Land Use Changes and Its Impact on Local Communities at Seberang Perai Tengah of Penang, Malaysia

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Land use changes and its impact on local communities at Seberang Perai Tengah of Penang, MalaysiA

Conference Paper · January 2011

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Yasin Abdalla Eltayeb El Hadary, Narimah Samat & Rosmiyati Hasni School of Humanities Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800 Penang

Abstract Currently, urbanization has become a debatable issue among planners and policy makers at local, national and international level. This is due to the fact that more than half of humanity is now living in an urban milieu and overwhelming majority are in the developing countries. The adoption of industrialization policy which is considered as an engine of development has led to rapid growth of urban population in Asian countries including Malaysia. This growth has put some remarkable changes on the physical landscape as well as on the socio-economic aspects of the entire inhabitants. The local community in Penang, for example, has benefited from economic opportunities and better livelihood generated by urban development. Unfortunately, this does not come without cost as it has also brought some negative consequences. The expansion of built- up areas at the expense of farming activities has caused significant lost of agriculture land and thus affecting negatively the livelihood and food security of the people in the rural-urban fringe area. It is timely, therefore, to devise appropriate policy and take rigorous actions in order to control the impact of urban growth on the society and the environment. In tandem with such changes, planning for a better city and better life proof to be challenging for planners and urban managers for both developed and developing world. This requires huge amount of information regarding physical transformation of land cover/land use and the impact of such changes on the communities and the environment. This paper aims to identify areas experiencing high speed of urban expansion in Seberang Perai region, Penang State of Malaysia and evaluate its socio-economic impact on the local community.

Keywords: Urbanization, Land use changes, Socio-economic impact, Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

Currently, more than half of humanity is now living in an urban milieu and overwhelming majority are in the developing countries. The number urban people has increased dramatically from 200 million in 1900 to about 2.9 billion in 2000, and is estimated to reach 5 billion by 2030 (Ademola and Takashi, 2007). According to the United Nations projections, urbanization of the Asian and Pacific region will continue and a majority of the region’s population will live in urban areas by 2025. In the Pacific sub-region, over 70 per cent of the population already lives in urban areas while in the East and South-East Asia are expected to reach the 50 per cent level before 2015 (UNESC, 2007). No one dare to deny the positive role of urbanization especially when it comes to the economic development of the country and provision of social services to the entire communities. However, urbanization in developed as well as in developing countries does not come without ecological and socio-economic costs. Conversion of farmland and vegetation cover into urban development reduces the amount of lands available for food and crop production. During the last two decades in the United States the total area of cropland, pastureland and rangeland in the area decreased by 76 million acres in the lower 48 states from 1982 to 2003, while the total area of developed land increased by 36 million acres or 48% (Wu, 2008). This pressure on agricultural land coupled with environmental consequences is a clear justification of why regulation of dispersed urban development is high on the policy agenda in Europe (Madsen et al 2010).

Due to the lack of sound policy, the negative impact of urbanization is even worse. During the last three decades, many cities in the developing nations have shifted from a mainly agriculture-based economy to one of industrialization in order to foster economic growth (McGee, 1989). This unplanned shift has pushed large group of the rural people who lost their major source of livelihood, land, to flee to the urban centers. Rural-urban migration is considered as one of the major driving forces behind the rapid urban growth. This massive migration has put high pressure on the existing social services, increase pollution, social problems and become a challenge for state to meet the demand for ever growing urban population. According to the (World Bank, 2007)

2 around 300,000 to 400,000 new migrants, mostly poor, arrive at Dhaka, Bangladesh annually. Its population is currently at around 12 million and is projected to reach 20 million in 2020, making it the fastest growing mega-city and the world. The high demand for low price housing by the migrants, which is considered as nationwide phenomenon, has put remarkable change on farming activities in most of the peri-urban areas. In this regard, Yuting et al., (2010) confirmed that in China urban sprawl invades farmland, costing farmers the most important resource which they have depend and live on for generations. He stated that urban expansion has resulted in more than 40 million farmers losing their farmland at the rate of 2 million per year. In Vietnam, due to the rapid increase in the residential and commercial developments in the capital-Hanoi, rural communities lost their main source of livelihood which is fresh food such as fish, pork and vegetables for the city’s residents (Tacoli, 2003).

