Agricultural Growth In Indonesia: Productivity Change And Policy Impact Since 1880 (studies In The Economics Of East & South-east Asia)

Zanden. I am grateful to them all. I wish to thank the editors of Agricultural History for permission to use sections from my article 'Seed-Fertilizer Technology Development in Indonesian Rice Agriculture'. I am aware of the fact that during the period covered by this study the effective control of the colonial government in the Indonesian archipelago gradually shifted to areas such as Aceh, Lombok and Irian Jaya. Still, Indonesia is discussed as if these parts were politically integrated in the archipelago since 1880. It is true that foreign enterprise followed the military to areas brought under Dutch control. But, given that the overall importance of foreign enterprise in the economy as a whole was small before 1900, it is not likely that this affects the general argument. For the sake of consistency Irian Jaya is regarded as part of Indonesia during the years 1950-63, although it was then administered by the Netherlands. The implications of the annexation of Timor Timur in 1976 for the agricultural economy were marginal and are not relevant for the present discussion. xn Preface xiii I have used the modern spelling of Indonesian words and the contemporary names of places in Indonesia throughout this book and for convenience I refer to the Netherlands East Indies as Indonesia. PIERRE VAN DER ENG P. Eng, Agricultural Growth in Indonesia © Pierre van der Eng 1996 'traditional' sector was restricted by a shortage of investment capital. Where Higgins proposed that development had just been restricted to the Western sector of the economy, Geertz (1963) suggested that the development of the Western sector had actually been to the detriment of the 'traditional' sector. He proposed that the dualism observed by Boeke had been generated by forces set in motion by the Cultivation System in Java during the nineteenth century. 3 An increase of population growth and The long-term impact of colonial economic policies and Western enterprise on indigenous agriculture in Indonesia has long been a matter of contention among scholars. This book provides a quantification and assessment of the broad long-term trends in agricultural production and productivity since 1880. It gives a systematic inventory of agricultural policies during these years. It discusses policies relating to irrigation works, agricultural research, extension and education, rural credit supply and cooperatives, and land tenure. It also evaluates the impact of these policies on agricultural production, in particular the two main food products (rice and cassava) and the two main export crops (sugar and rubber) in Indonesia. In addressing these issues, the book stresses the continuity in the development of both agricultural productivity and policies from the colonial era until today. It therefore provides a valuable historical back-ground to some of the issues which the rapidly changing Indonesian economy faces today. The impact of both colonial economic policies and Western enterprise on indigenous agriculture in Indonesia has long been a matter of contention among scholars. This book provides the first quantification and assessment of the broad long-term trends in agricultural production and productivity since 1880. It is the first comprehensive inventory of agricultural policies and their impact on agricultural production during the colonial era and after independence. It stresses the continuity in the development of both agricultural productivity and policies from the colonial era until today. This study provides a quantification and assessment of the broad long-term trends in agricultural production and productivity since 1880. It is an inventory of agricultural policies and their impact on agricultural production during the colonial era and after independence.