The literature on plantations and their repercussions on economy and society display a considerable variety of concepts and definitions. This paper distinguishes between a colonial, an imperialistic and a modern plantation, the latter includes various models of integration of smallholders in the plantation economy. Contract farming between plantations and associated independent producers in the banana sector of Costa Rica are discussed and examples of nucleus plantations in Kenya and Malaysia which combine the advantages of estate and smallholder production are evaluated
