permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

http://nikeprogramme.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=112%3Aswidden-farming&catid=82%3Anike-team-researches&Itemid=99

Swidden Farming

Otherwise known as shifting agriculture, swidden farming is defined as “any
agricultural system in which the fields are cleared and cultivated for
shorter periods than they are fallowed” (Conklin: 1957 in Jianchu & Ruscoe:
1993:11). Unlike the widely propagated view that swidden farming is
destructive, swidden farming is actually “a strategy of resource management
in which fields are shifted in order to exploit the energy and nutrient
capital of the natural vegetation-soil complex of the future site”
(McGrath:1987 in Jianchu & Ruscoe: 1993:11). By pursuing this more
constructive perspective, swidden farming is therefore regarded as “a
subsistence strategy in the tropics where swidden fields are highly
integrated into local biodiversity, geographical complexity and
socio-cultural variability” (Jianchu & Ruscoe: 1993:13).




SITES FOR SWIDDEN FARMING


Almost always, swidden farms are located on steep slopes of mountains, in
canelands, private woodlots, as well as in communal forests. It is made by
clearing out grasses, shrubs, and trees. These are left to dry under the sun
and burned later. The soil is dug and made into strips for planting. In
Hungduan, ditches (gota) are dug around the farm for wild animals to fall
and be trapped when they go near the farm.