Livelihoods, Global Markets, and Agrarian Change in Indonesia’s Rural Coastal Regions

Abstract

Indonesia’s rural coastal regions are experiencing profound socio-economic transformations driven by national and global economic structural changes. Large-scale capital investments are increasingly penetrating coastal and marine production systems, yet small-scale fishers persist and transforming themselves into commodity suppliers for global markets, while partially operating within a subsistence economy. Growing global demand for marine commodities, fuelled by affluent consumers and advancing technological processes in agri-food industries, has further intensified market pressures in coastal environments. Despite a rich body of literature on agrarian change in terrestrial agriculture, fewer studies have documented similar processes in coastal and marine environments. This study thus aims to fill this gap by investigating the dynamics of agrarian change in a rural coastal region of Indonesia, focusing on the interactions between coastal livelihoods and broader market structures, and explores what this means for patterns of accumulation and social differentiation. This research examines two coastal villages of South Sulawesi and focuses on three export commodities: whiteleg shrimp; blue swimmer crab; and tropical red seaweed due to their significance for both global industries and smallholder livelihoods. I argue that the interaction between local livelihoods and global production networks is characterized by a recursively constituted relationship involving struggles over resource access, household agency, and broader structural forces. This interaction continuously shapes and reshapes livelihood pathways and outcomes, contributing to patterns of social differentiation within Indonesian coastal communities. Conceptually, this study advances our understanding of agrarian change in coastal regions by enhancing a political economy analysis of access and global market relations into the livelihood approach.