjung Pusaka, Kalimantan Tengah terhadap Industri Sawit. Jurnal Sodality. https://doi.org/10.22500/sodality.v5i1.16267

Published
2023-05-09
How to Cite
Borni KurniawanK. F., DharmawanA. H., SumartiT., & MaksumM. (2023). Social Relation of Production and Conflict of Economic Interests in Smallholder Oil Palm Plantations: A Case Study of Sintang District, West Kalimantan. Sodality: Jurnal Sosiologi Pedesaan, 11(1), 13-26. https://doi.org/10.22500/11202342944
##plugins.generic.relatedArticle.noArticleFound##