9 pages, via online journal, Economists have touted partnerships between smallholders and agribusiness firms that cultivate high-valued export crops as a means of raising smallholder incomes and achieving rural development. However, some case studies show that such partnerships can deny smallholders the ability to benefit from their lands. This essay examines how this dynamic occurs by comparing the experiences of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in the Davao Region of the Philippines. The paper finds that contracts which deny ARBs the benefit of their holdings are those that deprive them of key abilities such as determining who can use land and withdraw it from a partnership. Such contracts arise when ARB groups lack attributes that enhance their capacity for collective action, information gathering, and legal advocacy.
13 pages, via online journal, Social and economic development in rural area is one of the main concerns for Indonesia Government. Despite the importance of village owned enterprises in improving rural economy, evidences regarding the impacts of village fund and village owned enterprise (BUM Desa) in developing countries were still limited. This study presents that evidence from more than one thousand villages in Indonesia. It employs two different estimation strategies: first difference, and difference-in-difference methodologies adapted for continuous treatment. The results show that village fund is more likely to increase number of village-owned enterprise with similar trend between java and non-java region. However, rapid increase of village-owned-enterprises were not followed by large utilization. We do not evidence that BUM Desa provides more opportunity for villager to work.