Farmer Innovations and Best Practices by Shifting Cultivators in Asia-Pacific

By Malcolm Cairns

This book, the third of a series, shows how shifting cultivators, from the Himalayan foothills to the Pacific Islands, have devised ways to improve their farming systems. Using case studies collected over many years, it considers the importance of swidden agriculture to food security and livelihoods, and its environmental significance, across multiple cultures, forest and cropping systems. There is a particular focus on soil fertility and climate change challenges. It is a 'must read' for those who realize that if the lives of shifting cultivators are to be improved, then far more attention needs to be directed to the indigenous and often ingenious innovations that shifting cultivators have themselves been able to develop. Many of these innovations and best practices will have strong potential for extrapolation to shifting cultivators elsewhere and to farming systems in general. This book:

- Highlights innovations of shifting cultivators.
- Combines solid science with accessible language and outstanding artwork.
- Provides a collection of case studies unprecedented in its scope.

This book will be suitable for students and researchers of agriculture, anthropology, sociology, agricultural economics, human ecology, ethnobotany, forestry, agroforestry, agronomy, soil science, farming systems, geography, environmental science and natural resource management.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CAB International
• Release date: Dec 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9781800620117

Book preview

Farmer Innovations and Best Practices by Shifting Cultivators in Asia-Pacific

Farmer Innovations and Best Practices by Shifting Cultivators in Asia-Pacific

Edited by

Malcolm Cairns

with the assistance of Bob Hill and Tossaporn Kurupunya

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cairns, Malcolm, editor. | Hill, Bob (Science writer), contributor. | Kurupunya, Tossaporn, contributor. Title: Farmer innovations and best practices by shifting cultivators in Asia-Pacific / edited by Malcolm Cairns with the assistance of Bob Hill and Tossaporn Kurupunya.

Description: Boston, MA, USA : CAB International, [2023] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: This book, the third of a series, shows how shifting cultivators from the Himalayan foothills to the Pacific Islands have devised ways to improve their farming systems. It considers the importance of swidden agriculture to food security and livelihoods, and its environmental significance across multiple cultures, crops and forest systems-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022055734 (print) | LCCN 2022055735 (ebook) |

ISBN 9781800620094 (hardback) | ISBN 9781800620100 (ebook) |

ISBN 9781800620117 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Shifting cultivation--Pacific Area.

Classification: LCC S602.87 .F372 2023 (print) | LCC S602.87 (ebook) |

DDC 631.5/818091823--dc23/eng/20230412

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022055734

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022055735

ISBN-13: 9781800620094 (hardback)

9781800620100 (ePDF)

9781800620117 (epub)

DOI: 10.1079/9781800620117.0000

Commissioning editor: David Hemming

Production editor:James Bishop

Printed and bound in the UK from copy supplied by the authors by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

In remembrance of Harold C. Brookfield (1926–2022)

HAROLD G. BROOKFIELD giving a speech at a feast at the conclusion of fieldwork, in Mintima village, Chimbu province, Papua New Guinea in 1965.

Photo provided by Muriel Brookfield.

It is fitting that the final work of the late Harold Brookfield is published in this volume*, edited by one of his former doctoral students. Harold’s core focus remained the relationship between rural societies and their natural environments, which he believed should be at the core of geography – a principle he maintained to the end of his life, sometimes in the face of criticism from those in geographical fashions that have since disappeared.

Harold’s professional career extended over 70 years. After teaching and research in England, Ireland, South Africa, Mauritius and Australia, he came to the Research School of Pacific Studies at the Australian National University (ANU) in 1957 to undertake research in Papua New Guinea (PNG). He pioneered multidisciplinary fieldwork in Chimbu province in PNG, with anthropologist Dr. Paula Brown. As well as producing a number of books, this work led him to postulate that farmers respond to population increase by intensifying and innovating in their land management to increase productivity. During this period, he supervised postgraduate students who carried out fieldwork in rural PNG, Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu. With Harold, they became authors of chapters in his 1973 book, The Pacific in Transition. He later held positions in the USA, Canada, the Caribbean and Fiji.

In 1982 Harold returned to the ANU and established the Land Management Project which involved the work of an agricultural scientist, an anthropologist, a geomorphologist/soil scientist and a geographer. During this time, he worked closely with Professor Piers Blaikie at the University of East Anglia, and together they edited Land Degradation and Society (1987). Harold was the Professor of Human Geography and first Convenor of the Division of Environment and Society at ANU until 1991. In ‘retirement’ he established the UN University-funded People, Land Management and Environmental Change project with participants in Brazil, China, Ghana, Guinea, Papua New Guinea, Uganda and Tanzania.

Harold was a prolific author, producing influential books and significant papers. A glance at his publications list indicates the breadth of his studies and changes in his focus over time. His huge contribution to geography and development studies was recognized with many honours. Harold has gone, but his influence will long endure.

R.M. (Mike) Bourke and Bryant J. Allen College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

* Brookfield, H., ‘Raised fields, under shifting and permanent cultivation: An essay’, synthesis chapter in section X, Mounding Technologies, in the supplementary chapters to this volume.

Wise words heard in passing

‘I, too, approached the island in a boat in 1998, spotting from a distance a canoe in which two figures stood, fishing; others on the beach observed the encounter. Seeing us, the fishers moved back toward their shore, whereupon we left. I regret that visit; even if for some minutes, I violated their privacy and tranquility. Unlike Chau, however, it did not occur to me that I had any wisdom to impart to them. What can I, a representative of a civilization that, within the span of a few hundred years, has destabilized the biosphere of an entire planet, have to offer to a people who have thrived since the dawn of humankind on these tiny islands? Is it we who have something to teach the Sentinelese, or they us?’

MADHUSREE MUKERJEE, Senior Editor at Scientific American and author of The Land of Naked People: Encounters with Stone Age Islanders (Houghton Mifflin, 2003)

‘Once we have shed the erroneous idea that shifting cultivation is necessarily historically prior to, more primitive than, and less efficient than fixed-field cultivation, there remains one further illusion to shed. That illusion is that it is a relatively static technique that has not changed much in the past millennium. On the contrary, one could argue that swiddening and, for that matter, foraging have undergone far more transformation in that period than has wet-rice cultivation.’

JAMES C. SCOTT (2009), The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT and London, pp.196-197

‘Permaculture is a modern form of organic farming and agroforestry based on the criteria of keeping the soil covered at all times, imitating nature by intercropping a wide variety of species, and optimizing space by maintaining multiple vertical layers. All of these criteria are matched by shifting cultivation practices.’

DR. RAMAKRISHNA AKKINAPALLY, formerly Deputy Director General, Papua New Guinea National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI)

‘My swidden experiences derive from a specific group of Karen in western Thailand I have visited over 47 years. Originally practising impressive, high-yielding swidden technologies, they have been subject to physical relocation and restrictions in their agricultural systems. Whatever innovative accommodations they have applied have been run over by innovations more or less imposed by Thai government agencies and civil society organisations. Therefore, real farmers’ innovations have not been able to survive the various practices forced upon the Karen…’

ANDERS BALTZER JORGENSEN, Anthropologist, retired Chief Technical Adviser and Counsellor Development, Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

‘We keep providing local politicians and decision-makers with articles, press releases, research documents on traditional shifting cultivation …but the sad reality is: they do not read them and probably would not understand them. Dealing with this shortsighted and narrow-minded Filipino political class is absolutely frustrating. They are the ones asking us for new evidences, but this is only part of their delay tactics …they do not read the work of scholars and academicians, nor do they pay any attention to the explanations given by the impacted indigenous communities. Having said this, the struggle goes on.’

DARIO NOVELLINO, Centre for Biocultural Diversity (CBCD), School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Winner of the Ostrom Award for 2021

‘Indigenous peoples’ values and knowledge provide insights for reciprocal human-nature relationships amidst the crisis of biodiversity loss and climate change.’

