Mt.

Province: Swidden Farming

Brief Description
 intermittent clearing of forests for staple food-crop production
 a rotational form of agriculture that applies natural vegetative processes
 replenish soil fertility and control invasive weeds
 after harvest, a longer fallow period follows to restore the productivity of the land
 allows the accumulation of organic soil matter through the decomposition of weeds,
leaves, roots, branches and other plant parts
 represents a sustainable and cyclical farming method that makes use of natural processes
 cultivation of crops for direct household consumption and for market/cash income
 increases landscape heterogeneity & proportion early successional vegetation
 widely known in the Philippines as kaingin farming or slash-and-burn
 although considered by many as destructive, recent scientific and anthropological
researches showed it actually conserves the forest if done properly
Ecological Strengths
 potential for climate-change mitigation
 forest management and conservation
 adapted to nutrient limited sites
 wide climatic adaptability
 native flora, ecosystem processes & regeneration paths maintained
 natural/biological control of insects & disease pathogens
 high biodiversity conservation value
 major influence on contemporary biodiversity, species composition, distribution,
structure and on ecosystem functions & processes
 sustainable practice and cultivation cycles
 benefits farmers’ livelihoods as well as local and global ecosystem services
Weakness
 population growth
 shorter fallow periods
 increased invasion of herbaceous plants
 lack of available land
 destructive logging practices
Cultural Values
 ancestral people practiced in maintaining a cycle of cultivation and fallow that was and is
appropriate for the land
 cropping of upland rice for one year
 ten-or-more years of swidden fallow
References:
Cruz, A. (2015, May 8). ‘Is it good or bad?’ challenging views about swidden agriculture.
Retrieved from https://blog.worldagroforestry.org/index.php/2015/05/08/is-it-good-or-bad-
challenging-views-about-swidden-agriculture/#:~:text=Swidden%20agriculture%2C%20also
%20called%20shifting,the%20productivity%20of%20the%20land
Henley, D. (2011). Swidden farming as an agent of environmental change: ecological myth and
historical reality in Indonesia. Environment and History, 17(4), 525-554.
Mountain Research Initiative. https://www.mountainresearchinitiative.org/news-
content/asia/swidden-agriculture-and-the-sustainability-of-mountain-agriculture
https://www.cfc.umt.edu/rattan/files/Swidden%20agriculture.pdf