Smallholder Farmers' Food Security

The surging interest in foreign acquisition of land for agriculture by numerous actors in LDCs has triggered new fears of land grabbing for food and non-food commodities. Palm-oil boom has characterised SEA’s land grabs and growth of smallholder participation in this sector. While protagonists argue that transformation of low productivity smallholders into commercial agriculture can change their livelihoods, detractors fear this can deflate localised food systems. This inquiry analyses the processes of inclusion and exclusion of smallholders in this oil-palm sector in Indonesia. It investigates how intensified large-scale agricultural investments in this sector constructs food security and insecurity spheres for smallholder farmers. Using different interacting tools for land control [regulation, market power, force, legitimation] this book exposes the struggles small-scale farmers locked in this internationally induced mode of production experience. This book should be useful to scholars, professionals, policy makers and students interested in research regarding dynamics of large-scale agricultural investment, land access, control as a dimension of commodification and food-security

Manda Simon holds a Masters degree in Global Development from University of Leeds and a BA degree in Development Studies from the University of Zambia. Interests include agriculture, land and agrarian issues, food security and mining. Currently he lectures in Agriculture and Rural Development and Food Security in LDCs at the University of Zambia.