Case Study
The Agrarian Question of Financial Landscapes: The Case of Ambon
How do agro-ecological conditions impact on rural micro-finance?
13 pages
Examines the relationships between particular agro-ecological conditions and savings strategies, credit transactions and the redistribution of risk. The author calls these financial landscapes and addresses them from a descriptive and analytical point of view. The paper explains:
- Why the agrarian question is poorly dealt with in policy discussions on agricultural credit and rural financial markets;
- The background to this negligence;
- That integrated approaches are needed to understand how location-specific agro-ecological conditions affect savings and borrowing behaviour;
- How the agrarian question relates to changing legal, institutional and social and economic contexts.
In addition, the paper illustrates these issues through analysis of a case study in rural Ambon, Indonesia, and its particular combination of food and cash cropping that strongly affects social life and economic development.
General conclusions are not offered because the author states what is needed in policymaking and planning is localisation, not generalisation, or, constant adjustment to regional and local conditions, including agro-ecological conditions.
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