专访澳大利亚驻华大使芮捷锐

记者：前不久，中国国家主席胡锦涛在G20蜂会期间，中共中央政治局常委、中央政法委书记周永康访问澳大利亚期间。分别同贵国陆克文总理进行了会面。澳中两国建交30多年来，高层交往不断，双边关系取得了长足进步。您能否评价一下目前的中澳关系现状？     

Contract Farming and Vulnerability to Poverty among Oil Palm Smallholders in Indonesia

This article addresses smallholder oil palm farming in Indonesia and the risk of falling into poverty by comparing contract and non-contract smallholders. We use an asset-based approach to define vulnerability and apply propensity score matching analysis to assess the impact of contract farming. Data were collected from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010 of 245 oil palm smallholder households, 126 of which were contract smallholders. The study finds that approximately 40 per cent of oil palm smallholders can be classified as stochastic-transient poor. We also show that while contract participation reduces the negative impact of oil palm price shocks, this is not the case for production shocks. The study concludes that despite positive income effects, contract smallholders also remain vulnerable to poverty.