Tailor-Made Pesticides. Understanding the Pesticides Market in a Productive Agricultural Region of the Cambodian Mekong Delta

Abstract

This article draws on approaches in the anthropology of things and the anthropology of capitalism. It brings to light fragments of the supply chains of pesticides in one of the most productive agricultural regions in Cambodia. Based on an ethnographic study conducted from November 2021 to December 2022 with farmers, petty retailers and marketing agents enrolled in the pesticides sector, this article shows how a study of local interactions between pesticides and these actors brings out multi-level data, ranging from the local marketing strategies to transnational manufacturing of pesticides. It highlights various stages that are taking place between small-scale farmers and industrial players to redefine tailor-made pesticides and fuel the local market.

Keywords

• pesticides
• intensive agriculture
• market
• capitalism
• anthropology
• cambodia