Agriculture, Food, and Food Security - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 121

Consequently , the land cannot produce enough to main-
tain the family throughout the year. Instead, food reserves
are exhausted in seven or eight months. Replanting too
soon produces a downward spiral from diminished yields
to total abandonment.
Until recently , shifting cultivation was considered a
dying art—a disappearing phenomenon not worthy of
formal development efforts. Critics now realize that in
order to stem the flow of rural-urban migration, farmers
need to stay on the land. However, farmers need cash
crops as well as food crops, derived from cropping sys-
tems that maintain soil fertility .
The goal of finding ways to improve the productivity
and sustainability of marginal lands, including uplands,
was put forth at the 1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development. Agricultural scientists
noted that shifting cultivation might be sustainable in
some areas with external assistance. Ongoing plans in-
clude marginal lands being planted with perennial crops
that can be sold. Perennial crops have permanent root
systems that retain soil and stabilize slopes. They can
even be integrated into shifting cultivation systems.
One successful program, based on a perennial crop, is
the production of cardamom in Sikkim, an Indian state in
the Himalayas. Cardamom is a spice that is indigenous to
India and commonly used in Indian cuisine. A high-value,
low-volume product crop that can be stored for some
time, it is comparatively easy for hill-dwellers to market.
While swidden plots are being clear-cut and per-
manently planted, the issue of soil fertility remains.
Sustained crop yields in most tropical soils require the
application of large quantities of fertilizer, essentially
ensuring reliance on external sources. For example,
temperate-climate vegetables often grow well at higher
elevations in tropical regions. However, they require
heavy applications of chemical fertilizer and pesticides.
Poorer farmers cannot afford chemical supplements,
and many are forced to find subsistence elsewhere.
Furthermore, chemicals ultimately contaminate water
sources.
The United Nations and other experts recognize
that most successful programs rely on outside support
from governments or NGOs, especially during the ini-
tial years of a project. Without this support, farmers
cannot generate enough funds for capital investment.
Also, the needs of the environment must be balanced
with the needs of upland farmers for increased produc-
tion and a reasonable cash income. Further, conserva-
tion programs must be carried out on a large scale in
order to be effective.

Figure 5-2
In this ladang (swidden) plot in Kalimantan, Indonesia, the major
crop is corn. A papaya tree stands in the foreground and a banana
plant in the background. Eventually this plot will be abandoned
for another . Photograph courtesy of B. A. Weightman.

criticism as being destructive of forests, as well as being
responsible for damaging fires.
Problems reside not so much with the method as with
the impacts of population and deforestation. Dramatic
population increases, combined with the removal of forests
for plantations and other uses, mean that there is insuffi-
cient land available for shifting cultivators. For example,
every year in Southeast Asia, anywhere from 98,800 to
1,976,000 acres (39,520 to 790,400 ha) of land formerly
used for shifting agriculture is transformed to permanent
agriculture. Consequently , shifting cultivators are unable to
fallow their plots long enough to regenerate soil fertility .
In shifting cultivation areas of Bangladesh' s uplands,
fallow periods have fallen to only three or four years.