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BEST PRACTICE IN SHIFTING CULTIVATION

Critical elements of the environment, Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands is located in the Western Pacific Ocean in the heart of the Pacific region known as Melanesia. The region encompasses the relatively new nations of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Fiji.

Topography and climate

The main islands:

• are of volcanic origin
• typically long (up to 200km) and narrow (20-80 km) with mountains up to 2400m

The Solomon Islands:

• has a wet tropical climate with rainfall from 2500 to 7000mm per annum
• there is no distinct wet and dry season though there are many local variations; typically, it is wetter from January to April in most parts of the country
• most of the country is covered in tropical rain forest
• the coastline is fringed with coral reefs.

On these two environments - forest and sea - depend the food security and livelihood of most of the Solomon’s population.

Population, land, culture

Eighty percent of the islands 450,000 people live in small isolated communities on their ‘customary’ or tribal lands:

• customary land ownership is protected in the constitution
• it is a central component of Melanesian culture
• land ownership passes through patrilineal and matrilineal descent on different islands
• all people have access to land in their traditional tribal place.

There are over 87 language groups in the Solomons. Some islands, such as Malaita, have a relatively high population density while others, such as Choiseul, are very sparsely populated.

European influence on this ancient culture has been relatively recent. A British Protectorate was established in the early part of this century. Missionary influence began about 100 years ago and most of the population is now Christian and is divided among various denominations.

Economy

The formal cash economy is based on export of copra, cocoa and timber. Tuna fishing licences and, more recently, mining have become important.

The cash economy is supplemented by a non-formal economy that provides the food and livelihood for most of the population. Barter and gifts remain an important part of the culture within this informal economy and the sharing of food is an important feature of the ‘wantok’ traditional social security system.

Agriculture

Traditional agriculture is based on the shifting cultivation system.

Long forest fallows were the traditional norm (15-25 years fallow) and are still practiced in some areas. Population growth (3.6% per annum), land degradation and occupation of land for cash crops have led to declining fallow periods. In many areas shifting cultivation is now under a system of bush fallow with fallow periods of between 5-7 years.

In the highest population pressure areas fallow periods have been reduced to critical levels of from six months to three years with as yet no additional practices to maintain soil fertility. In these areas yields are declining along with spoil degradation and biodiversity.

The main staples are all roots crops - yam, taro, sweet potato and cassava along with some plantains. Other important crops include slippery kabis, beans and vegetables, sugarcane, bananas; corn and various wild or semi-cultivated crops.

Farmer led extension in tribal communities to explore and improve soil fertility and pest management in shifting gardens

Many extension programs fail to focus on real needs of farmers or are inaccessible to the farmers. This is especially true in the case of shifting cultivation farmers in Melanesia - the majority of whom are women. Traditional government extension programs have used male extension officers who focus almost exclusively on cash crops such as coconut and cocoa.

Innovative extension approaches are needed to work with village farmers (the majority of whom are women) who often have little formal education (literacy is less than 40% in most areas) and have worldviews that need to be understood and built upon for extension programs to succeed.

Community ethnobotany...

involving the documentation and devitalisation in use of forest food plants harvested from shifting cultivation forest fallows.

In areas where shifting cultivation is practiced, a wide variety of products is harvested from the forests. These include foods, medicines, building materials, fibres, fuel and fodder. In the Solomons, it is estimated that most communities utilise more than 400 species of plants from the forest.

Forest food plants are believed to provide an important source of food - especially in times of crop failure or shortage and in certain seasons.

The management of shifting cultivation fallows has a direct effect on what types of plant and animal products can be harvested from the fallow vegetation. Changes in fallow periods and management appear to be affecting these wild food resources.

In Babatana (Choiseul Province), a community based ethnobotanical project was initiated to investigate community knowledge of forest food plants and to revive their use to promote sustainable forest management.

Documentation of traditional slash and mulch systems as opposed to more widely practiced slash and burn systems

In the Solomon Islands most farmers currently practice ‘slash and burn’ systems of shifting cultivation where most organic matter is burnt after clearing. Typically, this involves the slashing of bush or secondary forest, leaving it to dry and then setting fire to it.

Many farmers perceive that this has always been the practice and that it is their ‘kastom’ or traditional way of preparing the garden site for planting. It appears that as fallows have shortened in recent decades, farmers have resorted to using fire more intensively than in the past.

Our experience suggests the reverse practice would be better - less fire with shorter fallows and more incorporation of organic matter into the soil to preserve soil fertility.

