1 Introduction Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country. Its 28 million smallholder farmer households—whose numbers are still growing, more than 16 million of them with holdings less than 0.5 ha—coexist with an expanding corporate plantation sector. It is the world's top exporter of palm oil and at the same time, with only brief interludes of self-sufficiency, a century-old importer of rice and many other food staples.