ABSTRACT

This chapter concerns long-term changes in Bonggi livelihoods in the villages where Bonggi communities live on the island of Banggi in northwest Sabah, Malaysia, which ranges from a complete departure from subsistence production in favour of cash crop production to one of spatial and sectoral diversification. It focuses on the land-based group known as Bonggi; specifically in five villages: Batu Layar, Limbuak Darat, Kalangkaman, Kapitangan, and Sabur. By using the long-term approach and paying attention to processes at the household level, the chapter makes a contribution to the deagrarianisation literature by focusing on conditions under which poor farmers quit subsistence agriculture. The chapter suggests that assumptions about the functionality of non-farm work needs to be verified by examining the impact of diversification on economy/ies at the household level, and over an extended period. It outlines the deprived conditions that propelled the Bonggi exit from agriculture for non-farm work. It considers the Sabah Land Ordinance(SLO) of 1930, an important legislation.