Further investigation - by field staff talking with old people and visiting different parts of the country - looking at traditional methods has revealed a more diverse approach to the use of fire. A number of locally specific methods involving the use of organic matter were documented. Some of these methods are still commonly practiced while others are close to disappearing.

These traditional methods have been used as an entry point to discuss the role of organic matter in soil fertility with farmers. The aim is to build on farmer’s traditional understanding of the role of organic matter in their farming systems.

Guadalcanal slash and mulch

Below are two systems practiced on the island of Guadalcanal in some bush or inland areas.

Yam and Pana slash and mulch

Guadalcanal is well known for a system of planting of yams without the use of fire or staking. In most other parts of the Solomon’s yam gardens are cleared with fire and then the yams are staked with staking material cut from the fallow vegetation. Traditionally, yams are considered to need a long fallow before they will yield well, so yam gardens are usually cleared in forest rather than bush or shrub fallows.

The process:

• the undergrowth, usually of mature forest but sometimes of younger secondary forest, is cleared but most of the trees are left standing
• the yams are planted using a traditional digging stick
• the vegetation is then in a random pattern over the site
• the leaves eventually rot, forming a rich matt of organic material
• the trunks and branches form a mass of crossed ‘stakes’ for the yams to climb
• sometimes, bananas and taro are planted in this type of system

Advantages:

• no need for staking
• ground covered in organic matter
• soil well protected in dry weather
• slow supply of nutrients to the crop as organic matter decays.

Disadvantages:

• can be difficult to harvest some yams under trunks
• method is considered applicable to yams only, which generally have strict cultural practices associated with their cultivation in each area, hence the method has not usually been applied to other crops
• the method appears ‘messy’ or disordered, which is culturally unacceptable in some areas where there are strict perceptions of what a garden should look like
• in very short fallows there will not be enough tree branches and trunks to provide adequately stakes for the yams to climb; this may result in poor yield.

Tasimate slash and mulch gardens

This is a method similar to the yam planting described above and is found in the Tasimate area of Guadalcanal. The difference is that this method of slash and mulch is applied to all food crops, especially sweet potato and taro. This makes the results likely to be more widely applicable.

The process:

• undergrowth is cleared in a fallow of typically 4-6 years
• these secondary forests are often dominated by stands of maturing pioneer species of trees (such as Macaranga) with an understorey of soft ginger and banana-like plants; this vegetation is cleared
• the garden is then planted out below the canopy of the larger trees
• the crops are laid in rows in a pattern planned with an awareness of how the fallow trees will be felled onto the garden; planting is done with the traditional digging stick, a minimum-cultivation tool
• once the cuttings have started to grow the trees are cut; unlike the random pattern used for yam cultivation, the vegetation is laid carefully with branches and trunks placed in wide rows across the garden
• in between the branches and trunks, where the crops have been planted, the soft leaves and stems are cut into thick mulch (often 5-10cm thick)
• in the case of sweet potato the cuttings are planted further apart than is typical in slash and burn systems; the vines eventually grow over the thick mulch and the rotting trunks
• the first harvest is dug along the vines in what was the mulch; a second harvest is made in the sticks and trunks when they have rotted.

The system is much higher yielding than slash and burn system practiced in the same area on the same soil types. It also appears to yield very well in relatively short fallows - indeed these short fallow areas are preferred by farmers who practice this method.

Advantages:

• higher yielding than slash and burn
• abundant soil organic matter returned to soil
• fallow recovers very quickly with many trees coppicing
• smaller gardens provide the same yields as larger slash and burn gardens
• yields well with all crops grown in the area
• the garden appears ‘ordered’, with rows of mulch and sticks ; this fits local perceptions of a good garden
• farmer can work in the shade of the trees while planting.

Disadvantages:

• the work of clearing and laying our the organic matter and felling the trees in the correct way without damaging crops is difficult
• if there is not a large amount of vegetation, weeds may recolonise the garden faster than in a burned area.

Lau partial burn systems

In the Lau area of the island of Malaita farmers report that they do not have enough organic matter for a ‘good’ burn. This is due to shortening of fallow periods as a result of very high population pressure:

• fallows are often only six months to three years
• soil fertility is declining and even these fallows grow poorly and are increasingly dominated by fire resistant ferns, grasses and shrubs.

This has often led farmers to import more organic matter (usually coconut leaves) for burning on the gardens, a laborious process but one that they consider worthwhile in order to achieve a good burn across the whole garden site.

With short fallows of fewer than two years, this is leading to rapid soil degradation. In the near future much of this land may turn into grassland, as has happened in some other parts of the Solomon Islands.

