IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i13p6064-d1693213.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Differences in Assets, Strategies, and Livelihood Outcomes Among Oil Palm Smallholder Typologies in West Sulawesi, Indonesia

Author

Listed:
  • Khaeruddin Anas

    (Development Studies, Graduate School, Hasanuddin University, Makassar 90245, Indonesia)

  • Hamka Naping

    (Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Hasanuddin University, Makassar 90245, Indonesia)

  • Darmawan Salman

    (Department of Socio-Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Hasanuddin University, Makassar 90245, Indonesia)

  • Andi Nixia Tenriawaru

    (Department of Socio-Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Hasanuddin University, Makassar 90245, Indonesia)

Abstract

Oil palm cultivation plays a critical role in rural livelihoods in Indonesia, yet previous research has often overlooked systematic institutional differences among smallholders. This study aims to analyze disparities in assets, strategies, and livelihood outcomes among three oil palm smallholder typologies—ex-Perkebunan Inti Rakyat (PIR) transmigrant smallholders who received land through government transmigration programs, independent smallholders who cultivate oil palm without formal partnerships, and plasma smallholders operating under corporate partnership schemes—in Central Mamuju Regency, West Sulawesi. A descriptive quantitative approach based on the sustainable livelihoods framework was employed, using chi-square analysis of data collected from 90 respondents through structured interviews and field observations. The results show that ex-PIR smallholders possess higher physical, financial, and social capital and achieve better income and welfare outcomes compared to independent and plasma smallholders. Independent smallholders exhibit resilience through diversified livelihood strategies, whereas plasma smallholders face asset limitations and structural dependency on partner companies, increasing their economic vulnerability. The study concludes that differentiated policy approaches are necessary to enhance the resilience of each group, including improving capital access, promoting income diversification, and strengthening institutions for plasma smallholders. Future research should expand geographical scope and explore factors such as technology adoption, gender dynamics, and intergenerational knowledge transfer to deepen understanding of sustainable smallholder livelihoods in tropical plantation contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Khaeruddin Anas & Hamka Naping & Darmawan Salman & Andi Nixia Tenriawaru, 2025. "Differences in Assets, Strategies, and Livelihood Outcomes Among Oil Palm Smallholder Typologies in West Sulawesi, Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-30, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:6064-:d:1693213
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/6064/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/6064/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Euler, Michael & Krishna, Vijesh & Schwarze, Stefan & Siregar, Hermanto & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "Oil Palm Adoption, Household Welfare, and Nutrition Among Smallholder Farmers in Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 219-235.
    2. Ansoms, An & McKay, Andrew, 2010. "A quantitative analysis of poverty and livelihood profiles: The case of rural Rwanda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 584-598, December.
    3. Wa Kuasa Baka & Ilma Sarimustaqiyma Rianse & Zulfikar la Zulfikar, 2024. "Palm Oil Business Partnership Sustainability through the Role of Social Capital and Local Wisdom: Evidence from Palm Oil Plantations in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-29, August.
    4. Ellis, Frank, 2000. "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296966.
    5. Michael Carter & Christopher Barrett, 2006. "The economics of poverty traps and persistent poverty: An asset-based approach," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 178-199.
    6. Andrew Dorward & Simon Anderson & Yolanda Nava Bernal & Ernesto Sánchez Vera & Jonathan Rushton & James Pattison & Rodrigo Paz, 2009. "Hanging in, stepping up and stepping out: livelihood aspirations and strategies of the poor," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 240-247, April.
    7. Christopher B. Barrett & Michael R. Carter, 2013. "The Economics of Poverty Traps and Persistent Poverty: Empirical and Policy Implications," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(7), pages 976-990, July.
    8. Woolcock, Michael & Narayan, Deepa, 2000. "Social Capital: Implications for Development Theory, Research, and Policy," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 15(2), pages 225-249, August.
    9. Timu, Anne G. & Hazell, Peter & Savastano, Sara, 2024. "An approach for assessing whether agricultural projects help smallholders transition to better livelihood strategies: A malawian case study," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    10. Frank Ellis & H Ade Freeman, 2004. "Rural Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction Strategies in Four African Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 1-30.
    11. Frank Ellis, 2000. "The Determinants of Rural Livelihood Diversification in Developing Countries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 289-302, May.
    12. Ben White, 2012. "Agriculture and the Generation Problem: Rural Youth, Employment and the Future of Farming," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(6), pages 9-19, November.
    13. Barrett, C. B. & Reardon, T. & Webb, P., 2001. "Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 315-331, August.
