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Shifting Cultivators Shifting cultivators Local technical knowledge and natural resource management in the humid tropics by Katherine Warner FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 1991 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Design and lay-out by Lynn Ball Illustrations by L. V. Pascual Cervera All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Director, Publications Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. © FAO 1991 iii Preface In 1990, within its Forestry for Community Development Programme, the FAO Forestry Department published Community Forestry Note 4, "Herders' Decision-Making in Natural Resources Management in Arid and Semi- Arid Africa". This was the first step in filling an information gap on what knowledge rural people have developed in the management of trees and forests in relation to their production systems. Dr. Katherine Warner, an anthropologist with a special focus on shifting cultivation systems, follows with this Community Forestry Note 8. "Shifting Cultivators" highlights the local technical knowledge applied by swidden/fallow farmers when making resource management decisions. This is an especially timely volume as it brings together data and provides valuable analysis of a practice that is currently in ill repute with forestry planners and environmentalists. Dr. Warner does not claim that shifting cultivators can continue with their systems, especially in the face of competing land and tree uses for their fallow areas. She does, however, point out valuable lessons that can be learned from the long-term swidden/fallow cultivators about sustainable use of tropical forests. She provides suggestions for the evolution of systems based on what these women and men farmers already know and use in providing a livelihood for their families in difficult tropical environments. The development of "Shifting Cultivators" was supported by the Community Forestry Unit and by an interdepartmental working group and a number of outside reviewers. The study was partially funded from a multi- donor trust fund, Forests, Trees and People, dedicated to increased sustainable livelihoods for women and men in developing countries, especially the rural poor, through self-help management of tree and forest resources. "Shifting Cultivators" is to be followed by documents on private tree management of single trees (for production of various products) and of trees in spatial arrangements (including indigenous agroforestry), and on communal management of woodlands. It is hoped that this series of studies will prove useful in pointing out the importance of local knowledge and resource management strategies, and will provide more effective support of local people in their effort to improve their current and future well-being through better tree and woodland management. M.R. de Montalembert Chief, Planning and Institutions Service Forestry Department v Executive summary Integral swidden has been, and continues to be, practiced throughout the tropics. Integral swidden is a land use system based on a "traditional, year-round, community-wide, largely self-contained and ritually sanctioned way of life" that is still prevalent among tribal minorities in Southeast Asia and South America and a small, declining percentage of African farmers (Conklin 1957:2). Swidden agriculture is one component, albeit the major one, of the larger agroecosystem. This agroecosystem includes not only agriculture, but also forest collection, hunting, fishing and, in some areas, cash cropping. All too often in the past swidden was perceived as exploiting, not managing, the natural resources of the humid tropics. However recent research, and reinterpretation of past research, has shown that natural resource management does occur. The natural resource management of the integral swiddener is focused on maintaining the highly valued diversity of the forest ecosystem. Although the forest may be cut, the swidden practices of small dispersed clearings, selective weeding, and planting and protection of trees actually aid the forest in its return. Other resources, such as animals and fish, are also managed within a worldview that looks beyond immediate needs to future sustainability. Such swidden/fallow systems are not rigid in their adaptation, but show flexibility in response to changes in the environment or to shifts from one locale to another. Analysis of numerous examples of traditional practices suggests that the integral swiddener succeeds by accepting and working within the constraints of the natural processes associated with the year-round growing season and rapid ecological succession in the humid tropics. The utilization of natural processes, combined with an intimate knowledge of the microenvironments of forest and field and the microsite needs of specific crops, enables swidden/fallow to succeed where other land use systems have failed. Although successful in the past, swidden-based agroecosystems cannot serve as the model for the future of the tropics. The tropical forest, so crucial for the swidden/fallow agroecosystem, is precipitously declining in area as it falls under increasing pressure from landless settlers, logging concerns, and national financial needs. However the local technical knowledge found in integral swidden societies can contribute to better natural resource management and the development of sustainable agroecological systems. Swiddeners can be active participants in designing new agroecosystems to meet the challenges of a constricting resource base. There is a need for on-farm research in swidden communities to aid in the development of new cropping systems for intensification of the swidden system. Such research may also lead to innovations that can be utilized by non-swidden smallholders in the tropics. It is also recommended that agricultural and forestry extension agents be trained in the general principles of swidden systems: utilization of microenvironment differences, integration of trees into smallholder agroecosystems, and perception of agriculture as being one component in the larger agroecosystem. Contents PREFACE iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY v TABLE OF CONTENTS vii CHAPTER 1. LOCAL TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE, SHIFTING CULTIVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 1 Introduction 1 Local technical knowledge and natural resource management 2 Local technical knowledge 2 What are the natural resources? 3 The natural resources of the humid tropics: forest and soils 4 Forest 4 Soils 7 Shifting cultivation 9 What is shifting cultivation? 9 Who are the shifting cultivators? 9 CHAPTER 2. SHIFTING CULTIVATION AS A RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR THE TROPICS 11 Swidden and tropical soils 12 Mobility and forest maintenance 14 Variation in swidden systems 14 Maintenance of the agroecosystem 14 Swidden as a form of forest 15 Multifields 16 Agroecosystem dynamics: the development of a local farming system 17 Development of the tropical crop repertoire 17 Use of natural process 19 CHAPTER 3. THE SWIDDEN/FALLOW SYSTEM 21 Overview: variation and similarity 21 Climate 21 Terrain 22 Population 22 Settlement pattern 22 Household autonomy in decision making 23 The swidden/fallow cycle 23 Site selection and clearing 23 Burning 35 Planting 38 Weeding and protecting 42 Harvesting, yields and processing 44 Succession and rotation 45 Resource management: hunting and fishing components of the agroecosystem 48 CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSIONS 53 Sustainability 53 New strategies 54 The role of government and donor agencies 55 BIBLIOGRAPHY 57 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Model of tropical forest ecosystem dynamics with swidden 13 Figure 2. Site selection 25 Figure 3. Southeast Asia: local topographic classification 26 Figure 4. Amazon: local soil classification 27 Figure 5. Southeast Asia: local soil classification 28 Figure 6. Size of field 31 Figure 7 Southeast Asia: indicators of when to start clearing the swidden field 32 Figure 8. Desanâ agricultural calendar 33 Figure 9. Local indicators of the coming of the rains and the optimal time to burn 37 Figure 10. Southeast Asia: local indicators of the time to plant 39 Figure 11. Desanâ fishing and gathering calendar 49 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Extent of warm humid tropics (million hectares) 4 Table 2. Effects of methods of deforestation on runoff and erosion 7 LIST OF BOXES Box 1. Burning anxiety and adaptation: Tagbanwa of Palawan 36 Box 2. Amazonian planting patterns 40 Chapter 1 Local technical knowledge, shifting cultivation and natural resource management INTRODUCTION This forestry note will examine the local technical knowledge (LTK) of the traditional swiddener and how it is utilized for natural resource management in the humid tropics. Starting with a review of the environment of the humid tropics and the problems of natural resource management in the region, the note will go on to an analysis of shifting cultivation
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