In this same area, however, there are traditional practices in current use or that have been used in the past that show that the uniform burning of all slashed fallow vegetation was not always the traditional way.

Edu gardens

‘Edu’ (Alocasia sp) is an important crop in this area. It is usually planted on stoney soils that would not be productive for other root crops. Edu grows well here because the tuber develops on top of the ground. Such sites are reserved for edu cultivation.

Edu has high cultural value and is traditionally used as part of bride payment and for the purchase of traditional ‘shell money’ that is used in cultural payments.

The edu planting:

• vegetation is cleared from four to seven year fallow sites
• the organic matter is heaped around the bases of the remaining trees and burnt; this effectively kills the trees
• the garden is then planted to edu mixed with slippery kabis, beans and, occasionally, other crops
• the trees slowly die, dropping foliage as a mulch cover over the garden
• the trees provide initial shade during the early growth of the plants.

Advantages:

• the garden is mulched with a layer of organic matter that falls from the trees
• less labour is involved in burning tree trunks than in cutting them down
• potash is made available in the form of ash
• soil microorganisms are not greatly disturbed by the spot burning
• trees can be used for the staking of yams or beans which are often planted in this type of garden along with slippery kabis as an understorey.

Disadvantages:

• this form of edu cultivation is considered to be cultural practice specific to the crop; most farmers have not applied the method to other crops
• some burning of organic matter still occurs and this may become a critical issue as fallows get shorter in the near future due to population growth.

Tuku and biru

These are traditional compost heaps in the bush gardens. This is a traditional practice that is disappearing in some areas in favour of burning all the organic material.

Conclusion

Traditional knowledge has an important role in reinforcing sustainable management systems. It also provided important links in the move from the known to the unknown and in the trialing and development of new methods to cope with changing land use pressures.

We cannot assume that traditional is a fixed group of methods. Traditions are in a constant state of change, sometimes very slow and sometimes very rapid. In many instances local people may not immediately recognise the changes that have occurred in their farming system and stick to methods as their ‘custom’.

Participatory approaches can be used to discuss change and tradition and help farmers understand the positive and negative consequences of current and past practices for sustainable food production.

Strategies

Appropriate strategies with a focus on women as the main agriculturalists have been developed for participatory assessment to plan extension and training in Melanesian communities.

The collection of baseline data is often difficult for community based NGO’s due to number of different factors such as:

• lack of resources
• lack of expertise
• a commitment to action rather than ‘research’.

This can result in some NGO projects not b3ing targeted or having poorly developed means of monitoring impact.

Participatory approaches can be used for problem identification and the collection of baseline data.

This process can also be used to facilitate sharing and understand of the complex resource management issues involved with shifting cultivation and village food security.

In this way, the process of problem identification and collecting baseline information is turned into a useful learning device for all project stakeholders or in agriculture development in the target area.

In Lauru, Choiseul Province, an APACE pilot participatory food security assessment included the following steps...

Selection of communities

As not all communities participating in the project could take part. The local management committee developed the selection and criteria with representatives from each of the participating communities.

Selection of village facilitators by the community

Village facilitators, both women and men, were chosen from each of the two pilot communities. They were people with skills and interest to carry out the task and who had respect within the community. A number of village leaders were involved to ensure the ownership by the leadership of the results of the participatory assessment.

Training of village facilitators (3 day workshop)

A three-day workshop was held where facilitators learned how to use each of a number of PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) tools that had been developed to collect the data. The facilitators learned how to be a good ‘facilitator’ and not impose their ideas, and how to record and compile the data from the community.

Community food security assessment (4 days)

This was carried out in each village over four days in a program agreed with the community leaders.. Different groups from the village were involved at different times. Tools such as cropping calendar, women’s and children’s line etc were carried out in the village while the garden transects and surveys were carried out in small groups in the bush.

Compilation of data

The village facilitators grouped the data. The NGO staff, with a couple of village experts, compiled the data into a report. This involved grouping the data in various domains and then sorting it into relevant chapters. Each chapter came to some conclusions about resources and threats for food security.

Reporting back to the community

The same community faciltiators planned a series of dramas to portray the main issues identified in the assessment to the community. A process of discussion in local language was then facilitated. Copies of the report in local language and English were left with the community leaders and all the other groups and organisations that had been involved in the assessment.

Production of reports

Production of reports was initially to be done by the NGO staff, however the community faciltiators asked to be taught the skills so they could produce the reports themselves. This was a time consuming process but the resulting report was more appropriate to the community.

