ABSTRACT
Rice is mainly grown as a subsistence contribution to household consumption. All Malay villages in Jelebu grow some rice, but few are able to meet all their needs from one harvest to the next, and even fewer can produce a surplus for sale. The major rice surplus area is the newly opened settlement area towards the Pahang border. The intending buyer stresses that he is ‘not a stranger’, and other people talking about the sale discuss whether the buyer is a proper person to receive the land, and whether the sale will harm members of the perut. A generation ago lots of five to six acres were common, and ‘every one’ kept buffalo to cultivate this large area. Division has now so reduced holdings that a lot of about one acre is the most common. Tenancy agreements between people who are not closely related rarely survive many harvests. Village ideas make a bargain conditional on the circumstances.