Similar to the Asian cities, agricultural production and land use in the areas surrounding urban centres in most of the African nations are faced the same destiny. In Kenya, for example, Mandere et al, (2010) mentioned that there is a sharp decline in farming activities in the peri urban area of the capital, Nairobi. The full time farming households have declined from 90% in the 1960s to 49%; an indication of the declining economic significance of agriculture. Furthermore, the declining household agricultural activities are mainly due the sale of land for residence/business premises and also land bequests to children. The rapid conversion of land for non-farm purposes is threatening farming activities which was considered as a major source of livelihood for people who live in the peri urban areas. Consequently, peri-urban areas are always exposed to all sources of vulnerability due to rapid urbanisation leading to great negative impacts on livelihoods of the local communities (Aberra and King, 2005).

Similarly, Malaysia is one of the Asian countries that have experienced rapid urbanization since the adoption of industrialization policy since the 1970s. No doubt that industrialization policy has led to increase the economic growth and economically Malaysia has become a country difficult to be surpassed. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country has increased from 11,829 million in 1970 to 51,838 million in 1980 and 495,239 million in 2005 (Department of Statistics, 2009).Manufacturing

3 sector has become an engine of development of the country and play vital role in solving problems like poverty, low income, unemployment and lack of services. Malaysia managed to reduce the percentage of poor population in both urban and rural area from 49% in 1970 to only 6% in 2000 (Samat et al., 2010). This economic opportunity has attracted large people from within and outside Malaysia to migrate and live in urban centres. It has been estimated that the average annual growth rates of urban population in the country were more than 4.9% during 1970-2000, compared to only about 2.3% for the country’s population as a whole. In 2000, more than 60% of Malaysia’s population lived in urban areas (population above 10,000) (Rostam et al., 2010). While urbanisation as stated above creates a lot of opportunities for people living within the peri-urban area, it is also accompanied by few negative consequences. Urbanization in Malaysia has led to significant loss of agricultural land and green space, and becomes potential threat such as resource depletion or contamination of rivers from industrial discharge (Peterson, 1997; Sathiamurthy, 2008).

Penang is one of the Malaysian states that have witnessed rapid expansion of urban areas mainly due to industrialization since 1970s. Six industrial estates and two free trade zones have been developed over 2464 hectares of land. This has led to increase incoming migration to the area and thus put more pressure on public services and create housing problems. As a result large productive farmland has been turned into industrial and housing estate to meet the need of the fast growing number of urban people (Surati, 2000; Ahmed, 2009; Abdullah and Nakagoshi, 2006). Consequently, land at the peri-urban area has become scarce and large group who depend on it for their livelihood have to search job outside agriculture and consequently, causing the declining of rice production (Ghazali, 2000).

Much has been said about the impact of urbanization and land use change on the environment, forest and agriculture. Little attention is paid to its impact on the socio- economic and livelihood of the local communities in the peri-urban areas. This study aims to fill such gap by focusing on the evaluation the urban development and its socio- economic impacts on the local communities of peri-urban in Penang, Malaysia. It tries to answer the following questions: What are the economic opportunities generated by urbanization to the local communities? What is the influence of urbanization on land use and agriculture? What is the impact of urbanization on the socio-economic and livelihood of the peri-urban people? To answer these questions, the study was based mainly on the primary data collected through questionnaire, observation, direct interview with some hints from the written materials.

METHODOLOGY

This study intends to evaluate the impact of land use changes on the local communities. In order to get representative data on the positive and negative impact of urbanization on the local communities, a field survey was conducted. Two major peri-urban areas in the central part of Penang state were selected namely Bukit Mertajam and Juru. The selection of these areas was undertaken since these areas experienced intense urban development since 1990s (Samat et al., 2010). 196 questionnaires were distributed targeting head households. Out of these 113 (58%) are in Bukit Mertajam and 83 (42%) are in Juru area. In addition, in-depth interviews were held with village leaders and senior citizen both male and female, in order to get clear picture about the development and its implication on the local communities. Twenty five persons have been interviewed covering geographically the area under study. In addition, secondary data such as land use distribution were obtained from Northern Zone Project Office, Town and Country Planning Department and Town and Penang State Country Planning Department State. The data was analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPSS) and Geographical Information System (GIS). The methodology used in this study is shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Methodological Framework

