Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Mixed farming thrives in places such as the semiarid eastern Pamir of Tajikistan,
where cultivating wheat, barley, apricots, and vegetables is the primary economic
means of support (Cunha 2007). Yet these crops alone would leave the isolated Central
Asians hungry without the proceeds and products from livestock. Each morning, her-
ders leave their kishlaks (settlements) with 10 to 50 sheep and goats to forage local pas-
tures. They return just before nightfall. Others leave for a number of weeks to exploit
distant pasture, while most of the villagers stay behind to tend fields. Mixed farmers
here, as elsewhere, observe the following annual cycle:
FIGURE 11.19 Controlling irrigation flow by shovel, eastern Pamir Mountains, Gorno-Badakshan
Autonomous Oblast, Tajikistan. (Photo by S. F. Cunha.)
• Spring: Manure fields, move livestock from village to lower fields, repair infrastruc-
ture (irrigation, farm implements, and structures), plow and sow fields;
• Summer: Progressively move animals to higher pasturage as snow recedes, weed
and maintain fields, irrigate crops, prepare and, in some cases, begin the harvest;
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