Exclusions in the Cambodian irrigation sector: perspectives from Battambang province

Abstract

This article offers a case study in Battambang province that examines agrarian and land dynamics in an irrigated command area. Building on the “powers of exclusion” framework developed by Hall, Hirsch and Li, we show how irrigation reshapes socio-spatial configurations locally and reinforces the dynamics of social differentiation between smallholder farmers. We argue that the uneven geography of water and the transformation of land ownership structures to which the irrigation project in question contributes run in the opposite direction of a pathway that would support the development of inclusive pro-smallholder irrigation.