Factors that lead farmers to become 'illegal cultivators' in an industrial tree plantation: A case study of land conflicts in M Company's concession area in South Sumatra, Indonesia

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K12377
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 80010:Area studies-related
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Sasaoka Masatoshi 北海道大学, 文学研究院, 教授 (80470110)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 産業造林型移住事業 / 土地紛争 / 違法耕作 / 違法耕作者化 / 違法性の脱構築 / 土地紛争の構造的要因 / 環境正義 / スマトラ島

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to identify the underlying factors that lead people living in HTI Trans villages to become 'illegal cultivators' in the concession areas of an industrial tree plantation company in South Sumatra Province, Indonesia. The main findings of this study are that land conflicts are caused by: (1) the flaw
in the system of the state-sponsored immigration programme, Trans HTI (the area of land that farmers are allowed to use is determined at the time of village construction, and the system cannot cope with the subsequent increase in demand for land due to population growth), (2) the failure of the industrial tree plantation company to provide adequate and satisfactory employment opportunities, (3) the increased demand for land due to the decline in rubber purchase prices, and (4) the existence of a widely shared moral-economic land ethic among farmers that justifies the use of abandoned plantation land after forest fires.

Free Research Field

環境社会学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、これまで研究が手薄だった産業造林型移住事業実施対象地における産業造林企業と住民の土地紛争の歴史的・構造的要因を微視的な視点で明らかにした。不法耕作・不法占拠を生み出す要因の形成に国家や産業造林企業といったアクターがどうかかわっているのかを具体的に明らかにすることで、社会的に公正な土地紛争解決についての社会的責任論の展開に道を開いた。