Dynamiques agraires et foncières dans la région du Mékong au début du XXIe siècle: quelle place pour les paysanneries?

The chapter offers a comparative analysis of the agrarian changes and land tenure transformations that have occurred since 2000 in the five countries of the Mekong region (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam). Its central argument is that peasantries are increasingly excluded from mainstream rural development and agricultural modernization policies and practices through various political and economic mechanisms, which the chapter presents. It first situates smallholder farmers within the structural transformations of the national economies in the Mekong region. It then exposes major pathways of land-use change, namely the intensification of rice production in the lowland regions and the agrarian expansion into peripheral uplands. Questions of land distribution between producers are then addressed, first within peasant communities but then in comparison with the increased influence of corporate actors who have acquired significant track of land through concession agreements. The chapter closes with a presentation of the multiple challenges faced by peasants regarding land tenure security and land governance.