JOJI CARINO, Senior Policy Advisor and former Director of Forest Peoples Programme (FPP)

Contents

List of Acronyms

Dedication

Malcolm Cairns

Foreword

Tony Simons

Preface

Malcolm Cairns

I. Introductory section

Synthesis: Understanding change and innovation in shifting cultivation

Ole Mertz

1. Metamorphosis in the mountains: Swiddeners as a force for change in a changing context

Dietrich Schmidt-Vogt

2. Perspectives on shifting cultivation: The northeast India experience

B. P. Maithani

3. A synthesis of scientific perspectives on the shifting cultivation-agroforestry interface

P. K. Ramachandran Nair

Why farmer innovations should interest us

Synthesis: Traditional knowledge and practices in swidden agriculture: A window on sustainability

Percy E. Sajise

4. Making the invisible visible: The role of indigenous knowledge in the sustainability of shifting cultivation

Francisco J. Rosado-May, Prasert Trakansuphakon, Seno Tsuhah and Phrang Roy

5. Traditional ecological knowledge among the shifting cultivators of Arunachal Pradesh, India

Phrang Roy

6. Changes in the length of fallow periods and land-use intensity of swidden agriculture in montane mainland Southeast Asia from 1988 to 2016

Peng Li, Zhiming Feng and Chiwei Xiao

7. Stripping the strips: The failure of soil- and water-conservation technologies in northern Thailand and eastern Indonesia

Thomas Enters and Justin Lee

II. Evolution of food production systems to support increasing populations

Synthesis: Foraging is not antithetical to farming: Swidden cultivation, following the perspective of present-day hunter-gatherers

Edmond Dounias

8. Why Philippine foragers have not become farmers: Two decades of research on Agta swidden cultivation (1983 to 2004)

Tessa Minter and Thomas N. Headland

9. Our farms are as good as theirs: From hunters and gatherers to shifting cultivators in Sarawak, East Malaysia

Valerie Mashman

III. Fireless shifting cultivation

Synthesis: Can shifting cultivation be transformed by going fireless?

Eklabya Sharma

10. Without fire: Turning forests into agroforests on Siberut, Indonesia

Darmanto and Gerard A. Persoon

11. Fireless shifting cultivation: A lesser-known form of swiddening practised by Tangkhuls in parts of Ukhrul district, Manipur, India

Loushambam Jitendro Singh, Thingreiphi Lungharwo and Dhrupad Choudhury

12. No burning: Some unusual elements of agricultural systems in Papua New Guinea

R. Michael Bourke and Bryant Allen

IV. Innovations in fallow management

Synthesis: Fallow management: Indigenous knowledge, vegetative succession, practical experience and planting commercial trees

Do Dinh Sam

13. Fallow management in transforming shifting cultivation systems

Kamal P. Aryal, Keshab Thapa, Rajan Kotru and Karma Phuntsho

14. Fallowed swidden fields in Vietnam: Floral composition, successional dynamics and farmer management

Mai Van Thanh and Tran Duc Vien

A. When shifting cultivators expand forest cover

Synthesis: Shifting cultivation and forest conservation: Historic legacies and future possibilities

Stephen F. Siebert

15. Dahas: Innovations in shifting cultivation by the Dayak of West Kalimantan to fight deforestation and climate change

John Bamba and Aries Munandar

16. The muyong system: Assisting forest regrowth to protect water supplies and food security

Florence Daguitan, Robert T. Ngidlo and Irish P. Baguilat

17. An inventory of tree stands in forest fallows of Nagaland

Vengota Nakro and Ango Konyak

18. Shifting cultivation and rehabilitation of natural forest ecosystems in the Central Highlands of Vietnam

Bao Huy

19. Calculating the carbon balance: Questioning the contribution of shifting cultivation to climate change in Kayah state, Myanmar

Christian Erni and KMSS-Loikaw

20. Carbon and biodiversity outcomes under divergent management scenarios: Lessons from upland Philippines shifting cultivation landscapes

Sharif A. Mukul, John Herbohn, Jennifer Firn and Nestor Gregorio

B. Favouring soil-building trees to accelerate soil recovery (biologically improved fallows)

Synthesis: Soil-building trees: Back to the future

Dennis Garrity

21. Pakukui: The productive fallow of ancient Hawaii

Noa Kekuewa Lincoln

22. Composite farming systems in an era of change in Nagaland, northeast India

Malcolm Cairns and Harold Brookfield

23. Successful farming on precipitous slopes: A 170-year-old indigenous improved-fallow system at Naalad in the Philippines

Peter D. Suson and Rodel D. Lasco

24. Maintaining soil fertility and sustainable swidden cultivation with ‘Albizia’ trees: An innovation of the Outer Baduy community, south Banten, Indonesia

Johan Iskandar

25. Innovation helps swidden cultivation to survive: ‘Albizia’ fallows recover fertility and improve performance in conditions of limited land, dearth of labour and a ban on burning

Niken Sakuntaladewi, E.P. Setyawan, S. Ekawati and A. Wibowo

26. Traditional use of Macaranga trees for soil fertility by Naga shifting cultivators in northeast India

Sapu Changkija, Dwipendra Thakuria and Alomi Cynthia

27. Sentinels of a Polynesian past: Biogeography, ethnobotany and conservation status of koka (Java cedar, Bischofia javanica ) in the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia

Randolph R. Thaman

C. Extending the window of productivity into the fallow phase (economically improved fallows)

Synthesis: From used to improved fallows

Glenn Hunt and Andreas Heinimann

28. Household energy security through fallow management by the Wanchos of Arunachal Pradesh, India

Archana Godbole and Jayant Sarnaik

29. Smallholder teak systems: Indigenous innovations to improve fallow management

James M. Roshetko, Gerhard E. Sabastian, Aulia Perdana, Endri Martini, Desy Ekawati and Muhammad A. Fauzi

30. ‘Rattan is sick’: Exploring the (dis)continuity of Kalimantan’s rattan-swidden complex

Viola Schreer

31. Fallow management through cultivation of broom grass: A potential cash crop in northeast India

Indrani P. Bora, Kuntala N. Barua and Pawan K. Kaushik

32. Drawing on past practices to secure the future: Innovative applications of traditional lac rearing in the fallows of Karbi farmers in Assam, northeast India

Sanat K. Chakraborty and Dhrupad Choudhury

33. Bee pastures need no fences: Honey production from forest fallows by a Pgaz K’ Nyau (Karen) village in northern Thailand

Prasert Trakansuphakon and Maurizio Farhan Ferrari

34. Negotiating the forest-fallow interface: Benzoin trees in the multifunctional shifting cultivation landscapes of Lao PDR

Simone Vongkhamho and Micah L. Ingalls

35. Borassus palm utilization as a complementary mode of livelihood in dry land cultivation

James J. Fox

36. Innovations in kemiri shifting cultivation: Household strategies, land institutions, and a hedge against official policy in South Sulawesi

Supratman, Muhammad Alif K. Sahide and Micah R. Fisher

37. Rotating agroforests: Using shifting cultivation practices to construct a sustainable livelihood

Paul Burgers

38. Farming medicinal plants under a forest canopy: Innovations by shifting cultivators in the uplands of north Vietnam

Tran Thi Thu Ha and Pham Van Dien

D. Asteraceae shrubs as a preferred fallow and biological tool to smother out Imperata

Synthesis: When exotic plant species help shifting cultivators

Hubert de Foresta

39. Researching Tithonia and other daisies as fallow species in Southeast Asia

Meine van Noordwijk, Malcolm Cairns and Kurniatun Hairiah

40. The effectiveness of wild sunflower as a fallow species in uma cultivation

Florence Daguitan, Montañosa Research and Development Center, and Tomiangan Unity for Progress and Action (TUPAC)

V. Conclusions

41. Swiddening in the 21st century and beyond: History and diversity between regional and global perspectives

Roy Ellen

Postscript

The unimagined country: The past and present future of swidden agriculture

Michael R. Dove

Indexes

Botanical index

Ethnic group index

General subject index

Supplementary chapters

The following chapters add substantial support to the learned arguments presented in the chapters above. They are therefore recommended as additional reading on the broad subject of farmer innovations and best practices by shifting cultivators in the Asia-Pacific region. That these chapters are offered for digital download rather than published within these pages is simply a result of overwhelming contributions and limited space. A regional map on the next page shows the research locations of these supplementary chapters. The chapters themselves are available at:

https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org

Contents

of the supplementary material accessible from CABI’s Digital Library

Quick reference map for the supplementary chapters

Foreword: A neophyte’s tale: Sound and fury, and signifying nothing

Jack D. Ives

Preface- The future of swidden agriculture in SE Asia

Jeff Sayer, Shintia Arwida and Agni Klintuni Boedhihartono

VI. Managing the factors of production: The seeds, soils and tools that farmers use

A. Field selection and preparation

Synthesis: Practical technologies to cope with ecosystems and the needs and cultures of farming societies

Kono Yasuyuki

A1. How do the Iban of Sarawak select farming sites for shifting cultivation? A comparison of soil and vegetation conditions of fallow forests under different land-use pressures

Sota Tanaka, Mohd Effendi bin Wasli, Joseph Jawa Kendawang and Katsutoshi Sakurai

A2. Shifting subsistence livelihood strategies in Sabah, Malaysia: Swidden location and resource allocation by innovative Rungus farmers

Paul Porodong

A3. Spatial taboos and ethnic Brao swidden agriculture in northeastern Cambodia and southern Laos

Ian G. Baird

A4. Change and permanence in swidden agriculture among the Tampuan in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia

Frédéric Bourdier

A5. Let us burn! Recalibrating burdens of blame in the Philippine uplands

Wolfram Dressler

B. Development of tools

Synthesis: Perspectives on tools used in shifting cultivation

Ajay Pratap

A6. Traditional bioresource management in the Tay cultural area: Between upland and lowland

Sonoe Mitsuru

A7. How tools and farmer innovations shaped the evolution of shifting cultivation in the Asia-Pacific region

Garry Oughton

C. Selection of what to plant

Synthesis: Choice of species to plant in shifting agriculture

K. G. Saxena and P. S. Ramakrishnan

A8. Domestication, cultivation and diversification of crops in shifting cultivation systems across the highlands of India: A cross-cultural investigation

Avik Ray

A9. The importance of shifting cultivation for food biodiversity and diversifying diets in northeast India

Bhogtoram Mawroh, Lukas Pawera, Stefan Lyngdoh and Melari Nongrum

A10. Innovation of different cropping patterns by shifting cultivators in Nagaland

Sapu Changkija

A11. Domestication of a forest plant to modify swidden cultivation: A response to labour shortage and the advancing age of swiddeners in southern Chin state, Myanmar

Nyein Chan and Shinya Takeda

A12. Innovations in seed and crop management by indigenous groups in Nghe An province, Vietnam

Tran Thi Tuyen, Nguyen Thi Viet Ha, Nguyen Thi Trang Thanh and Vo Thi Vinh

The ebb and flow of cash crops in swidden fields: The dichotomy between food security and generating cash

Synthesis: Risky business: Cultivating food and cash crops in former swiddens

Jill M. Belsky

A13. The Way it used to be: Farming strategies in a Lahu village half a century ago

Anthony R. Walker

A14. Shifting cultivation under transition: Land-use changes amid social and technological innovations in highland communities of northern Thailand

Phrek Gypmantasiri and Budsara Limnirankul

A15. Fallows, weeds and adaptive Lahu swiddeners: Vegetation change and the end of upland rice-based subsistence in northern Thailand

Koen Van Keer, Guy Trébuil, Tom Van Loon and Francis Turkelboom

A16. Shifting cultivation in northeast India: Abandon or modernize?

Walter Fernandes

A17. Continuity and change from evolving jhum subsystems: Innovations in shifting cultivation by jhum farmers in Assam and Manipur, northeast India

Vincent Darlong, Mihin Dollo, Mary Hmar and Adrian Marbaniang

A18. When shifting cultivation becomes a refuge: Innovative farmers in West Sumatra, Indonesia, threaten forests by retreating from market risk

Yonariza

COLOURED PLATES – Part III. Field selection and preparation

D. Maintaining soil health

Synthesis: Maintaining soil health? Synthesis of fallow innovations and ecosystem functions beyond soil fertility

Meine van Noordwijk and Kurniatun Hairiah

A19. Green manure/cover crops: How farmers are increasing soil fertility and drought resistance while reducing their net costs

Roland Bunch

A20. Farmer-derived soil conservation measures in the upland fields of northern Thailand

Abram Bicksler, Rick Burnette and Boonsong Thansrithong

A21. Log bunding: Laying wood along slope contours in northeast India and other farmer strategies for minimizing soil erosion on swidden slopes

Lansothung Lotha, Lakidon Khonglah, Shri Kant Tripathi, Ngangbam Somen Singh and Keshav Kumar Upadhyay

E. Adaptive practices in weed management

Synthesis: Weed management and how it can be overlooked in the pace of change in swidden systems

Walter Roder

A21. Fallows, weeds and adaptive Lahu swiddeners: Trading the axe for the hoe and herbicidal salt sprays in transitional swidden systems of northern Thailand

Koen Van Keer, Guy Trébuil, Francis Turkelboom and Jean Poesen

A22. Imperata cylindrica infestation in northern Lao PDR: Spatial distribution and farmers’ management strategies

Bounthanh Keoboualapha, Suchint Simaraks and Attachai Jintrawet

VII. Strategies to assure food security: A bedrock of security in an insecure world

Synthesis: Swidden shows the way to collective resilience

Janis B. Alcorn

A23. Shifting cultivation as a resilient socioecological strategy against climate and political uncertainty in Myanmar

K. B. Roberts

A24. Shifting cultivation for food security: Resilience strategies in the Pacific Islands

Nancy J. Pollock

A25. Crop diversity management in a changing shifting cultivation landscape in Miao, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Kamal P. Aryal, Sushmita Poudel, Bandana Shakya, Deepa Basnet, Mihin Dollo, Tashi Dorji and Yi Shaoliang

A26. Indigenous upland agricultural practices of the Alangan Mangyan in Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

Rubiriza D. C. Resuello, Oscar B. Zamora and Marife D. Rebutar-Maquera

A27. Impacts of climate change and adaptation strategies among shifting cultivators in a Wa village, in Yunnan, China

Lun Yin, Misiani Zachary, Shicai Shen, Yanyan Zheng and Xiaohan Zhang

COLOURED PLATES – Part IV. Planting swidden crops

VIII. Social innovations

Synthesis: New perspectives, challenges and prospects

Chayan Vaddhanaphuti

A29. The spiritual ecology of Vi Olak village and the ecological livelihood of the H’re people of Vietnam’s Central Highlands

Keith Barber, Le Van Ka, Tran Thi Lanh and Elders A Xi, A Chat and A Pan

A30. Learning from ecologically sound indigenous swidden practices and social mechanisms encountered in the Lao PDR, 1989–2003

Laurent Chazée

A31. Gathering knowledge for change in agrobiodiversity, gender equity and well-being by village development committees (VDCs) in Khatarshnong, Meghalaya, India

Annelie Bernhart, A.K. Nongkynrih and Pius Ranee

A32. When shifting cultivation ensures the sustainability of an agrarian system: A study of the Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih indigenous community in West Java, Indonesia

Diego Laforge

A33. Swidden cultivation practices in Sahu, eastern Indonesia: Forty years of experimentation and adjustment

Leontine E. Visser

Resource tenure: From traditional forms of communal control to increased privatization

Synthesis: Community control or private ownership? The swidden tenure dilemma

Kirsten Ewers Andersen

A34. Jhum and customary tenure in a ‘Naga village republic’ in northwestern Myanmar

Jack Jenkins Hill, Julia Fogerite and Athong Makury

A35. Indonesian land laws and smallholder rights: Changing attitudes to land ‘ownership’ in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Morgan Harrington

IX. Bamboo-based fallow management

Synthesis: Neither grass nor tree: The multiple roles of bamboo in fallow management

Nicholas Menzies

A36. The talun-kebun system: Biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation in West Java, Indonesia

Oekan S. Abdoellah and Johan Iskandar

A37. The role of bamboo in fallow-vegetation recovery, viewed from the land-use history of Karen swidden cultivation in the Bago mountains, Myanmar

Reiji Suzuki, Shinya Takeda and Hla Maung Thein

A38. Bamboo species and their multiple uses in northern Laos: A case study in Luang Prabang province

Isao Hirota and Singkone Xayalath

A39. Indigenous bamboo-based fallow practices in Sablan, Benguet, the Philippines

Fatima T. Tangan

X. Mounding technologies

Synthesis: Raised fields, under shifting and permanent cultivation: An essay

Harold Brookfield

A40. Composting and sweet potato mounds in the highlands of Papua New Guinea

R. Michael Bourke, Chris Ballard and Bryant J. Allen

A41. Mound-and-ditch gardens of the Bensbach river, Papua New Guinea: A case study of farmer adaptation

Garrick Hitchcock

A42. Temporal changes and innovations in raised-bed shifting cultivation at higher elevations in Meghalaya, northeast India

B. K. Tiwari

XI. Swiddening in the swamps

Synthesis: Fire, water, and other challenges posed by swiddening in swamps

Timothy C. Jessup

A43. Paludiculture and improved fire management as a key towards sustainable shifting cultivation practices on peatlands

Johan Kieft

A44. Shifting cultivation and agroforestry practices on peatlands in central Sumatra

Hesti Lestari Tata and Bastoni

A45. Local mitigation and adaptive practices of farmers in response to flooding along Ligawasan marsh, in the southern Philippines

Nasrudin A. Buisan

COLOURED PLATES – Part V. Management and harvest of the crops

XII. Gender analysis

Synthesis: Gender in swiddens: An examination of the issues

Carol J. Pierce Colfer

A46. Jhum practices, innovations and women’s stories of resilience and ecological regeneration in the Naga Hills of northeast India

Seno Tsuhah, Wekoweu (Akole) Tsuhah and Samhita Barooah

XIII. Overviews of specific places and peoples

Nepal

Synthesis: Shifting cultivation in Nepal: A synthesis of practices, challenges, and sustainable solutions

Bijay Kumar Singh and Ambika P. Gautam

A47. Innovations in transforming traditional farming systems into resilient agroforestry systems in Nepal Himalayas: Lessons for sustainable shifting cultivation

Roshan Subedi, Laxmi Dutt Bhatta, Madhav Karki

India

Synthesis: Title pending

Henry Saplalrinliana

A48. Improved practices among the jhum cultivators of Nagaland, northeast India

Supong Keitzar

A49. Jhum farmers’ innovations in northeast India

Joli R. Borah, Karl L. Evans and David P. Edwards

A50. The shifting cultivators’ way of ‘scientific’ innovation: Insights from Nagaland, northeast India

Abhinandan Saikia and Saradindu Bhaduri

A51. Naga jhum shifting cultivation: Indigenous knowledge, innovation and cultural tradition

N. K. Das

A52. Sustainable land and ecosystem management in shifting cultivation areas of Nagaland

Monalisa Sen and K. M. Jayahari

A54. Shifting cultivation innovation in eastern Nagaland: The story of the Yimchunger Nagas

Debojyoti Das

A55. Innovative farming practices and bioresource utilization patterns by tribals of Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India

Chowlani Manpoong and Shri Kant Tripathi

A56. Innovative ideas behind the shifting cultivation practised by the Galo tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India

Bomchak Riba

A57. Innovations in shifting cultivation by three indigenous groups in Meghalaya, India

B. K. Tiwari, M. M. Lynrah and S. Deb

A58. Innovative shifting cultivation practices by the indigenous population of Mizoram, northeast India

S. K. Tripathi, Ramchhanliana Hauchhum, Etsoshan Yinga Ovung, David C. Vanlalfakawma, K. K. Upadhyay and H. Lalraminghlova

A59. Farmers’ innovative practices in jhum (shifting cultivation) farming systems in Nagaland, Mizoram, Odisha and Jharkhand, India

Virendra Pal Singh, Devashree Nayak, Dennis Garrity and Ashok K. Sahoo

A60. Futuristic jhum cultivation: Opportunities in the cropping phase and the current fallow phase for enhancing productivity and lengthening of the jhum cycle

Dwipendra Thakuria

A61. Innovative management of shifting cultivation in harmony with the environment, climate and livelihood security in India’s Eastern Ghats

Anil Kumar Srivastva

A62. Innovations and knowledge systems around shifting landscapes: Cases from India

Nitin Maurya, Charu Makhija, Sethrichem Sangtam, Rajiv Mili and Anil Gupta

COLOURED PLATES – Part VI. Farmer innovations to mitigate soil erosion

Myanmar

Synthesis: Title pending

Hilary Oliva Faxon

A62. Climate change and the adaptive practices of swidden farmers: Perspectives from Myanmar

Helen James

A63. Investigation of farming practices by different hill tribes in Myanmar

U. San Win

A64. Farmer innovations and improved practices under swidden cultivation in southern Chin state, Myanmar

Xavier Bouan, Nyein Chan and Kee Thang

A65. Hka rang yi or shifting cultivation in Kachin state, Myanmar

Seng Aung

Lao PDR

Synthesis: Coping with government policies and socio-economic changes in northern Laos

Dirk Van Gansberghe

A66. Innovations and adaptive land-use management by the Khmu ethnic group in northern Laos

Laurent Chazée

Vietnam

Synthesis: Perspectives & alternatives to shifting cultivation in Vietnam: Contentions and practical options

Delia C. Catacutan and Nguyen Quang Tan

A67. Recovery of degraded upland fields in Northwestern Vietnam: Some results of research

Ngo Dinh Que and Le Duc Thang

The Philippines

Synthesis: Title pending

June Prill-Brett

A68. ‘Grass and spirits’: The transition from long to short fallows and grasslands on Palawan island, the Philippines

Dario Novellino

A69. Sustainable upland agricultural practices of some indigenous peoples in the Philippines

Oscar B. Zamora, Lucille Elna Parreño-de Guzman and Joan Pauline P. Talubo

A70. Traditional knowledge in upland farming practices: Key to ecological restoration

Benedicta D. Repayo, Celedonia R. Hilario and Ersyl T. Biray

A71. Sustainable farming systems in an ancestral domain in the Cordillera Mountains in the Philippines

Damasa B. Magcale-Macandog and Joy M. Ocampo-Carullo

Indonesia

Synthesis: Title pending

Moira Moeliono

A72. Responding to a changing world: Inventing diverse strategies to survive

Mia Siscawati, Yunita T. Winarto and Burhanuddin Gala

A73. Kenyah knowledge, use and valuation of plant medicines related to forest and swidden succession: In Apo Kayan, East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Danna J. Leaman

Papua New Guinea

Synthesis: Shifting cultivation and village agricultural systems in Papua New Guinea

John Sowei

A74. Farmer innovations and best practices in shifting cultivation in Papua New Guinea

Ramakrishna Akkinapally

XIV. The comic section

A75. Closing with a satirical view of some of the issues

Malcolm Cairns and Paradorn Threemake

Indexes for supplementary chapters

Botanical index

Ethnic group index

General subject index

Acronyms

AANCBAverage annual net cash benefit per hectareAATBAnnual average total benefits per hectareACIARAustralian Centre for International Agricultural ResearchACFAction Contre la Faim, a French NGOADABAustralian Development Assistance Bureau (now renamed)ADBAsian Development BankADSPPAncestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan, PhilippinesAERFApplied Environmental Research Foundation, Pune, IndiaAFTSEMUAgricultural Field Trials, Systems, Evaluation and Monitoring Unit, PNGAGBAbove-ground biomassAGCAbove-ground carbonAIPPAsia Indigenous Peoples’ PactALAAtlas of Living AustraliaAMA-JKAlliance of Indigenous Peoples of Jalai Sekayuq and Kendawangan Siakaran, West KalimantanAMANIndonesian Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the ArchipelagoAMAPFrench laboratory conducting basic research on plants and plant communitiesANRAssisted natural regenerationANUAustralian National University, CanberraArcGISGeographical information system softwareARCinfoGeographical information system softwareARFAgriculture revolving fundASEANAssociation of Southeast Asian NationsASBAlternatives to Slash and Burn project (ICRAF)ASTI CouncilAssam Science, Technology and Environmental Council, IndiaATREEAshoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, BangaloreAusAIDFormer name for Australia’s international aid agencyAVSI FoundationAn international NGO based in Italy specializing in cooperation and humanitarian aid projectsBATANNational Nuclear Energy Agency of IndonesiaBDBulk density (of soil)BITOBakun Indigenous Tribes Organization, PhilippinesBNPBNational Board for Disaster Management, IndonesiaBPSCentral Bureau of Statistics, IndonesiaBRWACustomary Land Registration Body, IndonesiaBRINNational Research and Innovation Agency, IndonesiaBSTIDBoard on Science and Technology for International Development (US)BSUBenguet State University, PhilippinesCABICentre for Agriculture and Bioscience InternationalCADCommunity Agency for Rural Development, MyanmarCADTCertificate of Ancestral Domain Title, PhilippinesCARCordillera Administrative Region, PhilippinesCARSRCenter for Agricultural Research System ResearchCCDColony Collapse Disorder (honeybees)CDMClean Development MechanismsCEAPREDCentre for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development, Nepal CECCation exchange capacityCENDICommunity Entrepreneur Development Institute, VietnamCESDCenter for Ethnic Studies and Development, ThailandCFCommunity forestryCGED-NCentre for Green Ecology Development, NepalCGIARConsultative Group for International Agricultural ResearchCHARMCordillera Highland Agriculture Resource Management, PhilippinesCHROChin Human Rights Organization, CanadaCHTDBChittagong Hill Tracts Development BoardCIATInternational Centre for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, ColombiaCICESCommon International Classification for Ecosystem ServicesCIFORCenter for International Forestry ResearchCIIFADCornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and DevelopmentCIKARDCenter for Indigenous Knowledge for Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentCIP-ESEAPInternational Potato Centre for East, Southeast Asia and the PacificCIRADAgricultural Research Centre for International Development, FranceCLMVThe countries Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and VietnamCMESCenter of Mountain Ecosystem Studies (former name), Kunming, ChinaCMFCenter for Mountain Futures (present name), Kunming, ChinaCNRSFrench National Centre for Scientific ResearchCOPConference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeCRIFCCentral Research Institute for Food CropsCRSCatholic Relief ServicesCSAClimate-smart agricultureCSIROCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, AustraliaCSEASCentre for Southeast Asian Studies, JapanCSOsCivil-society organizationsCVPEDCagayan Valley Program on Environment and Development, PhilippinesCVPDCitrus vein phloem degeneration virusDALDepartment of Agriculture and Livestock, Papua New GuineadbhDiameter at breast heightDENRDepartment of Environment and Natural Resources, PhilippinesDEQPDepartment of Environmental Quality Promotion, ThailandDILGDepartment of Interior and Local Government, PhilippinesDNPDepartment of National Parks,Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, ThailandDoPDepartment of Population, Ministry of Immigration and Population, MyanmarEAPIEnvironment and Policy Institute, East-West Center, HonoluluECEuropean Commission, also electrical conductivity (soil)ECDFEthnic Communities’ Development ForumECECEffective cation exchange capacityECHOA global non-profit organization focused on overcoming hungerEEDPlanète Enfants et Développement, a French NGOEFEOThe French School of the Far EastENSOEl Niño Southern Oscillation (climate pattern)ENVISEnvironmental Information System, India EPAUnited States Environmental Protection AgencyESEcosystem servicesESRCEconomic and Social Research Council, UKETM +Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (Landsat)FALUPAMForest and Agricultural Land Use Planning and ManagementFAOFood and Agricultural Organization of the United NationsFCECFlora of China Editorial CommitteeFCPFForest Carbon Partnership Facility, IndonesiaFFSFarmer field schools, MyanmarFGDFocus-group discussionFHI 360Family Health InternationalFLRForest landscape restorationFMCField moisture capacityFMNRFarmer-managed Natural RegenerationFOCUSFostering Climate Resilient Upland Farming Systems (northeast India)FOERDIAForestry and Environmental Research, Development and Innovation Agency, IndonesiaFPAsFire Protection AssociationsFPPForest Peoples’ Programme (UK and the Netherlands)FREMForest Resources and Environment Management, VietnamFSIForest Survey of IndiaGBHGirth at breast heightGDPGross Domestic ProductGEFGlobal Environment FacilityGGI-MyanmarA manufacturer specializing in teak and hardwoodGHGGreenhouse gassesGHSNPGunung Halimun Salak National Park, IndonesiaGIANGlobal Initiative of Academic Networks, IndiaGIAHSGlobally Important Agricultural Heritage SystemsGISGeographic information systemGIZDeutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, a German federal enterprise for international cooperationGm/ccGreen manure/cover cropGMSGreater Mekong SubregionGOIGovernment of IndiaGONGOGovernment-Organized Non-Governmental OrganizationGoVGovernment of VietnamGPSGlobal positioning systemGPPKPancur Kasih Empowerment Movement, West KalimantanGRETGroupe de Recherche et d’ Exchanges Technologique, French NGOGSBIGlobal Soil Biodiversity InitiativeGTZGesellschaffürtechnische Zusammenarbeit, the former German technical cooperation agency, now known as GIZHCVRNHigh Conservation Value Resource NetworkHHsHouseholdsHI-LIFEThe Landscape Initiative for Far Eastern HimalayasHKHThe Hindu Kush-Himalayan regionHuMaAssociation for Ecology and Community-based Law Reform, Indonesia IABIIndonesia Disaster Expert AssociationIASInvasive alien speciesIASERInstitute of Applied Social and Economic Research, Papua New GuineaIASSIIndian Association of Social Science InstitutionsICARIndian Council of Agricultural ResearchICCCInternational Conference on Climate ChangeICEFIndia-Canada Environment FacilityICFREIndian Council of Forestry Research and EducationICIMODInternational Centre for Integrated Mountain DevelopmentICRAFInternational Center for Research in Agroforestry (World Agroforestry Centre)IDPInternally displaced personsIDRIndonesian rupiahIDMCInternal Displacement Monitoring CentreIDRCInternational Development Research Centre, CanadaIFADInternational Fund for Agricultural DevelopmentIFDIntegrated farm developmentIFMIndigenous fallow managementIFOAMInternational Federation of Organic Agriculture MovementsIFRCRCSInternational Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent SocietiesIIRRInternational Institute of Rural Reconstruction, an NGO based in the PhilippinesIITAInternational Institute of Tropical Agriculture, NigeriaIKIndigenous knowledge (see also TEK)IKAPIndigenous Knowledge and Peoples’ NetworkIKSPIndigenous Knowledge Systems and PracticesILCAAResearch Institute for Languages and Culture of Asia and Africa, TokyoILEIAA public benefit organization in the Netherlands focused on food sovereigntyILOInternational Labour OrganizationILRIIndian Lac Research InstituteIMFInternational Monetary FundINBOResearch Institute for Nature and Forest, BelgiumINDUFORMultinational forest consulting groupInFEWSIntegrated Forest Ecosystem and Watershed Services (ICIMOD)INGOInternational Non-Governmental OrganizationINNOVATIONA public scientific and technical research organization, FranceINRAInstitut National de la Recherche Agronomique, FranceIOSRInternational Organization of Scientific ResearchIPBESIntergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem ServicesIPCCIntergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeIPHHBKIn Indonesia, a permit for extracting NTFPsIPKLeibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, GermanyIPOIndigenous People’s OrganizationIPRIntellectual property rightsIRDInstitut de Recherche pour le Développement, a French government research organization that replaced the former ORSTOM.IRRIInternational Rice Research Institute ITPSIntergovernmental Technical Panel on SoilsIUCNInternational Union for Conservation of NatureIVImportance value, an index for traditional medicinal remediesIWGIAInternational Working Group for Indigenous AffairsIWMIInternational Water Management InstituteJERSJapanese Earth-resources satelliteJICAJapan International Cooperation AgencyJSTORA digital library founded in 1995 in New YorkKITLVRoyal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean StudiesKMSS-LoikawKaruna Mission Social Solidarity-Loikaw (Myanmar)KMTKuomintang – the Chinese Nationalist PartyKomnas HAMNational Human Rights Commission, JakartaKPEKasepuhan Pasir Eurih community, IndonesiaKSDepartment of Statistics, Lao PDRKSOKhatarshnong Socio Organization, East Khasi Hills, MeghalayaLANDSATUS satellite-based Earth observation programmeLao PDRLao People’s Democratic RepublicLASSLao Academy of Social ScienceLDTSPsLand Degradation Target-Setting ProgrammesLEAD IndiaIndian TV programme aiming to develop new leadersLECSLao Expenditure and Consumption SurveyLEISA IndiaLow External Input Sustainable Agriculture (a magazine)LFNCLao Front for National ConstructionLGULocal government unit, PhilippinesLI-BIRDLocal Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development, NepalLIFTLivelihoods and Food Security Fund, MyanmarLIPIIndonesian Institute of Sciences, recently dissolved and replaced by BRINLISOLivelihood Sovereignty AllianceLLDASPInland Water Transportation Office, Pasaman district, West SumatraLSDLeast significant differencesLUCLand-use committeeLUILand-use intensityMAMillennium Ecosystem AssessmentMAPsMedicinal and aromatic plantsMARDMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development, VietnamMASPMapping Agricultural Systems of Papua New GuineaMBCMicrobial biomass carbon (in soil)MDI-NepalManahari Development Institute, NepalMgMegagram (equaling 1000 kilograms)MISEREORGerman Catholic Bishops’ Organization for Development CooperationMNREMinistry of Natural Resources and Environment, ThailandMOACMinistry of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, ThailandMONREMinistry of Natural Resources and Environment, VietnamMONRECMinistry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, MyanmarMMIIDMyanmar Institution for Integrated DevelopmentMMSEAMainland Montane Southeast AsiaMOALIMinistry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, MyanmarMoALMCMinistry of Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives, Nepal MOECAFMinistry of Environment Conservation and Forestry, Myanmar (outdated, see MONREC)MODISModerate Resolution Imaging SpectroradiometerMoEFMinistry of Environment and Forestry, IndiaMONRECMinistry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, MyanmarMoSPIMinistry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, IndiaMRDCMontañosa Research and Development Center, PhilippinesMSECManagement of Soil Erosion ConsortiumNAFRINational Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute, Lao PDRNARINational Agricultural Research Institute, Papua New GuineaNASANational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNBPNewly burnt swidden plotsNBRNormalized Burn Ratio (soil moisture)NBSAPsNational Biodiversity Strategy and Action PlansNCFNational Commission on Farmers, Ministry of Agriculture, IndiaNCIPNational Commission on Indigenous Peoples, PhilippinesNCPNature’s Contributions to PeopleNDCsNationally Determined Contributions (to greenhouse-gas emissions)NDFNorthern Development Foundation, ThailandNDMINormalized Difference Moisture Index (soil moisture)NDRRMCNational Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, PhilippinesNDSPNational Data Summary Page, Reserve Bank of IndiaNDVINormalized Difference Vegetation IndexNEHNorth-Eastern Hill region, IndiaNEHUNorth-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, MeghalayaNEPEDNagaland Environmental Protection and Economic Development project, IndiaNERCORMPNorth-Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project, IndiaNERLIPNorth-East Rural Livelihood Project, IndiaNESFASNorth-East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity SocietyNESRCNorth-Eastern Social Research Centre, Guwahati, AssamNGONon-governmental organizationNICNational Informatics Centre, MeghalayaNIENational Institute of Education, SingaporeNIFNational Innovation Foundation, IndiaNIRDNational Institute of Rural Development, IndiaNIRDPR-NERCThe North-Eastern Regional Centre of the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, IndiaNITI AayogNational Institution for Transforming IndiaNLDNational League for Democracy, MyanmarNLUPNew Land-use Policy, Mizoram, northeast IndiaNOVOANative Okinawan Village and Omoro ArboretumNPKNitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, plant nutrientsNPVNet present valueNRCNational Research Council (US)NRMNatural resources managementNRSANational Remote Sensing Agency, IndiaNSONational Statistics Office, Thailand or Philippines NSONational Statistical Office, Papua New GuineaNSDMANagaland State Disaster Management AuthorityNTFPsNon-timber forest productsNUoLNational University of LaosNVANet value addedOCHAUnited Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian AffairsOKIOgan Komering Ilir district, which has the largest area of peatland in South Sumatra, IndonesiaOLIOperational Land Imager (Landsat 8 sensor)OMOrganic matterORSTOMFormer name of French government research organization. See IRDOTOPOne Tambon One Product, ThailandP3DMParticipatory three-dimensional modellingPARPlatform for Agrobiodiversity Research, RomePASDPgaz K’ Nyau (Karen) Association for Sustainable DevelopmentPCAIVPrincipal Component Analysis with Instrumental VariablesPCAARRDPhilippine Council for Agriculture and Aquatic Resources Research and DevelopmentPCAMRDPhilippines Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development, now part of PCAARRDPCARRDFormer acronym for PCAARRDPFAFPlants for a Future (UK)PFEPermanent forest estate, a Myanmar government land designationpHA measure of acidity or alkalinityPIR-BunPeople’s Estate Plantation Company programme, IndonesiaPKMTProsperity Improvement Programme for Alien Society, IndonesiaPLUPParticipatory Land-use PlansPNGPapua New GuineaPNGMASPPapua New Guinea Mapping Agriculture Systems ProjectPNGRISPapua New Guinea Resource Information SystemPOINTPromotion of Indigenous and Nature Together, MyanmarPOUProject Operational UnitPRAParticipatory Rural Appraisal, Participatory Rapid Appraisal, Participatory Research AppraisalPRBPopulation Reference Bureau, Washington DCPROSEAPlant Resources of Southeast Asia, a project documenting plant resources, Wageningen, The NetherlandsPSAPhilippine Statistics AuthorityPSBPhosphate solubilizing bacteria (biofertilizers)PTFPPPalawan Tropical Forestry Protection ProgrammePWDsPerson-work daysPWPPermanent wilting percentageQGISGeographical information system softwareRCSDRegional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development, ThailandRDCC1Rural Development and Construction Company no. 1, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, VietnamRECOFTCRegional Community Forestry Training Centre, Bangkok REDD/REDD+Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, plus conservation/sustainable management/enhancement of carbon stocksRePPProTRegional Physical Planning Programme for Transmigration (Indonesia)RFDRoyal Forest Department, Thailand (now part of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment)RMIIndonesia Institute for Forest and EnvironmentRMUsResource Mapping Units, Papua New GuineaRMVResilient Mountain Village, a joint initiative of ICIMOD and CEAPREDRRIRights and Resources Institute, Washington, DCRRtIPResource Rights for the Indigenous Peoples, MyanmarRTBVRice tungro bacilliform virusSALTSloping agricultural land technologySAOSubdistrict Administrative Organization, ThailandSAVISoil Adjusted Vegetation Index (soil moisture)SCBDSecretariat of the Convention on Biological DiversitySEACOWSchool for Ecology, Agriculture and Community Works, KathmanduSEAMEOSoutheast Asian Ministers of Education OrganizationSEARCASoutheast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in AgricultureSELAFSociété des Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de FranceSESSocioecological systemsSFCPSoil Fertility Conservation Project, ThailandSFMSustainable forest managementSHGSelf-help groupSHK KaltimAn Indonesian NGOSHRFShan Human Rights FoundationSHRF & SWANShan Human Rights Foundation and Shan Women’s Action NetworkSISolidarités International, an NGO working in areas of conflict and natural disasterSIDASwedish International Development AgencySLEMSustainable Land and Ecosystem Management in Shifting Cultivation Areas of Nagaland for Ecological and Livelihood SecuritySMCSoil moisture contentSMESmall- and medium-sized enterprise, ThailandSNVStichting Nederlandse Vrijwilligers, a Dutch NGOSOCSoil organic carbonSPOT-VGTSpot vegetation satellite imagerySPSSStatistical Package for Social Science (computing)SRISTISociety for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions, IndiaSSRNSocial Science Research Network, an electronic journalSTEPSSocial, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability, hosted by Sussex University, UKSWOTAnalysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threatsTABIThe Agro-Biodiversity Initiative (project) of the Lao PDRTBCThe Border ConsortiumTEKTraditional Ecological KnowledgeTeROPONGAn Indonesian NGO TESPTropical Ecology Support Programme, GermanyTGHKNew Forest Plan Agreements, IndonesiaTMLandsat Thematic MapperTNIThe Transnational InstituteTPRITropical Pesticides Research InstituteTPTIIndonesian state regulation requiring sustainable forest utilization through selective loggingUAAUtilized agrarian areaUHDPUpland Holistic Development Project, ThailandUNDCPUnited Nations Drug Control ProgrammeUNDPUnited Nations Development ProgrammeUNEPUnited Nations Environment ProgrammeUNESCOUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural OrganizationUNFCCCUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeUNFPAUnited Nations Population FundUNPFIIUnited Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous IssuesUNHCRUnited Nations High Commissioner for RefugeesUN-REDDThe United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in Developing Countries, GenevaUNUUnited Nations UniversityUNWMPUpper Nan Watershed Management Project,ThailandUPCSCUniversity of the Philippines Cordillera Studies CenterUPLBUniversity of the Philippines at Los BañosUSAIDUnited States Agency for International DevelopmentUSAIDIUWASHUnited States Agency for International Development – Indonesia Urban Water, Sanitation and Hygiene projectUSDAUnited States Department of AgricultureVCVillage councilVDBsVillage Development Boards, NagalandVDCsVillage Development Committees, MeghalayaVFVVacant, fallow or virgin land, a classification for swidden land in MyanmarVMIsVegetation moisture indicesWaNuLCASA model of water, nutrient and light capture in agroforestry systemsWCMCWorld Conservation Monitoring CentreWWFWorld Wildlife Fund

Dedication

William Cairns

(12 October, 1864 – 25 June, 1932)

This is the third book in a planned trilogy of volumes devoted to shifting cultivation in the Asia-Pacific region. As with the previous volumes, in this book, the Editor continues his tradition of dedicating the volume to a male ancestor from his patrilineage.

This last volume in the trilogy is dedicated to William Cairns (1864–1932) – who was the Editor’s paternal great grandfather (see photo at the top of this page). In reaching so far back into the mists of time, there are to be found neither many photographic images, nor even personal stories relating to this gentleman, that are very clear.¹ William (1864–1932) was the fourth generation of this particular Cairns lineage to live on Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada, after his ancestors had emigrated from Scotland.

The first Cairns ancestor to venture from Dumfriesshire, Scotland, to Prince Edward Island, Canada, was John Glen Cairns (1788–1871), voyaging aboard the Isabella (Jardine, 1985), and arriving on Island shores in 1832 (see Map 1). Travelling with John Glen Cairns was his son, William Cairns (1816–1856).² This William Cairns (1816–1856) was to later marry Ellen Stewart (1816–1878)(see Box 1).

Map 1: The migration route that brought the John Glen Cairns lineage of the Cairns clan from Scotland to Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Box 1: Quick reference to the Cairns patrilineage

* John Glen Cairns was a widower at the time that he journeyed to Prince Edward Island, but he married again on March 24, 1853.

In 1854, this same William Cairns (1816–1856) first bought land (100 acres purchased for the sum of £60) in Lower Freetown, and his family put down roots there (see Maps 2 and 3). This land was bought from William’s uncle, Robert Cairns Sr. [1784-1878] (To be clear, this William Cairns [1816-1856] who first purchased land in Lower Freetown, was actually the paternal grandfather of the later William [1864-1932] to whom this book is dedicated.)

As already noted, the aforementioned Robert Cairns Sr. (1784–1878), who sold this land, was not one of the absentee landlords living in the British Isles, to whom the subdivided Island (see Map 2) had been granted. Rather, this Robert Cairns (1784–1878) was a brother of John Glen Cairns (1788–1871), and so was an uncle to young William Cairns (1816–1856). John Glen Cairns had been the pioneer in ‘breaking a path’ to Prince Edward Island in 1832 (see Map 1), and his brother, Robert, had followed that same path to PEI in 1840.³

Map 2: The subdivision of Prince Edward Island into lots, initially controlled by absentee landlords in the British Isles.

Source: Adapted from Blakeley and Vernon, 1963.

There was a particular reason why some of the Cairns immigrants ended up settling in Freetown (as opposed to elsewhere on the Island) at the time they did. Unlike most of the rest of North America, the colony of Prince Edward Island had been established with a leasehold system of land tenure. In the 1760s, the Island was surveyed into 67 lots (or townships) of approximately 20,000 acres each (Map 2) (Blakeley and Vernon, 1963).

These lots were subsequently granted to important and well-connected people in the British Isles, who became the proprietors of these tracts. By the mid-1800s, many Island farmers were tenants and there was very little land available for sale to individual farmers, even if they could afford to buy it. When the Cairns settlers came from Scotland, they brought some money with them from the old country. (Robert Cairns Sr.’s wife, Mary Carruthers, is thought to have been the main source (Cairns, G. A., 1999)). The Cairns arrivals were interested in owning, not renting, the land they farmed, and in also ensuring that the next generation of sons could own their own farms freehold. During the 1840s and ’50s, when the younger generation of Cairns arrivals was seeking farms, sections of Lot (Township) 25 were coming on the market in parcels that consisted of viable-sized farm units. In fact, this area of Lot 25 became known as Freetown because the land in that section of the township was available as freehold. Because land in Freetown could actually be bought and owned by farmers, Cairns family members settled in that area (see Map 3).

Map 3: Heritage farms⁴ of Prince Edward Island (see #6).

Source: PEI Agriculture Awareness Committee.

Plate 2: Before the arrival of tractors (1920s to 1950s), heavy draught horses provided traction on Prince Edward Island’s farms. Pictured above (ca 1950), R. Louis Cairns (1899–1978) ploughs one of his back fields that is now part of Willscott Farm, using a gang plow with a three–point hitch.

Photo: Mary E. Cairns.

Source: Public Archives of Prince Edward Island.

In that same year of 1854, William Cairns (1816–1856) added to his holdings by buying another 102 acres that adjoined the first property. This second block of land was purchased for the sum of £86.10 from the Estate of Gilbert Henderson of Liverpool, England (Cairns, R. L., 1971). This gave William Cairns (1816–1856) a sizeable land holding of 202 acres. Since 100 acres was the usual viable farm size of the time (and probably the maximum amount that one farmer could actually farm, given the techniques and machinery of the day (see Plates 2 and 3 for examples of labour-intensive technologies)), we may surmise that William may have acquired the second hundred acres not so much for his own use, but to ensure there would be a farm available for more than one son, when the time came for such a need. These people thought in the long term. After all, they had most likely left the old country because it offered no opportunities for owning their own land. William (1816–1856) had been on PEI for 22 years before he realized his dream of owning his own farm, so he may have been quick to grab the opportunity to ensure that his two sons were looked after when an opportunity arose, to make sure there were farms for both of them long before there was an actual need.

Plate 3: Like their Asian counterparts, PEI farmers also joined together in cooperative work groups to accomplish labour-intensive jobs. This group of Freetown farmers had joined together to saw firewood into stove-length blocks, sometime before September, 1930.

Source: Cairns family photo album.

Of course, in the story of the Freetown land acquisition, a big unknown is whether any of the land had been cleared and farmed (possibly even with buildings erected) before 1854, or whether William was arriving on virgin forest.⁵ Another unknown is whether some or all of this land might have been cleared by fire. There is an old story that, in the early days, an extensive tract of forest in the Freetown area had been burntover by an out-of-control forest fire and the district was subsequently known to early settlers as ‘the burnt lands’ (Cairns, G.A., 1999). Given the subject matter of this book, it seems particularly relevant to mention this. We have no indication of whether the land occupied by William Cairns (1816–1856) was part of the burnt-over land.