    14. Pye, Oliver, 2019. "Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 218-228.
    15. Gatto, Marcel & Wollni, Meike & Asnawi, Rosyani & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "Oil Palm Boom, Contract Farming, and Rural Economic Development: Village-Level Evidence from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 127-140.
    16. Bebbington, Anthony, 1999. "Capitals and Capabilities: A Framework for Analyzing Peasant Viability, Rural Livelihoods and Poverty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(12), pages 2021-2044, December.
    17. Jelsma, Idsert & Schoneveld, G.C. & Zoomers, Annelies & van Westen, A.C.M., 2017. "Unpacking Indonesia’s independent oil palm smallholders: An actor-disaggregated approach to identifying environmental and social performance challenges," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 281-297.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Solomon Zena Walelign & Mariève Pouliot & Helle Overgaard Larsen & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2015. "A novel approach to dynamic livelihood clustering: Empirical evidence from Nepal," IFRO Working Paper 2015/09, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    2. Gamel Abdul-Nasser Salifu, 2019. "The Political Economy Dynamics of Rural Household Income Diversification: A Review of the International Literature," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(3), pages 273-290, December.
    3. Van den Broeck, Goedele & Maertens, Miet, 2017. "Moving Up or Moving Out? Insights into Rural Development and Poverty Reduction in Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 95-109.
    4. Aradom Gebrekidan Abbay & Roel Rutten & Hossein Azadi & Frank Witlox, 2018. "How Social Status Contributes to Sustainable Livelihoods? An Empirical Analysis in Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, December.
    5. Renata Baborska & Emilio Hernandez & Emiliano Magrini & Cristian Morales-Opazo, 2020. "The impact of financial inclusion on rural food security experience: A perspective from low-and middle-income countries," Review of Development Finance Journal, Chartered Institute of Development Finance, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18.
    6. H.M. Tuihedur Rahman & Gordon M. Hickey, 2020. "An Analytical Framework for Assessing Context-Specific Rural Livelihood Vulnerability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-26, July.
    7. Yuxuan Xu & Jiangbo Chang & Fang Su, 2024. "Multi-Scale Evaluation and Simulation of Livelihood Efficiency in Post-Poverty Mountainous Areas," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-35, October.
    8. Asfaw, Solomon & McCarthy, Nancy & Paolantonio, Adriana & Cavatassi, Romina & Amare, Mulubrhan & Lipper, Leslie, 2015. "Diversification, Climate Risk and Vulnerability to Poverty: Evidence from Rural Malawi," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 230216, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Longjunjiang Huang & Cong Liao & Xuan Guo & Yanlin Liu & Xiaojin Liu, 2023. "Analysis of the Impact of Livelihood Capital on Livelihood Strategies of Leased-In Farmland Households: A Case Study of Jiangxi Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-29, June.
    10. Ali Akbar Barati & Milad Zhoolideh & Mostafa Moradi & Eydieh Sohrabi Mollayousef & Christine Fürst, 2022. "Multidimensional poverty and livelihood strategies in rural Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(11), pages 12963-12993, November.
    11. Arya Hadi Dharmawan & Dyah Ita Mardiyaningsih & Heru Komarudin & Jaboury Ghazoul & Pablo Pacheco & Faris Rahmadian, 2020. "Dynamics of Rural Economy: A Socio-Economic Understanding of Oil Palm Expansion and Landscape Changes in East Kalimantan, Indonesia," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-20, July.
    12. Jiao, Xi & Pouliot, Mariève & Walelign, Solomon Zena, 2017. "Livelihood Strategies and Dynamics in Rural Cambodia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 266-278.
    13. Md.Salamun Rashidin & Sara Javed & Bin Liu & Wang Jian, 2020. "Ramifications of Households’ Nonfarm Income on Agricultural Productivity: Evidence From a Rural Area of Pakistan," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    14. Shaffer, Paul, 2013. "Ten Years of “Q-Squared”: Implications for Understanding and Explaining Poverty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 269-285.
    15. Robinson, Lance W. & Ericksen, Polly J. & Chesterman, Sabrina & Worden, Jeffrey S., 2015. "Sustainable intensification in drylands: What resilience and vulnerability can tell us," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 133-140.
    16. Martin, Sarah M. & Lorenzen, Kai, 2016. "Livelihood Diversification in Rural Laos," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 231-243.
    17. Asfaw, Solomon & Savastano, Sara, 2015. "Topic: Building Resilience to Climate Change Through Social Protection and Climate-Smart Agriculture: Synergies and Trade-offs," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 210963, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Mallik, Chinmoyee, 2016. "Sociology of land dispossession: Social capital and livelihoods in transition in Peri-urban Kolkata, India," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 4(C), pages 38-47.
    19. VAN DEN BROECK, Goedele & MAERTENS, Miet, "undated". "Moving Up or Moving Out? Insights on Rural Development and Poverty Reduction in Senegal," Working Papers 242367, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centre for Agricultural and Food Economics.
    20. Fred Mawunyo Dzanku, 2020. "Poverty Reduction And Economic Livelihood Mobility In Rural Sub‐Saharan Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 636-683, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:6064-:d:1693213. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.