Swiddens in transition: shifted perceptions on shifting cultivators in Indonesia

Swidden is the origin of all current agricultural systems across Asia. How it has evolved in different settings depends on which period and products in the cycle – the food cropping phase or the regenerating fallow phase – emerge as the most economically important. Carbon stocks decline as forest is converted into intensively managed plantation or cropland, whether by burning or not. Focusing on fire does not mitigate the loss of diversity in traditional crops and the wild component of agroforests. By refusing to accept the tradition of shifting cultivation of food crops in situations where it still is sustainable, and by restricting access to forest resources, existing forest policies in Indonesia have forced intensification on nearby unprotected land and fomented conflicts over land use. The Indonesian government's early focus on jumpstarting intensive permanent cropping shifted to supporting tree crop monocultures. It would be better support the gradual evolution of swiddens and the agroforestry systems derived from it in accordance with local expectations

---

• View source