The main aim of this book is to investigate the relationship between colonialism and agricultural development. It focuses on Malaysia and rice production and investigates why a green revolution did not take place in colonial times, when in several ways the preconditions were laid for this. It is shown that colonial agricultural policy was based on a low-cost, low-tech model of rural development, which nevertheless offered a more sustainable approach than methods employed subsequently to achieve advances in grain production. The book draws on a wide variety of archival data and is aimed at social scientists concerned with colonial history, peasant transformations and agricultural change.