Voices From The Forest

by Cairns, Malcolm

• ISBN13: 9781891853913
• ISBN10: 1891853910
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-07-01
• Publisher: ROUTLEDGE

Summary

This handbook of locally based agricultural practices brings together the best of science and farmer experimentation, vividly illustrating the enormous diversity of shifting cultivation systems as well as the power of human ingenuity. Environmentalists have tended to disparage shifting cultivation (sometimes called 'swidden cultivation' or 'slash-and-burn agriculture') as unsustainable due to its supposed role in deforestation and land degradation. However, a growing body of evidence indicates that such indigenous practices, as they have evolved over time, can be highly adaptive to land and ecology. In contrast, 'scientific' agricultural solutions imposed from outside can be far more damaging to the environment. Moreover, these external solutions often fail to recognize the extent to which an agricultural system supports a way of life along with a society's food needs. They do not recognize the degree to which the sustainability of a culture is intimately associated with the sustainability and continuity of its agricultural system. Unprecedented in ambition and scope, Voices from the Forest focuses on successful agricultural strategies of upland farmers. More than 100 scholars from 19 countries--including agricultural economists, ecologists, and anthropologists--collaborated in the analysis of different fallow management typologies, working in conjunction with hundreds of indigenous farmers of different cultures and a broad range of climates, crops, and soil conditions. By sharing this knowledge--and combining it with new scientific and technical advances--the authors hope to make indigenous practices and experience more widely accessible and better understood, not only by researchers and development practitioners, but by other communities of farmers around the world.

