Growth of Plantation Crops in Asia

Tea, coffee, rubber, abaca, coconuts, and palm oil are the main plantation crops grown in Asia. Tea is an evergreen plant indigenous to Assam (In­dia), probably China and Japan. The plant was known in China in prehistoric times, although the commercial cultivation there dates to the 18th century. It was intro­duced into Europe by the Dutch in the early 17th century.

The tea bush grows best in areas of abundant rainfall, gravelly soils well-drained hill-slopes (usually be­tween 3,000 to 4,000 feet/910-1,218 meters of altitude) in a warm climate. The leaves are handpicked involving a good deal of painstaking and methodical effort. The availability of an abundant supply of labor is essential for harvesting.

Nearly 80 percent of the world’s total production comes from half a dozen Asian countries. India is the largest producer, fol­lowed by China and Sri Lanka, producing 29, 22 and 10 percent of the world’s total respectively. Indonesia, Turkey and Japan are the other important producers.

Except in China, where the crop is raised on small family farms, it is mostly grown on large plantations, established and managed by the European companies until the 1950s and since then increasingly by the native enterprises. Most of the production enters world market; consumption in areas of growth is small.

Unlike tea, which is primarily an Asian crop, coffee plantations are limited to a few countries in Asia. Chief among these are: Indonesia, Vietnam, and India, which produced 7, 5, and 3 percent respectively of the world’s output in the mid 1990s.

Native to Ethiopia coffee plant was in­troduced into Arabia in the 15th century. The plant requires a hot, moist climate with a rainfall of at least 50 inches (27 cms), a rich soil and well-drained slopping topography at elevations from sea level to 6,000 feet (820 meters), and thrives best on volcanic soils on elevations between 1,500 feet to 6,000 feet.

Such conditions are ide­ally available in the islands of Java, and Sumatra (Indonesia) where it grows exten­sively on plantations that were established by the Dutch in the highlands utilizing cheap, and plentiful local labor. After inde­pendence most of the plantations were
distributed among the local farmers.

In Vietnam the French set up estates (planta­tions) in the Central Annamese Mountains under environmental conditions some­what similar to those prevailing in Indonesia. In India coffee plantations are located exclusively in the warmer, tropical regions, particularly on or near the Nilgiri Hills. Rubber (natural) is the major planta­tion crop of Southeast Asia.

The crop has been an important foreign exchange earner for the region even after the severe compe­tition with the synthetic rubber since 1940s. Asia has a virtual monopoly in pro­duction of natural rubber producing nearly 95 percent of the world’s output. The three Southeast Asian nations—Ma­laysia, Indonesia and Thailand—account for three-fourths of the world’s produc­tion.

Native to the Amazon basin in South America, the rubber plant was introduced into Sri Lanka and the tropical regions of Southeast Asia (Malaya, Java and Sumatra) after 1880, thus beginning the estab­lishment of large estates (plantations), and the development of rubber industry by the Europeans.

During WWII when the sup­plies were cut off to Europe and the U.S., the United States began large scale manu­facturing of synthetic rubber, and the production of natural rubber fell dramati­cally. The current production is nearly half that of synthetic rubber. Even with the diminished usage, natural rubber re­tains much of its importance- in modern industry as it is much cheaper, and easier to work with.

The rubber tree grows best in equato­rial climates—(characterizing high, constant temperatures with small daily variations, ample rainfall, well-distributed throughout the year) well-drained lateric soils, and above all the availability of cheap and abundant labor. These conditions are ide­ally met in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand; each of these nations currently produces about 1.5 million metric tons an­nually.

Until mid-1980s Malaysia held the foremost position, since then Indonesia and Thailand substantially increased their output and emerged as serious competitors to Malaysia. The western coastal zone in Malaya where, stands of rubber tree appear in an almost continuous belt from the Thailand’s border to the island of Singa­pore, the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia; and the northern portion of the peninsular section of Thailand are the im­portant rubber growing regions.

The British established large rubber es­tates in Malaya by using the labor force mostly imported from India during the 1920s and 1930s as the Chinese and the Malays were usually disinclined to work in the plantations. In Malaysia there has been a marked shift from the domination of the British-controlled estates to the smaller es­tates, owned chiefly by Malaysians and Chinese since the 1960s.

In Indonesia, the Dutch set up large estates and built a net­work of roads primarily in the heavily forested islands of Java and Sumatra by utilizing the locally available cheap and plentiful labor. India, China, the Philip­pines and Sri Lanka are other producers, where the conditions for the growth of rubber tree are also quite suitable.

As a plantation crop, the distribution of coconuts is more widespread. Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India are the major producers, each producing be­tween 15 and 20 percent of the world’s production. Thailand and Vietnam are smaller producers.

Sugarcane is an important cash crop of several nations in Asia, grown both for do­mestic use and for export. The plant is a tall, tropical perennial. Native probably to India, it has been cultivated since prehis­toric times in Asia. Raw cane grows ideally in tropical climates, although a good deal of the crop is now raised in North India Plains outside the tropics. The crop is highly demanding, requiring rich soils and abundant moisture during the growing sea­son.

Asia produces nearly one-half of the world’s total output. India, Indonesia, China, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philip­pines are the major producers. Production has remained static in these nations since the 1970s although during the same period spectacular gains were recorded outside Asia, principally in Brazil.

India is the world’s largest producer, currently pro­ducing between 20-24 percent of the world’s production. The major area of production is the middle Ganga Plains in north India, where the subtropical climate is less than ideal, but the climatic disadvan­tage has been offset by a longer growing season, the availability of alluvial soils, and canal-irrigation system, and above all by the cheap and plentiful labor.

Yields, how­ever, remain low, by world comparisons. Other major producers are China, Thai­land, Pakistan and Indonesia (producing 7, 7, and 3 percent respectively of the world). The Pakistani production area lies in the mid-Indus basin which is an extension of the North India Plains in terms of physical environment.

The crop is raised under irri­gation, and in conditions similar to those of north India. Elsewhere, the crop is raised mostly within the rainy tropics, par­ticularly in Taiwan, lower Chao Phraya basin in Thailand, the island of Java, and the western coastal areas of the islands of the Philippines.

Sugar-beet is essentially a plant of the temperate latitudes, and can tolerate com­paratively smaller amounts of rainfall, lower temperatures, and can be grown on a greater range of soil conditions. China and Turkey are the important producers, each producing over 4 percent of world’s output.

The southern Manchurian plains and the Huanghe basin in China and northern coastal plains in Turkey provide suitable environmental conditions for rais­ing the crop in these nations. Iran, Japan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are other pro­ducers in Asia (each producing less than one percent of the world’s production).