Untitled - Api-fellowships.org

MULTIPLE MODERNITIES: GLOBALIZATION IN ASIAN CONTEXT5Material and MethodThe survey was conducted in 2010 in the paddygranaries in Peninsular Malaysia. These areas were asfollows: 1) the Muda Agricultural DevelopmentAuthority (MADA); 2) Kemubu AgriculturalDevelopment Authority (KADA); 3) Barat LautSelangor Integrated Agriculture Development Area(IADA Barat Laut Selangor); 4) Penang IntegratedAgriculture Development Area (IADA Penang): and5) North Terengganu Integrated AgricultureDevelopment (KETARA). Random sampling wasdone among select paddy farming household headsusing the same farming and irrigation systems. A totalof 201 farmers were selected as respondents to answerthe questionnaire. Based on the context ofindustrialization in Malaysia, MADA, KADA, andIADA Barat Laut Selangor are in the West Coast,within commuting distance from industry zones likePenang and the sub-urban areas of cities. Meanwhile,IADA Penang and KETARA are on the East Coastand are located far from the main cities (Table 1 showsthe distribution of the samples from each region)MADA,KedahKADA, Pasir MasKelantanIADA Pulau Pinang,Sebrang Prai,PenangIADA KETARA,Kuala Besut,TerengganuSg.Burung,Tanjong KarangSelangorFigure 2. Location of study areas in the Malaysia peninsula.Results and DiscussionTable 1 shows the characteristics of the paddy farmersand their households. While most of the farmers fromIADA Penang were part-time farmers, only a limitednumber of the farmers from IADA Selangor worked aspart-time farmers. Even though both were locatedalong the West coast, the location of IADA Penangwas much closer to the industrial part of the state.Furthermore, though the average farm size in IADAPenang is smaller than in the other areas. There werealso more farm owners in IADA Penang than therewere in other areas. Additionally, the most tenants inKADA, which was covered by Ladang MerdekaManan, had a “landlord”. Most of the households alsobelonged to part-time farm households in the areas,and almost half of the household heads were employedin rice farming but had a second job.- Income distributionTotal household income included all existing incomessuch as on-farm and off-farm incomes, remittancesfrom non-resident children, pensions, and paddysubsidies received by the farm households. The averagetotal household income was highest in Selangor, whileon-farm incomes in Kedah and Penang were thesecond and third highest in Malaysia, followed bySelangor. While average household incomes wereRM4,792 in Penang and RM4,895 in Selangor, therest of the areas had lower incomes than the overallaverage income. There were as follows: RM2,947 inKedah, RM1824 in Kelantan, and RM2,969 inTerengganu. In Terengganu, rubber tapping wascommon and popular among farmers and their wives.Earnings from this supplemented their householdincomes (see Table 2). Figure 2 illustrates the ratio ofon-farm and off-farm income in total householdThe Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows