Variation in Swidden practices in four central Brazilian Indian societies

Ethnobotanical Knowledge and Crop Diversity in Swidden Fields: A Study in a Native Amazonian Society

“…Some researchers (Altieri 1999;Geertz 1970) have argued that people who observe plant relations in the forest might bring these relations into their fields. Other researchers (Beckerman 1983;Flowers et al 1982;Vickers 1983) have argued that the structure of Amazonian swiddens does not necessarily compares in complexity with the surrounding forest. For example, Vickers (1983) examined the cultivation practices of the Siona-Secoya native Amazonians in Ecuador and found three types of cropping patterns: highdiversity intercropping, low-diversity intercropping, and monocropping.…”

Archaeological markers of agricultural risk management

“…Due to the low natural nutrient content of many tropical soils and the rapid depletion of nutrients released during clearance burning, it is necessary for these farmers to clear new plots every few years. This may simply involve clearing new fields within range of a central village, especially if environmental or social circumscription limits mobility (e.g., Chibnik, 1990;Flowers et al, 1982), but the frequently preferred pattern of settlement requires periodic relocation of the village to areas of primary forest (Baksh and Johnson, 1990). Periodic mobility on a roughly decadal scale is an important part of this agricultural system because it increases the efficiency of access to primary forest, in which agricultural plots produce higher crop yields with reduced variance when compared to reuse of recently fallow secondary forest (Wilk, 1991).…”

“…Mobility on a scale of greater than a year is typical among agricultural populations practicing swidden, or ''slash-and-burn,'' agriculture, especially in tropical regions (Chibnik, 1990;Clawman, 1985;Flowers et al, 1982;Hames, 1989). Due to the low natural nutrient content of many tropical soils and the rapid depletion of nutrients released during clearance burning, it is necessary for these farmers to clear new plots every few years.…”

The Muduga and Kurumba of Kerala, South India and the Social Organization of Hunting and Gathering

“…7 Since often there is a single predominant crop, their swidden can be said to be a 'millet field' or a red-gram field (see also Conklin 1954). Though this "helter-skelter" planting of crops of different varieties and heights does not necessarily result in a "canny imitation" of the tropical forest as Geertz (1969:14, 7) and others (Beckerman1983a, 1983b) opine, it nevertheless helps in protecting the soil from leaching by heavy rains and limits weed growth and nutrient loss due to heat by partially shading the ground (see Flowers et al 1982). Cotton, maize, dry-land rice etc., are planted as a single crop in separate gardens (Table 8).…”