Development at the Peri-Urban Area and Its Impact on Agricultural Activities: An Example from the Seberang Perai Region, Penang State, Malaysia

Abstract

Urban areas are expanding into the countryside, changing the rural landscape and lifestyle of rural communities, and forming an urban-rural interface at these peri-urban areas. New developments brought about by urbanization have important implications for the livelihoods and socioeconomic conditions of local communities. At the peri-urban area, the future of agriculture, farmland, and farmers, especially in the face of massive urbanization, has become a topic of increasing global debate. Concerns have been polarized between two camps: a pessimistic view that peri-urban agriculture is in danger and an optimistic view that, despite the challenges, agriculture is still in practice and in some cases even growing. Several studies have addressed the current trajectories of agriculture in peri-urban areas; however, most of these studies were undertaken in Western nations. In the context of Asian countries, like Malaysia, agricultural adaptation and persistence at peri-urban areas have not been examined. It has been taken for granted that urbanization always leads to the abandonment of agricultural land. The role of urbanization in generating alternative agricultural enterprises that benefit from nearby urban markets has largely been ignored. This article aims to investigate the challenges and opportunities generated by urbanization and recent developments that have taken place in Malaysia. Using the Seberang Perai region of Penang State as a case study, our analysis reveals that farmers have adopted a range of strategies that could be explained using both positive and negative adaptation of Johnston and Bryant's (1987) model. This study moves forward the literature on the future of agriculture in peri-urban areas, particularly in developing countries.

Keywords:

• adaptation
• agriculture
• Malaysia
• multifunctional
• peri-urban
• urbanization

Notes

The authors wish to thank Universiti Sains Malaysia and Ministry of Higher Education for funding this project under Research University Grant and Fundamental Research Grant respectively. Universiti Sains Malaysia also funded Yasin Abdalla Eltayeb Elhadary under USM-postdoctorate program. Finally, we thank the anonymous readers for their helpful suggestions which have helped to improve the quality of the article.

1. Fresh water fish common breeds in the paddy fields in Malaysia.

2. Pseudonyms are used to refer to all respondents interviewed. Interviews took place between August 2011 and December 2011.

3. One U.S. dollar was equal to three Malaysian Ringgit MR in February 2012.

4. One hectare is equal to 3.5 relung.

5. Weedy rice, locally known as padi angin, is an easily and spontaneous shattering rice that reduces harvest yield.

6. The golden apple snails, locally known as siput gondang emas and scientifically known as Pomacea canaliculata and Pomacea insularum, became major threats to paddy in the early stage of farming.

7. Edible bird nest, which is a type of food; bird's nest soup is considered as the most expensive animal product consumed by humans (mainly Chinese).