Plantation Economy, Indigenous People, and Precariousness in the Philippine Uplands: The Mindanao Experience

Abstract

Agricultural plantations, mainly owned by local private firms and multinational companies have been part of Mindanao’s agricultural landscape for the past several decades. Early players started to produce pineapple and banana but recent agribusiness investors have established large-scale plantations for palm oil, rubber, cacao, and physic nuts ( jatropha curcus). Over the past 10 years, the plantation economy has expanded rapidly and new agricultural land investments are proliferating in almost every region in the island. This spread has encroached significantly on upland areas and indigenous communities . Drawing on shadow reports and participant observation of indigenous people (IP) in their own communities, cross-referenced with official government data, this chapter demonstrates the ways in which the growth of the plantation economy impacts on the lives of IP and upland peasants. While large-scale agricultural investments are heralded in some quarters for increasing Mindanao’s agricultural productivity, these investments have largely failed to curb persistent poverty or improve the general well-being of the people in host communities. This chapter argues that despite the promised benefits, the growth of the plantation economy has exacerbated the precarious plight of the poor and vulnerable populations of Mindanao’s uplands.