STUDY AREA

Seberang Perai which is the mainland part of Penang State, is located in the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, centered at 5o 20’ N and 100 o 25’E covering an area of about 738.4 square kilometers. This area has been selected as case study due to the fact that it is one of the few cases where rapid urban development of a small town in Peninsular Malaysia has occurred, primarily as a result of industrialization (Goh, 1991). Starting from early 1970s, more urban and industrialized landscape began to take shape until present day following government efforts to revive the poor economy of Penang (Sathiamurthy 2010). Furthermore, this area is located within the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) which is planned to be one of the growth centres for the Northern Region and achieve a world-class economic region status by the year 2025. Hence, this area stands out as a potential local centre for population growth and economic development for the northern region.

6 Seberang Perai is expected to experience a 60% population increase by 2010, from a 1991 figure of 545,688 (Department of Statistics, Malaysia 1991). The population increase is expected to consume a further 16% (120km2) of the land area of Seberang Perai (SPMC, 1998). This massive increase is due to its proximity to the major cargo terminal of Northern Butterworth (Badarulzaman, Ahmad, Mohd Daud and Yeoh, 1998). In addition, a North-South expressway and Butterworth-Kulim expressway provide further impetus for development by attracting investments, particularly in the manufacturing sector that dominates the economy within this region (SPMC, 1998).

Seberang Perai is also undergoing rapid urbanization resulting from the spill-over demand from Penang Island for residential place and other developments. It is estimated that by the year 2015 and 2020, more than 990,000 and 1.1 million people respectively will be living in this region (SPMC, 1998; DUCP, 2007). Such population increase will require significant amount of land to accommodate the need for housing and other facilities. For example, between 2000 and 2005 and 2006-2010, additional 35,877 and 30,033 units of houses respectively were required for Seberang Perai. It was also projected that between 2011 and 2015 another 32,930 units are required to meet the demands from the growing population (DUCP, 2007).

URBANIZATION AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

As stated above urbanization has created many economic opportunities to the local communities in peri-urban areas of Penang State. For the purpose of this paper, the focus will be on three major opportunities; these are non-farm activities, human mobility and accommodation.

NON-FARM ACTIVITIES

This section challenges the idea that perceives urbanization as always negative to rural- urban fringe communities. The survey has shown that there are enough justifications that urbanization especially in the case of Malaysia has led to numerous economic advantages for the urban dwellers as well to the local community in the peri-urban areas. The engagement of non-farm activities such as administrative work, business activities, professional employment, governmental jobs and commute to the cities on a daily basis are some of such opportunities generated by urban development. Table 1 shows that 35% of the total respondents are working in manufacturing sector or its related activities while only 10% respondents is in agricultural sector. The table reflects that the establishment of numerous factories in the area of Seberang peri, Penang has provided work for one third of the peri-urban people regardless of their ages, sex, knowledge and skills. Besides working directly in the factories, several chances related to industry have been generated. For example, the daily basis commuting to the factories as well as to the urban centre leads to a great demand for transportation, thus, generating employment for drivers, spare parts shops, restaurants workers and mechanics.

Table 1: Jobs opportunities in the study area Types of Jobs Frequency Percent Professional, technical and related 10 11.76 Administration and management 6 7.06 Clerical and related 10 11.76 Sales 14 16.47 Services 6 7.06 Agriculture, rearing, forestry, fisheries, and hunting 9 10.59 Manufacturing and related, operator, transportation, and labour 30 35.29 Total 85 100.00

Interestingly the Table 1 explains that around 12% of the total respondents are involved in professional and technical related work, a job which needs academic qualifications. This rejected the notion which says that rural people are less educated and lack technical skill and always accept low ranking jobs. Contrary to the findings by

Ghazali (2000) who says that villagers sought job outside agriculture usually low ranking occupation such as housekeepers, garbage collectors, cleaners, babysitters, hawkers, renting out rooms and food stall operators and food traders, the study found that 18 % of the respondents involved with professional, technical and related services and administration or management related work. Moreover, the survey also showed that most of the respondent has a good basic education and even some respondents had high and postgraduate degree. Around 38% of the respondents studies until high secondary school certificates level and 8% were holding college and university degree (see figure 2).

