Source: Dufour, D.L. 1990. Use of tropical rainforests by native Amazonians. Bioscience. 40: 652-659.

Darna Dufour discusses the slash-and-burn or swidden agricultural systems employed by native Amazonians, primarily the Tukanoan Indians of the northwestern portion of the Amazon. The agricultural systems used by native Amazonians are among the best examples of sustainable agriculture under low population densities. Dufour based her paper on her own research and the research of other anthropologists and ecologists who have studied in Amazonia. Under the system of swidden agriculture, patches of forest are prepared for cultivation by clearing and then burning the vegetation. After cultivating and harvesting the plots for several years, they are abandoned or left fallow, and the vegetation is allowed to regrow. The swidden fallows are very important to this system because they allow the soil to reaccumulate biomass, which holds nutrients for the vegetation, and the forest ecosystem to recover by the establishment of many useful perennials. She refers to Amerindian swidden agriculture as a "relatively benign disturbance to the ecosystem function." The system preserves the soil's organic matter, decreases the risk of total crop failure, and reduces soil erosion. The ultimate result of Amerindian swidden agriculture systems, she says, is a mosaic of agriculture plots, agroforestry plots, and forest plots in several different successional stages, together containing a large number of useful plants. Swidden fallows also attract game, which is an important supplement to the Amerindian's regular diet that is otherwise composed primarily of starchy foods. Typically, plots are left fallow for 65 to 75 years. Dufour concludes that there is a growing recognition that these types of swidden systems have a lot to offer in the design of sustainable agroecosystems, and that more research must be done in this area.

Abstract author: Bronwen S. Eastman, 20 November 1996.

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