Generational Reproduction of Indonesian Smallholder Farming: Cases From Java and Flores

Abstract

This article explores the generational reproduction of farming and agrarian relations in the Indonesian islands of Java and Flores. Concentrating mainly on women and men who have managed, or are trying, to establish farming livelihoods, we ask how, why and when do young rural people find—or fail to find—pathways into farming? And in today's increasingly diversified rural contexts, how far do land transmission processes between the generations continue to influence the positioning of the new generation? Our case studies provide an empirical counter to dominant policy framings that locate the rural youth ‘problem’ in young people's deficient mentalities, knowledge and skills, and assume that young farmers stay in the village after leaving school, start farming immediately and by their early 20s become full-time farmers. Our study points to the structural exclusion of young people from access to land; to the fact that most will not become farmers immediately after leaving school, and that when they do get access to farmland, they typically become part-time farmers, combining agricultural and nonfarm activities. While rural class positions and structures are certainly multidimensional, land and agrarian relations still appear as strong bases for the positioning of the new generation.