Action planning

Outcomes of the assessment:

• key areas identified where the community and other actors need to address threats to food security
• awareness raised in the community of the many different issues and the complex resource management involved in sustaining community food security
• the role of traditional knowledge in sustainable resource management in the past and its current erosion was a repeating theme throughout the assessment
• better coordination between stakeholder groups should eventuate as a result of all those groups being involved in the assessment (agricultural extension, NGO’s, medical services, schools etc)
• village people were trained to effectively carry out their own assessment
• a basic pool of baseline data now exists for the community to monitor changes and progress in the improvement of food security.

Advantages

• effective in promoting community awareness and discussion of issues
• community people are trained in the skills to carry out participatory assessment and monitoring
• production of reports in local language and in local terms makes the findings accessible to and useful to local people
• community has ownership of issues identified in the assessment.

Disadvantages

• difficulty to train people in the skills of good data recording
• prolonged process to produce reports in two languages with unskilled facilitators
• data may not be accepted by formal bodies
• inaccuracies of rapid qualitative methods have to be accepted.

Transition to fixed site gardening in Avaipa district Bougainville

Bougainville is located in the North Solomons province of Papua New Guinea. The island has been subject to a ten year civil war that:

• forced most of the population (estimated at 250,000 but there has been no census for almost 20 years) to live in the isolated interior of the island
• enforced an economic blockade throughout the conflict (including all medical supplies) forcing villagers to develop total self-reliance in an environment of fear and insecurity.

People rely on shifting cultivation to produce their food in much the same pattern as is found in nearby Solomon Islands. The only difference is that a large proportion of Bougainville’s population lives in inland villages where they have little or no access to the marine products that are the major protein source in coastal villages.

Amidst the conflict, a community-training centre called Paruparu Education and Development Centre (PEDC) initiated a process of agriculture extension and primary health care education. Over the years of the conflict they managed to improve health standards at the same time that they worsened in many other places on the island.

PEDC staff, as volunteers, developed an innovative clan-based extension approach as well as a package of simple technologies to improve food production and food security.

Clan based extension

The clan-based extension model was developed as an alternative to the traditional models of agriculture extension that had been used in Bougainville. These involved agriculture extension officers (known as didimen) posted to a particular area for a period of time. This system has proved ineffective for a number of reasons that are beyond the scope of this article.

Clan mareeba management committee

The clan-based extension system starts with the establishment of clan-based resource management committee.

The committee is formed after an awareness-raising and educational process facilitated by visiting PEDC resource people.

From the clan, different members are selected to represent different resources important to the community such as water, forests, gardens and food production.

The committee should make decisions for that clan and their land in order to sustainably manage their resources for the benefit of all clan members.

Training of community-based rural extension officers

The clan mareeba management committee then selects a person to be trained by the training centre in various agricultural methods and technologies. This person attends the PEDC training centre on a part-time basis for two years. During this time she or he lives with other farmers and learns from their experiences in:

• small livestock
• inland fisheries
• fixed site agriculture
• multiple-use forestry
• catchment management.

Over the two years they spend increasing periods of time in their home communities where they start to apply what they have learned.

Once they are competent with the new methods, the clan management committee selects members of the clan to specialise in different areas. For example, one person might concentrate on poultry, another on fish farming, another on tree planting and perhaps all of them on fixed-site gardening.

In Melanesian society the clan is the natural unit of cooperation where disputes are least likely to occur. The clan based extension officers are working for the benefit of their own people who they know and with whom they share deep trust.

Simple, useful technology proves successful

The PEDC agriculture extension model involved the use of simple technology to increase farmer’s yields as the first step in attracting their interest in the potential of improving the production in their shifting cultivation fields.

This technology was a simple method of raised beds for sweet potato production. The increased drainage provided by this method allowed for a radical increase in production in a very high rainfall area.

At the same time as this method was introduced with a system of crop rotation to extend the cropping period in that garden site. This involved the use of legumes including peanuts, soybeans and indigenous forest species.

At the same time as the sweet potato is harvested, the crop refuse is left to dry on the top of the mounds. It is occasionally turned if needed during wet weather.

The trenches are then ‘cleaned’ of fallen soil and other organic matter. This is deposited on the top of the raised beds in a type of green manuring system.

The bed is then planted to a legume crop before being rotated back to sweet potato or an intermediate crop such as corn, aibika or upland rice.

This method has proved very successful and has been widely adopted in the Avaipa district. Some garden sites have now been cropped continuously under this system for 15 years. Others still occasionally revert to a short bush fallow, but the raised beds remain in the fallow and can soon be re cultivated.

This first successful innovation then led to further developments to improve the food production system to promote food security and self-reliance.

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