![]() Growing season temperature and rainfall will influence potential productivity, but in tropical and temperate monsoon Asia, soil fertility is probably more important. However, as other responders to this question remarked, the properties of the physical environment are also critical factors in the potential for a high density wet rice system. High density, high intensity wet rice systems are found throughout south and southeastern Asia. Thus, the particular attributes of wet rice farming systems in the tropics and subtropics allow these systems to support, and indeed in the views of some authors demand, high population densities. Southeast Asia probalby has the highest capacity to absorb labor of Have different capacities for labor absorption and involution.Īccording to Geertz, wet rice farming as practiced in East and ![]() It is fundamental to Geertz's view that different agricultural systems While Geertz' view has been criticized – for an enlightening discussion see Wood (2020), Chapter 6 (preview available on Google Books) – it is a good starting point towards answering your question. In Clifford Geertz' classic volume Agricultural Involution: the Processes of Ecological Change in Indonesia (1963), the author argues that the Javanese form of wet rice cultivation has a very high potential to "absorb labor". (I don't think it makes sense to compare Java with islands like Honshu or Madagascar that are in other countries with entirely different histories.) Thus, for example, the so called "alang alang grass savannas" in general show better potentialities than forest areas, while most of the swamps prove rather unsuitable for agricultural development. Besides soil fertility the existing vegetation has to be considered. Especially the poor soils often prove an agricultural handicap. However, by far not all of these reserves can be regarded as real agricultural potentials, e.g. ![]() In contrast to overpopulated Java the neighbouring island of Sumatra still provides huge unused land reserves. The abundance of rain in these ancient ecosystems has leached the soil for millions of years. In contrast, with the two nearby large Indonesian islands of Borneo (shared with Brunei and Malaysia) and Sumatra:īorneo, the world’s third largest island, has exemplary rainforest soils: shallow and nutrient poor. Java’s soils are very fertile because of periodic enrichment by volcanic ash. ![]()
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