After consolidating this land base, William was to farm it for only two years before going the way of his ancestors in 1856, at the age of only 40. In 1926, 72 years after the original purchase, his grandson, also named Willam Cairns (1864–1932) – the man to whom this book is dedicated – continued to build on the farm’s land holdings by buying adjacent properties owned by Vernon Malone and a man named MacDonald. This type of expansion seemed to happen about every second generation, when the farm was being managed by a William namesake. Many years later, the Editor’s own father, William Cairns (1928–), joined together with his father, J. Scott Cairns (1895–1973), in buying the adjacent properties of Basil Taylor (1960) and R. Louis Cairns (1970). A third adjacent farm, that of Howard Cairns, was purchased by William (1928-) in 1987. Today, Willscott Farm stands at about 500 acres and grows most of the feed needs for its milking herd of about 90 purebred Holsteins plus young stock (see Plates 7 and 8). The farm ships fluid milk to Amalgamated Dairies Ltd. (ADL) in Summerside. It was this herd of Holsteins that has been the main supporter of this entire trilogy of books on shifting cultivation in Asia-Pacific.

Although there is much that we don’t know about the second William Cairns (1864–1932) – to whose memory this volume is dedicated – we do know that he was born in 1864 in Lower Freetown, Prince Edward Island, as the eldest child (see Plate 4) of John (1841–1899) and Maria Cairns (nee Crawford). (As far as we are aware, William didn’t seem to have a middle name, as was often the custom up until about the 1850s or later.) This second William (1864–1932) was the great grandson of the John Glen Cairns⁶ (1788–1871) – who was the first Cairns family member to emigrate from Scotland to PEI in 1832 (see Map 1).

Plate 4: John and Maria Cairns raised a large family of 11 children. Their first-born was William (1864–1932) – standing in the middle of the back row in this rare family portrait. The photo was probably taken around 1890.

John and Maria Cairns parented a large family. After William was born, he was followed by nine girls in a row, before he finally gained a brother, Elton, 20 years later. So both the oldest and youngest children were boys, with nine girls born in between (see Plate 4). It would be logical to speculate that, in those days, male children were probably hoped for, both to carry on the family name, and to help with the farm work.⁷ This is probably not different from the perspective of many of the farmers discussed in this volume.

In 1894, at the age of 30, William married Thirza Picketts (see Plate 5) from up on the Blue Shank Road, only a few miles away, ‘as the crow flies’ across the fields and the Wilmot River. Their first child was J. Scott Cairns (1895–1973), the Editor’s grandfather and the man to whom volume II was dedicated (see Plates 12 and 13). And, in turn, the first-born (and only) son of J. Scott Cairns was the Editor’s own father – the man to whom volume I was dedicated (see Plates 6 and 7). True to Scottish tradition, he was also named William (Cecil) Cairns (1928–), after his paternal grandfather.

Plate 5: This photo would have been taken around 1897. William (1864–1932) and Thirza (1868–1931) Cairns must have been kept exceptionally busy, starting a new family and a new farm in unison. The toddler sitting on the table was their first-born, J. Scott Cairns (1895–1973), the Editor’s grandfather and the man to whom volume II was dedicated.

In about 1900, when Scott was five years old, this young family splintered from the main family homestead and moved a quarter of a mile up the road to settle a new farm that they had been clearing from the forest. This new farm was to become Willscott Farm (Barde, 1977), the same ancestral farm on which the Editor grew up (Plate 8).

After Scott was born in 1895, he was quickly followed by siblings Ida May (1896), William Cecil (1898), and Amy Belle (1903) (see Plate 13 for a photo of the three surviving siblings in their later years). Tragedy struck the family in 1911, when young William Cecil (1898–1911) succumbed to a deadly combination of measles and scarlet fever and passed away at the age of 12. It was the senior William’s (1864–1932) habit to keep a daily diary; later readers were to note that after young William Cecil’s death, his father’s journal entries took on the distinctly sad tone of a mourning parent (Cairns, W. C., personal communication, 2014).

The fact that the Editor spent his childhood wandering this land, and that so many generations of his ancestors have farmed it, have given the farm that William and Thirza Cairns began,⁹ a near spiritual importance to the Editor, far beyond its economic value. Throughout the Editor’s career, he has always felt that his special connection to this land gave him a very personal understanding when the indigenous people with whom he worked described their strong attachments to their ancestral land. The Editor also feels this and knows that his father does too. He has followed in the footsteps of many of his ancestors in investing his life in that soil. Many parts of the landscape are connected with stories that have been passed down through the generations. During a phone call just last week, Dad had recalled that his own father (see dedication for volume II) had ploughed a corn field the day before he died in 1973 and such was his love of tractor work, had spoken of his wish that he had another field to plough. He clearly wasn’t ready to leave the land that he had farmed his entire life.

Plate 6: William Cairns (1928–) flashes a grin at the camera whilst milking his cows, probably around 1958. William recalls that they started milking cows by machine around 1942 – but electricity didn’t arrive until 1949. In those early years, before electricity was available, the milking machine was powered by an air-cooled Briggs & Stratton petrol engine. Today (2023), Willscott Holsteins are milked by a DeLaval robot, backed up by a 100 kw, 5.9 litre turbo-charged Cummins diesel generator that automatically cuts in when there is an interruption in the electricity. Through the years, it was mainly labour constraints and the economics of specialization that pushed the farm to move away from mixed farming and increasingly focus on dairy production.

Plate 7: Probably taken in the late 1970s, William Cairns (1928–) pilots his Massey Ferguson 410 combine, whilst harvesting a mixed stand of barley and oats (often undersown with a red clover mix that provided a fodder crop the following year). The growing season is relatively short on Prince Edward Island, and farmers have to work hard to get their crops harvested before they become covered with snow. This means that grain is often combined on the cusp of winter and in the era before heated cabs, dressing warmly was a must.

Box 2: How Willscott Farm got its name

The farm name had its origins in the early 1940s when Scott (1895–1973) and William (1928–) began adding purebred Holsteins to their barns. William (1928–) explains that their entry into dairy farming began when they bought a pregnant Holstein heifer from the Profitt family down the road, for what then seemed the astronomical price of $250. This heifer gave birth to a heifer calf and, since she was purebred, they wanted to register her with the Holstein Friesian Association of Canada.

The registration papers called for a farm name, that is used as a prefix in the purebred animal’s name. As William (1928–) and Scott (1895–1973) puzzled over what to call their farm, another family member who was in the room and listening to the conversation, suggested the name of ‘Willscott Farm’, as an amalgamation of the names of the father and son team that was managing the farm. When registering the official name of an animal, the prefix ‘Willscott’ would then be followed by a given name that the farmer would generally use in recognizing the animal.

The prefix that preceded the given name of a registered animal would tell any outsider the farm on which the animal was bred. If that farm was on official test and had a reputation for high milk production, then the farm prefix that appeared on a registered animal’s registration paper would provide a strong indication of the cow’s likely milking ability.⁸ If an animal was to be sold in an auction, a farm prefix recognized for good breeding would generally ensure that it commanded a premium price.

So it was when Scott and William were filling in the paperwork to register their first purebred Holstein calf in the early 1940s, that they first encountered the need to have a name for their farm. It was as thus that they began the foundation for their dairy herd, and that Willscott Farm got its name in the process.

Plate 8: It is now over a century since William (1864–1932) and Thirza (1868–1931) Cairns moved northward up the road in 1900 to settle a new homestead. They would probably shake their heads in amazement if they could see how Willscott Farm has developed under the care and hard work of their descendants. This has been the ancestral land of this lineage of the Cairns clan since shortly after their arrival from Scotland. By now, seven generations of the Editor’s family have belonged to this land, several of whom have invested their entire working lives there, and eventually dying there. Today (2023), Willscott Farm is capably managed by James Cairns and his wife, Janet (nee Beaton). This aerial photo was taken in 2015.

Source: Bird’s View Photos, Montreal.

Plate 9: Although the number of Cairns members living on Route #110 are now far fewer than in former times, this roadside sign still harkens back to the time that the original Cairns settlers bought land in this area in 1854, and began to turn forests into fields.

Plate 10: Thirza Cairns (1868–1931) seems lost in thought as she sits on a doorstep, probably sometime in the 1920s. Although relatively small in stature, Thirza was known as a very capable woman.

In the early 1930s, William and Thirza’s family began to run into more hard times. The first casualty was William’s beloved wife, Thirza (see Plate 10). In those times, preparations to wash clothes were made by first boiling water, and then pouring it into a large washing tub, with a tap at the bottom for releasing dirty water after the