農業のグローバル化とマイナークロップ--ラオス, ルアンパバーン県周辺におけるハトムギ栽培の事例から (特集 作物からみたアジア・アフリカ)

Abstract

In contemporary agriculture, farmers cultivate a changing balance of major and minor crops. The changing status of edible Job's tears, Coix lacryma-jobi subsp. ma-yuen, a relict minor crop that is becoming an important cash crop in Louang Phabang Province, Laos, provides an interesting example of the dynamics of agricultural change. In mainland Southeast Asia, endemic varieties of edible Job's tears have traditionally been cultivated on a small scale for household consumption. Recently, however, farmers in parts of Louang Phabang Province have begun large-scale commercial farming of introduced varieties of edible Job's tears using modern cultivation techniques. The crop is probably exported to Japan, which has become dependent on imported edible Job's tears to supply its expanding health food market. The case study casts some light on the differences between local and global systems of agriculture. In small-scale cultivation of edible Job's tears, there was a tight relationship between agriculture and everyday life, whereas in large-scale cultivation, producers are spatially separated from consumers. The localities engaged in this production are strongly influenced by the global health food market. Such changes in the agricultural system are influencing both the distribution and diversity of minor crops and the retention of related cultural knowledge and practices.