perladangan

Perladangan is a term in Indonesian and Malay that refers to the practice of cultivating land for agricultural production. The root ladang means a field or plantation, and the prefix per- indicates a general activity; together, perladangan denotes farming on a larger scale or in a formal plantation sense. The term can describe both subsistence farming by smallholders and organized plantation agriculture conducted on estates.

Historically, perladangan has been used in records to distinguish permanent or semi-permanent cultivation from shifting or swidden farming (berladang). In colonial-era contexts, it often referred to plantation systems established to grow cash crops such as coffee, sugar, rubber, tea, and spices, as well as more recent forms of plantation crops like palm oil. The concept also encompasses land-use changes, tenure arrangements, and labor practices associated with large-scale cultivation.

In contemporary usage, perladangan is a broad term and may be less common in everyday speech, with more specific terms—such as bertani for farming, berladang for slash-and-burn or shifting cultivation, or the names of particular crops—being used instead.

Geographically, the term appears in Indonesian and Malay language contexts across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Malaysia, where both smallholder farming and plantation agriculture have played significant roles in the economy and landscape.

See also: ladang, berladang, tanaman perkebunan, agrikultur, tanam paksa (historical context).