Plantations in the development of the Sri Lankan economy : an evaluation of the dual economy approach
Creators: name: Lebbe, M.U. Ishak
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: A heavy dependence on primary exports is an important colonial legacy of many underdeveloped countries of the world today. In the study of these primary export economies two sectors have generally been identified - one, referred to as the 'modern' sector, producing for the world market such crops as coffee, sugar, tea, rubber, coconut, palm-oil etc. and extracting non-renewable resources such as petroleum, tin, timber etc. and the other, referred to as the 'traditional' sector, producing food crops for home consumption or the local market. The practice of distinguishing two analytical categories along the above sectoral lines is known as the 'dualistic' approach. The present work is an attempt at an evaluation of the dualistic approach in the context of Sri Lanka. The main contention of the thesis Is- that the dualistic approach has little explanatory power with regards to developments in the country's economy during the British period and even less in the post-independence period. The above contention is based on two major criticisms of the dualistic approach. One is directed at the tendency among those using the dualistic approach to view the Sri Lankan economy as having two distinct sectors - one 'modern' consisting of the plantations and the other 'traditional' consisting of peasant agriculture - existing independently of each other. This is criticized on the basis that it neglects the overlaps and the interactions between sectors. The other criticism is that the dualistic approach, lacks a holistic and historical perspective. It is contended that, viewed from a holistic and historical point of view the 'modern sector' has had a pervasive influence on the whole of the economy and society of the country. This contention is based on the observation that the 'modern sector' or the plantations, from the time of its rise in the 1840s until recent times, prevailed as the dominant mode of production in the country. In other words, the country's political economy which included the state, bureaucratic, and legal apparatus and other institutional infrastructure on the one hand and material resources, and physical infrastructure on the other - was dominated by the modern sector. In view of this dominant influence it is misleading to identify a 'peasant sector' as: having existed free of influence from the 'modern sector'. The time period covered by the thesis ranges from the 1840s, i.e. the time of the advent of the plantations, to the present. The sources of data are the published primary and secondary materials. The chapters are arranged as follows: Chapter 1 is divided into two sections. The first section introduces the dualistic approach, as developed by J.H. Boeke and others with, reference to the economies of South. Asia. The second section presents an overview of the applications of the dualistic model to Sri Lanka and criticism of it, through an analysis of the organization of agriculture in the country. The criticism in this section focuses on one of the two shortcomings of the dualistic model noted earlier, namely the neglect of the overlaps and interactions between sectors. The other criticism of the dualistic model, namely the need for a holistic and historical perspective, is the subject of the remaining three chapters. Chapter 2 discusses the historical circumstances and the manner in which the factors of production - investors and capital, labour, and land - were brought together, and the rate and extent of growth of coffee, tea, rubber, and coconut, the major plantation crops, which went to form the plantations as the dominant phenomenon in the country during the British period. With this historical background, Chapter 3 attempts to specify the nature of the influence of plantations during the British period. The plantations are viewed as the dominant mode of production in the country during this period. Their dominant influence is discussed in the way it effected the productive process in agriculture - specifically the monetization and commercialization of agriculture, changes relating to the institutions of labour and land - and the social structure. Chapter 4 takes a closer look at the state of 'peasant' (or domestic) agriculture during the British period as well as in the post-independence period. In the first section, which relates to the British period, the main theme is that peasant agriculture was in a state of relative neglect due to the dominant and favoured position of the plantations, and hence experienced little growth. The theme of the second section, which relates to the post-independence period, is that, under changed political and economic circumstances, peasant agriculture has undergone rapid change and growth. The nature of this change is such that the 'peasant sector' is coming to resemble, more and more, a 'modern sector'. The nature of the growth is such that a small-farmer domestic agriculture is emerging as the major component of the Sri Lankan economy.