The pace and scale of agrarian changes that have taken place in Preah Vihear in the last two decades are unprecedented. The province has exhibited transformations that are characteristic of dynamics observed widely across Cambodia.

Central to these transformations is a process of agrarian expansion driven by boom crop export markets (soybean, cassava, cashew, etc.) and fuelled by local smallholder farmers and migrants from lowland provinces attracted by the promise of better income and livelihoods. Large-scale agricultural concessions granted to agri-business companies, mainly for rubber and sugar cane production (Ingalls et al., 2018), have also profoundly transformed the agrarian systems of the province (Figure 1).

Even if farmers have enjoyed high short-term returns, this trajectory of evolution raises some key questions about the sustainability of current practices and the viability of smallholder farming. First, it has put considerable pressure on forest resources (Figure 1) and has incentivized a classical green revolution (chemical fertilizers and pesticides). An analogy with other provinces where similar processes are studied suggests that this development will likely lead to the rapid degradation of soils and water resources (Kong et al., 2019; Nut et al., 2021). Second, it has resulted in widespread commoditization of land resources and higher exposure to risk for smallholders due to the volatility of agricultural commodity markets (Kong et al., 2021; Mahanty & Milne, 2016).