In addition to main employment, respondents were also involved in other income generating activities. For example, the establishment of small and mobile shops selling food and other things related to need urban communities are some of the informal jobs generated by urbanization. The expansion of good network infrastructure coupled with the increase of population (purchasing power) have led many people particularly in area close to the cities to set up small stalls selling food and restaurants along the both sides of paved road. Similarly, Mandere et al. (2010) state that commercial activities along the road in the periphery of the urban core in Kenya provide farmers with outlets to sell products or to purchase what is needed for farming. They also give peri-urban dwellers access to food supplies and other basic necessities without travelling to the urban core. As indicated in table 1 that 16 % of the total respondents are involved in the sale activities. Therefore, villages close to urban and located along the main roads are benefiting from development compare to those who lack such facilities.

40 30 20 10 0 Never been Informal Primary Secondary Higher College University to school education school school secondary school

Figure 2: Education level in the study area

However, more study is needed on the dominant existence of small restaurants or mobile shop along the main roads in peri-urban areas. This might be due to the change of division of labour within the family, mainly the role of gender. The traditional role of women in doing only the housework and being all the time behind the doors of her parents or husband house has no longer valid in peri-urban Malaysia. Going to work, to study and take care of child education left no or limited time for female to do their housework such as cooking, cleaning and washing. These together with the availability of good transportation, and accessibility to having food outside are some forces behind wide spreading of such phenomenon.

DAILY COMMUTING AND HUMAN MOBILITY

The local communities of the peri-urban areas in Penang are not resorted to the weapons of the weak as mentioned by Scott (1985) but they are benefiting from the chances created by the urbanization and infrastructure development. Daily commuting of urban workers is one of the chances generated by such development. In this regard, Eric (2004) states that in addition to the large number of young people who migrate from village to live in urban areas, many who continue to live in the rural area leave it on a daily basis. Owing to proximity to cities and to a relatively well developed infrastructure network in the region, 100 (51%) household out of the total 196 respondents who are engaged in formal and informal employment have to commute daily to their work location in towns. Figure 3 shows that 80% of employers are working in urban and peri-urban areas and only 20% of the respondents have accessed work in their villages.

0 Urban peri-urban Village

Figure 3 Job Location

10 The above finding is consistent with the existing literature, which usually explains that rates of out-migration in peri-urban areas are the highest in regions where income generating from agriculture is declining sharply. Lack of access to rural work in a situation where the family expenditure are increasing has forced people particularly the younger and more educated workers to seek jobs outside the villages. Démurger et al. (2007) stated that by providing additional income sources independent of the agricultural cycle, migration can increase both the level and the stability of household income. As mentioned the physical access and daily commuting to the alternative sites in the town have been facilitated by availability of good infrastructure and affordable means of transportation. It is worth nothing that most if not all households in the study areas have managed to have a car and at least one or two motorbikes which enable them to travel on a regular basis. Therefore, it is no doubt that 88% out of the total respondents are using their own means to access their workspace (see table 2). This figure also may reflect either the inefficiency of public transportation service or the close proximity to the workplace, as 90% of the total respondents mentioned that their employment location lies within 10 km.

Table 2: Types of transportation to workspace Types Number Percent Public transportation 8 8.16 Self-owned transport 88 89.80 Walking 2 2.04 Total 98 100.00

It is important to note that the daily commuters preferred to work in the public sector although the salary one gets might be less than those offered by the private sector. This preference is due but not limited to: the salary figure matches or above the basic needs, provision of medical benefits, eligibility as collateral to secure loans, and pension benefits. In addition, public servants in Malaysia possess job security that protected them from unlawful dismissal or forced resignation, a phenomenon that exists in some of the developing countries.

