Excavating agrarian transformation under 'secure' crop booms: insights from the China-Myanmar borderland

• Published in: The Journal of peasant studies Vol. 50; no. 1; pp. 339 - 368
• Main Authors: Hua, Xiaobo, Kono, Yasuyuki, Zhang, Le
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 02-01-2023; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: agrarian differentiation; Agrarian economy; Agrarian society; Agrarian structures; agrarian transformation; borderland; Crop boom; Crops; Internal migration; Investors; Labor migration; Land tenure; Natural resources; tenure security; Transformation; transnational labor migration
• ISSN: 0306-6150; 1743-9361
• DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2021.1926993

This paper examines the transformation of agrarian livelihoods due to crop booms at the China-Myanmar borderland. A key finding is that local villagers have rented out their land to outside investors looking to make fruit boom investments. However, the villagers neither cultivated the same crops themselves, nor were they hired as wage laborers. Overall, this study finds that crop booms provide local villagers with opportunities to reallocate natural resources and adjust their livelihoods. We argue that the dynamics of agrarian livelihoods are co-produced as the result of transnational labor migration and state-led borderland repositioning under secure land tenure relations. This study contributes to the current discussion regarding the changes undergone by an agrarian society experiencing crop booms.