TY - JOUR
T1 - Land poverty and emerging ruralities in Cambodia: Insights from Kampot province
AU - Scheidel, Arnim
AU - Farrell, Katharine N.
AU - Ramos-Martin, Jesús
AU - Giampietro, Mario
AU - Mayumi, Kozo
PY - 2014/1/1
Y1 - 2014/1/1
N2 - Rural change in Cambodia manifests itself in rapidly declining land availability for the smallholder sector, posing the question of how farmers may be able to deal with limited access to land. In this paper, we discuss with a case study village and household livelihood strategies of smallholders currently operating under land-constrained conditions. Based on an integrated assessment of a smallholder village in Kampot province, we illustrate in quantitative terms how land shortage is creating problems of surplus generation and liquidity issues in monetary and non-monetary flows. At the household level, livelihood diversification based on the involvement of productive resources other than land may play an increasing role, particularly in the future, when levels of land shortage may increase. At the village level, smallholder may respond through institutional innovation, in particular through the establishment of a community banking system and a paddy rice bank to provide money and rice credits to overcome transitory shortages and to cover investment costs for additional productive resources. Thus, in this case, we observe the emergence of new patterns of livelihood in rural areas, based on the integration of non-land-based economic activities and new institutional settings. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
AB - Rural change in Cambodia manifests itself in rapidly declining land availability for the smallholder sector, posing the question of how farmers may be able to deal with limited access to land. In this paper, we discuss with a case study village and household livelihood strategies of smallholders currently operating under land-constrained conditions. Based on an integrated assessment of a smallholder village in Kampot province, we illustrate in quantitative terms how land shortage is creating problems of surplus generation and liquidity issues in monetary and non-monetary flows. At the household level, livelihood diversification based on the involvement of productive resources other than land may play an increasing role, particularly in the future, when levels of land shortage may increase. At the village level, smallholder may respond through institutional innovation, in particular through the establishment of a community banking system and a paddy rice bank to provide money and rice credits to overcome transitory shortages and to cover investment costs for additional productive resources. Thus, in this case, we observe the emergence of new patterns of livelihood in rural areas, based on the integration of non-land-based economic activities and new institutional settings. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
KW - Cambodia
KW - Emerging ruralities
KW - Land poverty
KW - Livelihood strategies
KW - Smallholder agriculture
KW - Societal metabolism
M3 - Article
SN - 1387-585X
VL - 16
SP - 823
EP - 840
JO - Environment, development and sustainability
JF - Environment, development and sustainability
ER -