Table of Contents

Challenges for research and development on improving shifting cultivation systems	p. 3
Working with and for plants : indigenous fallow management in perspective	p. 8
Conceptualizing indigenous approaches to fallow management : a road map to this volume	p. 16
Relict emergents in Swidden fallows of the Lawa in Northern Thailand : ecology and economic potential	p. 37
Successional forest development in Swidden fallows of different ethnic groups in Northern Thailand	p. 54
Kammu fallow management in Lao P.D.R., with emphasis on bamboo use	p. 65
The potential of wild vegetables as permanent crops or to improve fallows in Sarawak, Malaysia	p. 73
Commercialization of fallow species by Bidayuh shifting cultivators in Sarawak, Malaysia	p. 87
Wild food plants as alternative fallow species in the Cordillera region, the Philippines	p. 96
Farmer-developed forage management strategies for stabilization of shifting cultivation systems	p. 103
Managing Imperata grasslands in Indonesia and Laos	p. 113
Natural forest regeneration from an Imperata fallow : the case of Pakhasukjai	p. 122
When shifting cultivators migrate to the cities, how can the forest be rehabilitated?	p. 137
Fallow improvement with Chromolaena odorata in upland rice systems of Northern Laos	p. 142
Management of fallows based on Austroeupatorium inulaefolium by Minangkabau farmers in Sumatra, Indonesia	p. 153
Piper aduncum fallows in the lowlands of Papua New Guinea	p. 185
Management of Tecoma stans fallows in semi-arid Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia	p. 190
Improved fallows using a spiny legume, Mimosa invisa Martius ex Colla, in Western Leyte, the Philippines	p. 203
Management of Mimosa diplotricha var. inermis as a simultaneous fallow in Northern Thailand	p. 214
Growing Ya Zhou Hyacinth beans in the dry season on Hainan Island, China	p. 226
Indigenous fallow management based on Flemingia vestita in Northeast India	p. 237
Benefits of Phaseolus calcaratus in upland farming in Northern Vietnam	p. 248
Viny legumes as accelerated seasonal fallows : intensifying shifting cultivation in Northern Thailand	p. 263
The role of Leucaena in Swidden cropping and livestock production in Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia	p. 272
Use of Leucaena leucocephala to intensify indigenous fallow rotations in Sulawesi, Indonesia	p. 287
Upland rice response to Leucaena leucocephala fallows on Mindoro, the Philippines	p. 295
The Naalad improved fallow system in the Philippines and its implications for global warming	p. 301
Farmers' use of Sesbania grandiflora to intensify Swidden agriculture in North Central Timor, Indonesia	p. 306
Alnus nepalensis-based agroforestry systems in Yunnan, Southwest China	p. 326
Shifting forests in Northeast India : management of Alnus nepalensis as an improved fallow in Nagaland	p. 341
Managing the species composition of fallows in Papua New Guinea by planting trees	p. 379
Multipurpose trees as an improved fallow : an economic assessment	p. 389
Pruned-tree hedgerow fallow systems in Mindanao, the Philippines	p. 403
Teak production by shifting cultivators in northern Lao P.D.R	p. 414
Fallow management in the borderlands of Southwest China : the case of Cunninghamia lanceolata	p. 425
Indigenous fallow management with Melia azedarach Linn. in Northern Vietnam	p. 435
Cost-benefit analysis of a Gmelina hedgerow improved fallow system in Northern Mindanao, the Philippines	p. 444
Innovations in Swidden-based rattan cultivation by Benuaq-Dayak farmers in East Kalimantan, Indonesia	p. 459
Bamboo as a fallow crop on Timor Island, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia	p. 471
Indigenous management of paper mulberry in Swidden rice fields and fallows in Northern Lao P.D.R	p. 475
The complex agroforests of the Iban in West Kalimantan and their possible role in fallow management and forest regeneration	p. 490
Does tree diversity affect soil fertility? : findings from fallow systems in West Kalimantan	p. 502
Forest management and classification of fallows by Bidayuh farmers in West Kalimantan	p. 515
Indigenous fallow management on Yap Island	p. 521
The Damar agroforests of Krui, Indonesia : justice for forest farmers	p. 528
Upland fallow management with Styrax tonkinensis for Benzoin production in Northern Lao P.D.R	p. 564
The Lemo system of lacquer agroforestry in Yunnan, China	p. 571
From shifting cultivation to sustainable jungle rubber : a history of innovations in Indonesia	p. 577
Rubber plantations as an alternative to shifting cultivation in Yunnan, China	p. 600
Ma Kwaen : a jungle spice used in Swidden intensification in Northern Thailand	p. 614
Alnus-Cardamom agroforestry : its potential for stabilizing shifting cultivation in the Eastern Himalayas	p. 620
The Sagui Gru system : Karen fallow management practices to intensify land use in Western Thailand	p. 627
Sandiu farmers' improvement of fallows on barren hills in Northern Vietnam	p. 632
Strategies of Asian shifting cultivators in the intensification process	p. 640
Rebuilding soil properties during the fallow : indigenous innovations in the highlands of Vietnam	p. 652
Rattan and tea-based intensification of shifting cultivation by Hani farmers in Southwestern China	p. 664
Indigenous fallow management systems in selected areas of the Cordillera, the Philippines	p. 673
Management systems in occidental Mindoro, the Philippines	p. 679
Changes and innovations in the management of shifting cultivation land in Bhutan	p. 692
Swidden agriculture in the highlands of Papua New Guinea	p. 700
The problems of shifting cultivation in the central highlands of Vietnam	p. 705
Some indigenous experiences in intensification of shifting cultivation in Vietnam	p. 712
Productive management of Swidden fallows : market forces and institutional factors in Isabela, the Philippines	p. 719
The feasibility of rattan cultivation within shifting cultivation systems : the role of policy and market institutions	p. 729
The role of land tenure in the development of Cinnamon agroforestry in Kerinci, Sumatra	p. 743
Effects of land allocation on shifting cultivators in Vietnam	p. 754
Managed fallow systems in the changing environment of Central Sumatra, Indonesia	p. 761
Community-based natural resource management in Northern Thailand	p. 769
Observations on the role of improved fallow management in Swidden agricultural systems	p. 780
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