A Case-Study in the Chinantla, Mexico, on Secondary Vegetation, Soils

CHINANTECSHIFTIN G CULTIVATION :InTERAcTIV ELANDUS E ACASE-STUD Y INTH ECHINANTLA ,MEXICO , ONSECONDAR YVEGETATION ,SOIL SAN DCRO PPERFORMANC E UNDERINDIGENOU SSHIFTIN GCULTIVATIO N Hansva nde rWa l \?r^ °) Promotor: Dr. Ir. R.A.A.Oldeman , Hoogleraar in de Bosteelt & Bosoecologie Proefschrift terverkrijgin gva nd egraa dva ndoctor , opgeza gva nd erecto rmagnificu sProf .Dr .CM .Karssen , inhe topenbaa rt everdedige no pdinsda g9 novembe r199 9 desnamiddag st evie ruu r ind eAul ava nd eWageninge n Universiteit. Treebook 3 Treebooks are freebooks. Theyar epublishe db yTreemai l accordingt oth ecriteri ao ffree, independent ,origina l thinkingan dhig hqualit ywarrante d byth escientifi c performance ofit sauthors . Earlier inth eseries : Struggleo flife ,o rth enatura lhistor yo fstres san dadaptatio nb yMartia lan dLin e Rossignol,Roelo fA.A .Oldema nan d SorayaBenzine-Tizroutine ;1998 . TreebookNo . 1, ISBN90-804443-1- 6 GreenGold :o nvariation so ftrut hi nplantatio n forestry byPau lRomeijn ; 1999. TreebookNo .2 ,ISB N90-804443-3- 2 (soft cover) TreebookNo .2 ,ISB N90-804443-2- 4 (hardcover ) H. vande r Wal TreebookNo .3 Chinantecshiftin g cultivation: InTERAcTIVE landuse Acase-stud y inth eChinantla ,Mexico ,o nsecondar y vegetation, soilsan dcro p performance underindigenou s shifting cultivation TreemailPublishers ,Heelsum ,Th eNetherland s Web:www.treemail.n l ISBN90-5808-131- 1 (thisversion ) ISBN90-804443-4- 0(trade ) Keywords:shiftin g cultivation,indigenou slandus esystems ,agroforestry , sustainable agriculture,Chinantla ,Mexic o © 1999,Copyrigh tb yAuthor . Alrightsl reserved .N opar to fthes ematerial s mayb ereproduced , orstore d ina retrieval system,o rtransmitted , inan y form, orb yan ymeans ,electronic ,mechanical , photocopying,recording ,o rotherwise ,withou tth eprio rwritte npermissio no fth e copyrightowner . PROPOSITIONS vvo&w, ^kf(<! STELLINGEN, behorende bij het proefschrift "Chinantec shifting cultivation: ItTERAcTIVE landuse" door Hans van derWal , te verdedigen op 9 november 1999 1. Thedifferenc e between industrial and ecological agriculture resides inth e degree towhic h ecological processes arepermitte d anduse d to act as sources of variation at near-field scales anda s links across scales. 2. Indigenous shifting cultivation is a sequential, iterative form of land-use in which the development of secondary vegetation, soils and crop performance may follow various paths. (THISTHESIS ) 3. Theiterativ e and interactive character of indigenous shifting cultivation confers tothi s form of land-use the potential tobecom e a form of mosaic management, which optimally combines diverse conservation and production goals. (THIS THESIS) 4. Use-history is ausefu l entry for studying secondary vegetation, soils and crop performance in shifting cultivation. (THISTHESIS ) 5. Because indigenous farmers have knowledge of paths of development of secondary vegetation, soils and crop performance and of the factors influencing them, the redesign of locally adapted forms of shifting cultivation cannot be conceived without farmers playing a central role. (THIS THESIS) 6. Developed for industrial agriculture, monitoring methods in "precision agriculture"ca n greatly enhance knowledge of the complex dynamics in ecological agriculture. 7. According to Brundtlands' (1987) definition of sustainable development as "development that meets the needs ofth epresen t without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their ownneeds" , the sustainability ofpresen t development canb e increased by enhancing the ability of future generations. 8. Remmers'(1998 ) observation thatbiodiversit y cannotb e conserved, only reproduced, correctly reflects the worldwide human interference in the ecological processes that generate biodiversity. 9. The goal of reproduction ofbiodiversit y is insufficiently integrated in sectoral policies with regards toth e use of natural resources. 10. Centralist policies and lack of coordination between government institutions have greatly contributed to environmental degradation inMexico . 11. In the mountains, straight paths are inclined surfaces. (EMPIRICAL FACT) 12. The "pilot"characte r of development projects is differently conceived by development agencies' staff and farmers. CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES 5 LIST OF TABLES 7 LIST OF ANNEXES 8 GLOSSARY 9 SUMMARY 14 SAMENVATTING 16 RESUMEN 19 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 General 1 1.2 Institutional context 1 1.3 Social andpolitical context 2 1.4 Scope 4 2 CONCEPTS 5 2.1 Indigenous shifting cultivation 5 2.2 Secondary vegetation 8 2.2.1 Definition 8 2.2.2 Development pattern ofsecondar yvegetatio n 9 2.2.3 Developmento fsecondar yvegetatio n andenvironmen t 11 2.2.4 Secondaryvegetatio n andvegetatio n inchabli s 12 2.2.5 Shifting cultivation and secondary vegetation 13 2.3 Soils 14 2.3.1 Definition •. .' 