It is significant to highlight that urban development has made a remarkable change on the situation of women in both rural and urban areas. This led Rostam et al. (2010) to state that female benefit more from the work provided by industry. Some companies and business owners prefer to hire female. Moreover, women especially in the area near urban centres have managed to access not only basic but also higher level of education. Thus, they benefit more from professional jobs offered by the new development. Our finding shows that more than 80% of the total respondents indicated that one of the major advantages of the development is the creation of new job and small business to women in peri-urban areas (see figure 4).

90 81,82 80 70 60 50

40 30 20 12,12

Per cent Per 10 3,03 3,03 0 Small medium industry Job opportunity Educational Business opportunity

Figure 4: Increase Opportunities for Women

Like daily commuting, human mobility for both short and long period is considered as an important livelihood strategy adopted by peri-urban and rural communities to cope with urbanization. The overall objective is to diversify their income sources and at the same time compensate for the lost income coming from agricultural activities. This strategy helps both households: those are in the place of destination (urban centres) as well as those in the place of departure (peri-urban areas). Most of the people who are living away from parents, they prefer to stay in urban and towns rather than villages. Our data has shown that almost 64% move to urban centers and many 21% went to the smaller cities and towns. Only 15 % migrated to village and countryside elsewhere in Malaysia.

12 Searching for job and greener pasture is one of the driving forces behind seasonal or temporary migration to the urban centre. Table 3 shows that searching for work is the top priorities of the people who moved to the study area. The table shows that half of the respondent mentioned that accessing work is one of the main reasons behind migration to this area. While one third (34%) indicated that follow the spouse as the major reason and a few respondents (16%) moved to join relatives and family and education.

Table 3: Reasons for migration Reason for migration Percentage Study 16 Work 47 Follow spouse 34 follow family/relatives 16 Total 47

There is concrete evidence that the social network and economic support between the migrants and their relatives who have been left behind are continuing. Our survey showed that a considerable number of households in the study area received remittance on a regular basis from their relatives who succeeded to get job outside elsewhere in Malaysia. The overwhelming majority almost 80% of the respondents indicated that they have received money on a regular basis of every three months while less mentioned in every six with very few indicated once a year. It is important to highlights that improvement in infrastructure such as good road network, easy communication and better transportation system has encouraged such mobility. These facilities play vital role in reducing the time one he/she takes in the place of destination, speed up investment in home area and at the same time increasing the frequency of sending money back home.

It is worth nothing to note that the percentage of people staying away from the family between both sex are almost the same with 52% male compare to 48% of female. This showed that female also chose to migrate to other areas in order to get better education or job opportunities. Table 4 provides some details about the education level of migrated people (children of the respondents interviewed lived away from the family).

It shows that almost more than half of the respondents are acquiring secondary school certificates.

Table 4: Level of education of people stay away from families Education level Frequency Percent Primary school 14 5 (T1-3) (secondary school form 1-3) 29 11 (T4-6) (secondary school form 4-6) 138 52 College 17 6 University 65 25 Total 263 100

Not all the peri urban people are in a position to move. Those who are able to move should hold some qualifications and skills. In this regard better education is one the essential weapons that one he/she need before deciding to move. For example, when a woman is better educated the possibility of getting professional or services job in towns or elsewhere is even higher than male. This explain why most of the migrated people are involve in professional, manufacturing and services work rather than doing physical and hard job (see table 5). It has been observed that in Penang Island that female are dominant in sales, professional, or managerial jobs.

Table 5: type of work accessed by people living away from parents Types of work Frequency Percent Professional, technical, and related 58 27 Administration and management 12 6 Clerical and related 20 9 Sales 19 9 Services 43 20 Agricultural, rearing, forestry, fishery, and hunting 6 3 Manufacturing and related, operator, transportation, and labour 58 27 Total 216 100

ACCOMODATION AND HOUSE GROWING

Accommodation or renting houses or part of it for the migrants, urban workers and some urban residents is one of the opportunities created by the urban development for the people in a rural-urban fringe. This economic opportunity has played very vital role in compensating the great loss of income generated from farming activities and led people to diversify their livelihood sources. The implausible demand of housing coupled with potential return has led some villagers to rent part of their houses or construct a new house for such purpose (business). Table 6 shows that only 66% of the respondents owned their houses while the rest have accessed it either through monthly renting or share other rooms for free. As noted by Yuting (2010) that the livelihood of villagers which was based on the collective economy has changed from agricultural production to a land and housing rental economy. Therefore, people in such areas instead of growing crops they are growing houses.

