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12 Panel 1There was a wider inequality on the West Coast areas(0.428) than on the East Coast areas (0.378).Household income in Penang had the lowest Ginicoefficient which came to 0.280. In fact, the Ginicoefficients for both on-farm and off-farm incomes inPenang were very low at 0.253 and 0.209, respectively.As for the East Coast, although Terengganu had alower Gini coefficient compared to Kelantan,inequality in Terengganu was still higher than inKedah state on the West Coast. The Gini-coefficientfor off-farm income was higher in Selangor and Kedahthan the other areas. This is because there are feweropportunities to earn an off-farm income from asecondary job in both of these areas, which means thatthe households in these states rely a lot more on onfarmincome than on off-farm income.We examined the determinant factors influencinghousehold income in paddy granaries in both coastalareas of Peninsular Malaysia. The results of theestimation indicate that characteristics like full-time orpart-time farm occupation status, tenant status,education, and farm size were the main variablesaffecting the paddy farmer’s incomes throughout thefive areas. Location was also an important factorinfluencing household income. It was shown thatfarmers located in Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantanhad lower incomes.This study investigated the actual structure of farmhousehold incomes not only in terms of income level,but also in terms of income differences among theselected five main granaries in Malaysia. It showed thatthe granary areas in Penang and Selangor had thehighest income households, while Kelantan,Terengganu and Kedah had much lower incomehouseholds. However, income structures were not thesame as the income household levels between thehigher and lower income households. For example,even though the level of total household income inTerengganu and Kedah were almost similar on average,the direction of rural development needs to beconsidered in a different way. In Terengganu, forexample, off-farm sector activities such as rubbertapping help increase household income. In the case ofKelantan, the policy has to leverage the on-farm andoff-farm sectors in order to increase the people’slimited household income.Further prospects for the studyThis study was conducted in Malay rice farming areasthrough personal interviews with local farmers. Inorder to indicate the trend of the household economyin the rural sector, we focused on livelihooddiversification amidst de-agrarianization. A comparativestudy of the five areas including two areaswhich I had done surveys on for my doctoral thesiscould clarify the level of livelihood diversification inthe household economy of rice farmers, which factorplays key roles in rural development in Malaysia. It isnecessary to develop the rural economy for the sake ofrice farmers, in light of the actual situation in each areagiven the different characteristics of their householdeconomies. While I proceed with the analytical andwriting parts of this project further, more in terms ofthe rest of the perspectives, I am also going to startconducting my next project in Malaysia, targetingsingle rice cropping together with other crops in thenon-granary areas, especially those areas located in thefar and disadvantaged states like Kelantan, Kedah, andTerengganu.REFERENCESAcharya, S. S. 2000. Sustainable agriculture, poverty, and foodsecurity: Agenda for Asian economies. Proceedings of the 3 rdConference of the Asian Society of Agricultural Economists,Jaipur, India. October 18-20. Rawat Publications.Ahmad, T.M and Tawang, A. 1999. Effects of tradeliberalization on agriculture in Malaysia: commodity aspectsWorking paper series 46, The CGPRT center.Bryceson. 1997. De-agrarianisation in Sub-Shara Africa:Acknowledging the inevitable. In Farewell to farms: Deagrarianizationand employment in Africa. Edited by D.Bryceson and V. Jamal. Ashgate, England.Fujimoto, A. 1995. Structure and changing patterns of ruralemployment in Malaysia: A study of a rice growing village. InRural employment in Southeast Asia. Edited by K. Mizuno.Japan: Institute of Developing Economies.Nakano, M. 1977. Agricultural development. Tokyo: Meibun.(In Japanese)Ooi, G. 2004. Female employee and gender issue in Malaysia.Journal of law and political studies 60: 97-128. (in Japanese) .The Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows