Poverty Reduction In The Rice Sector In Malaysia

Author : Sabariyah Din
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (96 download)

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Download or read book Alternative Approaches to Poverty Alleviation : a Study of Production Organizations and Management of Trans-Perak Integrated Development Project, Malaysia written by Sabariyah Din and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work examines the outcome of public intervention in production organization and management to alleviate poverty. Empirical evidence from the Trans-Perak Integrated Project, Malaysia is analyzed. Chapter Two describes the social learning Malaysia has undergone, leading to the adoption of a pragmaticapproach to poverty eradication. The mechnaisms adopted by the Trans-Perak project reflect a mixture of the capitalist and socialist types of productionorganization. The project combines small size individually owned lots and a large scale shared estate system. The co-operative, of which project participants become members, has been established and given the duty to undertake farming contracts. The orientation, although commercial conforms to policy directions from the central bureaucracy. These questions are asked: Do the Trans-Perak production organizations help to alleviate poverty? Which system offers potential for a higher income in the long run? How do the farmers and development practitioners perceive the Trans-Perak model?. Estimation of the level of income is undertaken using production records and survey data. Results derived from the production records (which it is argued to be more reliable) reveal that after input and price subsidies are granted, the mean net monthly income under both system is above the poverty level of M $350 (US $112). With subsidy, the project and National Agricultural Policy objectives are fulfilled. Before subsidy however, the income level offered by the individual lot system is as low as M $186, while the estate paddy farming offers the highest income, followed by oil palm and then cocoa. During the loan repayment period the estimates indicate that the difference in income under both system is marginal.Both systems encourage mechanization but it has a lower marginal cost under the estate system. This shows that farm organization and management, specialization of task and separation of ownership are crucial to increasing yield. In the long run, it is the estate system which has the potential to offer higher income and employment all the year round, besides promoting greater inter sectoral linkages. Work in chapter six shows that the project has a flat organizational structure to facilitate control over decision making and design has been reponsive to policy shifts. Staff-participant relations are more formal under the estate system, but the implementation of production organization has transformed farming activities under both systems to be more systematic. A survey involving 196 sample participants, and loosely structured interviews of official and development practitioners are used to seek opinions about the farming systems. Overall, both groups perceived some positive impact from project activities. The land title is most valued by individual lot participants. Their counterparts under the state system value the job security but are nevertheless unhappy about the 'promises of land title'.Lack of off farm jobs and sub-letting of contracts to outsiders are sources of dissatisfaction. The concluding chapter gives a unified account of the study and highlights the contribution of this study to the literature of production organization and rural project management. The virtues of plantation management when applied in the small scale paddy economy seem to have been able to alleviate poverty and transform paddy production into a more commercial orientation.