The phenomenon of working in town and live in rural-urban fringe is found not only in the developing countries but also in the developed nations, even though the driving forces in each are not exactly the same. While escaping from pollution and having healthy environment are the essential factors behind living in peri-urban for the former, seeking housing of low price is the major factor for later. In other word, urban center are pushing rich people to settle in rural areas in Europe and western countries while urban poor people have been pushed to live there because of the low house pricing. As a consequence, huge productive land has been converted to built-up areas to attract the poor renters or rich buyers. The main output of both cases is the sharp decrease in housing space and land reserved for farming. Thus unhealthy environmental and food security have become an inevitable problems. Mandere et al, (2010) have pointed out that the pressure from the peri-urban expansion due to immigrations to the region has contributed to decreasing household land holding size due to the sale of land to the new comers for residence, business use or both residence and commercial purposes.

Table 6: House Ownership Types Frequency Percent Owned 130 66.67 Rented 32 16.41 Lodged-stay with for free 23 11.79 Others 10 5.13 Total 195 100.00

Although the conversion of farming land into built-up areas is based on the decision made by an individual, in most cases the national policy has also a role to play in this matter. In the case of Malaysia, the state has encouraged both public or private sector in building collective houses close to urban areas and make it available for the communities mainly to those people who can afford. It seems that the developers are targeting rich people and high upper class rather than poor and lower income dwellers.. This policy has forced poor group to live in the marginal areas due to the lack of income to buy such houses. The survey has shown that most of the respondents were willing to convert their land into settlement if they got compensation or transferred to a new location. Table 7 shows that more than half of the respondents were willing to convert its land if he/she received reasonable compensation. It could be said that peri-urban residents also benefitted from selling of their properties to the state. Therefore, many owners of old buildings were willing to sell their properties and waiting for the development to come first and then get fair compensation from the state. This might explains why in Penang the old houses or shops made of traditional materials still could be found very close to modern and high stores building.

Table 7: Reasons for converting farming land Types Frequency Percent Strategic place 9 29.03 Hometown 6 19.35 Compensation 14 45.16 Nearest area 2 6.45 Total 31 100.00

The study also asked the respondents regarding the type of land use activities in their areas. About 40% of the respondents mentioned that houses and shops were mostly built in their area, and 27% stated agriculture as a major activity (see table 8 for more details). This study showed that agricultural activities were still in practice but in a very low scale. Moreover, the staple crops which is was the main source of livelihood such as rice has been replaced by urban market oriented crops such as vegetables, and fruits (19% mentioned orchard farm). Therefore, crops grown in this area was mainly that to satisfy the demand of urban people rather than concentrating on traditional and staple food. The emergence of a new customer base provides farmers new opportunities for selling higher value crops (Wu, 2008). Peri-urban residents tend to provide food to respond to the need of urban people. In Denmark, for example Busck et al. (2006) states that diversification of agricultural production such as adopting new types of crops/livestock and increasing focus on quality products sold close to the consumers (short food supply chain) is one the alternative pathway way of farm development. In this line Tacoli et al., (2008) stated that the conversion of rice into fruit in Vietnam were due to two major factors namely the growth of urban incomes throughout Vietnam, resulting in higher standards of living, better diets and growing demand for fresh fruit; and the increase in employment opportunities in non-farm sectors, which allows farmers to diversify their income sources and invest in fruit production. Agricultural production is becoming more profit-oriented and increasingly guided by market conditions (Démurger et al., 2007). Therefore, farmers in the township have started to convert some land from corn to higher value-added agricultural products, including American ginseng and medicinal plants.

Table 8: Land use type in the study area Type Frequency Percent Agricultural 12 27.91 Orchard/farm 8 18.60 Housing/shops 17 39.53 Vacant 6 13.95 Total 43 100.00

THE COST OF URBANIZATION: DECREASE AGRICULTURAL LAND

The discussion above concentrated on the economic benefit of the people in the fringe of urban areas. However, urban develop also brought negative consequences. The conversion of rural land into settlement or built-up areas reduced the amount of land available for agricultural activities and housing. For example, Penang large productive area had been taken for industrial purposes and its related activities (Ghazali, 2000). Thus, land became scarce in the island and people had to move to the main land. Rapid urban expansion took up approximately 14.2 sq. km/year of farm land, which was converted to other used in Penang Island and Seberang Perai between 1989 and 1995 (Sathiamurthy 2010). The study conducted also revealed that considerable productive land in the peri-urban area has been converted to either built-up areas or services related activities to the industry and urbanization functions. Table 9 shows the size of land owned by the respondents in the study area. From 196 respondents interviewed, only 29 respondents have land. However, the size of land owned was slightly small. For example, more than 80% of the respondents owned less than 4 acres of land, 10% of the respondents owned between 6 – 7 acres of land, and only 2 respondents (6 % of the respondents) owned the land with the size of more than 10 acres.

The finding shown in Table 9 reflected clearly that most of the respondents in the study area did not have land or owned only small piece of land. It might be true to say that the low returns from agriculture compare to the high income from built-up areas forced many people to sale their land or in some cases converted it into commercial activities. This nationwide phenomenon has threatening the existence of agriculture which provides large communities in both rural and urban with the stable food mainly rice. According to Wu (2008) more than half the value of total United States farm production is derived from counties facing urbanization pressure. As urbanization intensifies, agricultural and non-agricultural land use conflicts become more severe. Consequently large group of farmers and related farming employment have to seek other income away from farming production. This explains why people mainly young generation in the peri-urban areas join non-farm activities.

Table 9: Land size in the study area Land size (Relong) Land size (Acres) Frequency Percent 1 0.67 9 31.03 2 1.33 4 13.79 3 2.00 4 13.79 4 2.67 5 17.24 6 4.00 2 6.90 10 6.67 2 6.90 11 7.33 1 3.45 16 10.67 1 3.45 20 13.33 1 3.45 Total 29 100.00

This finding (Table 9) shows that farming or subsistence economy which was the major source of livelihood of the Malays up to the early seventies has been profoundly transformed. Although it was not eliminated completely from the area as it was still in practice (10 %) but it seems that most of these lands would be most likely be converted to other used. It could be argued that farming and related activities might be disappeared in the near future if no serious action being taken by planners and policy makers. Eric (2004) stated that by 1987, rural households in peninsular Malaysia derived only a quarter (25.7 per cent) of their annual income from agricultural activities. Non agricultural income was derived from social services (24.2 per cent), manufacturing (13.7 per cent), trade (13.2 per cent), and a variety of other sources (23.2 per cent). Based on that finding, only 0.7% of the households derived their main income from farming. If this trend continues, farming activity will be eliminated completely from Penang by the year 2025.

The rate of land conversion occurred in a relative manner depending on the distance to the urban centre, development schemes as well as in areas that are highly affected by the spread of urban culture (Samat et al, 2010). Therefore, it is true to conclude that once the natural landscape is surrounded or bordered by human landscapes, the probability that it will be converted to human landscape is high (Abdullah and Nakagoshi, 2006). Declining in agricultural activities is not only threatening the situation of food security but also put much pressure on the ecological condition at micro and macro level. In this regard, Wu (2008) and Samer et al., (2010) put the

19 blamed planners for unable to see the hidden advantage of farming in ensuring food security and protecting the environment. In most cases, agricultural land was considered as reserved land for future urban growth

CONCLUSION

This paper has shown that the peri-urban of the central part of Penang state has undergone some vigorous infrastructure developments due to rapid expansion of urban growth. This type of development has created several economic opportunities to the entire population of the Seberang Perai area. Adoption of diverse non-farm activities, human mobility and opportunities generated from house renting are some of economic benefits generated by urban growth. Although, urban development has brought various opportunities to the region, an essential element for economic growth and livelihood security for both people who live in the peri-urban areas should also be protected. There is an urgent need for sound policy to control or direct urban development in specific region in order to reduce the negative impact of urban development on the society and the environment and thus, promote sustainable urban development.

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