14 2.3.2 Developmento fsoil s 14 2.3.3 Shifting cultivation andsoil s 15 2.4 Cropperformance 18 2.4.1 Definition 18 2.4.2 Courseo fcro pperformanc e infield s 19 2.5 Synthesis 20 3 THE CHINANTLA: ECOLOGICAL CONTEXT 21 3.1 Geography 21 3.2 Geology 21 3.3 Climate 25 3.4 Vegetation 26 3.5 Ethno-ecology of the Chinantec 27 4 LANDUSE FOR SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN TWO CHINANTEC COMMUNITIES 29 4.1 Introduction 29 4.2 Landuse 30 4.3 Variantsof shifting cultivation 32 4.3.1 Shifting cultivation in"selv aalt aperennifoli a demontafia " 32 4.3.2 Shifting cultivation inth e limestoneare a 36 4.3.3 Shifting cultivation inQuercus-forests 37 4.4 Conclusions 38 CHINANTEC SHIFTING CULTIVATION AND SECONDARY VEGETATION 39 5.7 Introduction 39 5.2 Objective 39 5.3 Methods 39 5.3.1 Field selection 39 5.3.2 Sampling 40 5.3.3 Data processing 42 5.4 Species composition and distribution 42 5.4.1 Introduction 42 5.4.2 Species, genera and families 43 5.4.3 Species distribution as influenced by management and ecological factors 44 5.4.3 Altitudinal ranges of frequent species 48 5.4.4 Discussion 48 5.5 Farmers' information on species composition 50 5.5.1 Introduction 50 5.5.2 Results 50 5.5.3 Discussion 52 5.6 Structural parameters and use-history 52 5.6.1 Introduction 52 5.6.2 Basal area, number of trees and crown projection 52 5.6.3 Height-diameter relations in trees of populations of frequent species 57 5.6.3.1 H-d relations in trees of populations ofTrema micrantha 57 5.5.3.2 H-d relations in trees of populations ofHeIiocarpus appendiculatus 58 5.5.3.3 H-d relations in trees of populations ofHedyosmum mexicanum 59 5.5.3.4 H-d relations in Trichospermummexicanum 60 5.5.3.5 H-d relations inAlchornea latifolia 61 5.5.3.6 H-d relations in trees of populations of Liquidambar macrophylla 62 5.6.4 Discussion 62 5.7 Characteristics and sequences ofeco-units 64 5.7.1 Introduction 64 5.7.2 Eco-units in 5t o 7year-ol d regrowths 64 5.7.3 Eco-units in 12t o 20 year-old secondary regrowths 68 5.7.4 Eco-units in old secondary vegetation 74 5.7.5 Eco-units in chablis 75 5.7.6 Paths of eco-unit development 76 5.8 Discussion 76 CHINANTEC SHIFTING CULTIVATION AND SOILS 80 6.1 Introduction 80 6.2 Objectives 80 6.3 Methods 80 6.3.1. General aspects 80 6.3.1.1 Coping with intra-field heterogeneity 81 6.3.1.2 Variation by discrete environmental conditions 82 6.3.1.3 Variation along environmental gradients 83 6.3.2 Applied methods 83 6.3.2.1 Change on the short term 84 6.3.2.2 Change on the long term 84 6.3.2.3 Soil analysis 84 6.3.2.4 Data analysis 84 6.4 Results of soil analysis 85 6.4.1 General 85 6.4.2 Average values of soil parameters 85 6.4.3 Geographical gradient 86 6.4.4 Sampling error...- 86 6.4.5 Characteristics and their relations 87 6.4.6 Discussion 89 6.5 Changes on the short term 89 6.5.1 Limestone soils 89 6.5.2 Desaturated soils 90 6.5.3 Concluding remarks 90 6.6 Changes on the long term 91 6.6.1 Correlations between soil- and use-history-parameters 91 6.6.2 Use-history, pH-KCl and bases in desaturated soils 92 6.6.3 Use-history and organic matter: carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus 93 6.6.4 Concluding remarks 96 6.7 Discussion 96 1 PERFORMANCE OFMAIZ ECROP S 99 7.1 Introduction 99 7.2 Objectives 99 7.3 Methods 99 7.4 Results 101 7.4.1 Shifting cultivation in the limestone area 101 7.4.1.1 Crop performance 101 7.4.1.2 Crop performance and use-history 102 7.4.1.3 Crop performance and soil characteristics 102 7.4.2 Shifting cultivation in selva alta perennifolia de montafia 102 7.4.2.1 Crop performance 102 7.4.2.2 Crop performance and use-history 104 7.4.2.3 Crop performance and soil characteristics 105 7.4.2.4 Crop performance and fertilization 106 7.5 Discussion 108 8 SYNTHESIS, CONCLUSIONSAN D RECOMMENDATIONS 110 8.1 Synthesis 110 8.2 Conclusions and recommendations Ill REFERENCES 114 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 124 List of figures Figure 2-1 Hanunoo shifting cultivation: cycles or sequences? 6 Figure 2-2 Holoplexion 8 Figure 2-3 Sylvigenetic cycles 10 Figure 2-4 Asymmetric crowns on mountain slopes 12 Figure 2-5 Landuse and secondary succession 13 Figure 2-6 Eco-unit atth e start ofth e innovation phase, after cutting primary vegetation 16 Figure 2-7 Eco-unit at the start ofth e innovation phase, after burning primary vegetation 16 Figure 2-8 Overlapping transformation of rests ofprimar y and secondary vegetation 17 Figure 2-9 Eco-unit atth e start ofth e innovation phase after slashing secondary vegetation 18 Figure 3-1 The Chinantla in Mexico's orography 22 Figure 3-2 The Chinantla inth e regional context 23 Figure 3-3 Mexico's paleogeography 24 Figure 3-4 Geological profile inNN E direction inth e Chinantla 24 Figure 3-5 Average monthly rainfall and temperature in Usila and Vista Hermosa,

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