TY - JOUR
T1 - Persistence of swidden cultivation in the face of globalization
T2 - a case study from communities in Calakmul, Mexico
AU - Schmook, Birgit
AU - van Vliet, Nathalie
AU - Radel, Claudia
AU - Manzón-Che, María de Jesús
AU - McCandless, Susannah
PY - 2013/2
Y1 - 2013/2
N2 - Over the last decades, political, economic and environmental pressures have encouraged changes from swidden to more intensive agricultural practices, resulting in the hypothesis that swidden cultivation systems are disappearing. In Calakmul, southeastern Mexico, communities decreased the area under milpa, the traditional maize swidden system, but a collapse did not occur. To document and explain the persistence of swidden we employ a variety of data: (1) 59 standardized household surveys from 2003 and 2010 in five villages, (2) in-depth interviews in one village, and (3) coupled human-environmental timelines in this same village. Droughts, hurricanes, and remittances were important drivers of decreases in milpa cultivation. Market crop profitability and conservation programs were also reported to affect the area under milpa. Off-farm employment and governmental transfers have tended to stabilize household economies and decrease dependency on agricultural production, but have also allowed households to maintain their milpas for subsistence and cultural reproduction. Findings in Calakmul point to the need to consider swidden as an evolving and active response to changing policy, economic, and environmental conditions.
AB - Over the last decades, political, economic and environmental pressures have encouraged changes from swidden to more intensive agricultural practices, resulting in the hypothesis that swidden cultivation systems are disappearing. In Calakmul, southeastern Mexico, communities decreased the area under milpa, the traditional maize swidden system, but a collapse did not occur. To document and explain the persistence of swidden we employ a variety of data: (1) 59 standardized household surveys from 2003 and 2010 in five villages, (2) in-depth interviews in one village, and (3) coupled human-environmental timelines in this same village. Droughts, hurricanes, and remittances were important drivers of decreases in milpa cultivation. Market crop profitability and conservation programs were also reported to affect the area under milpa. Off-farm employment and governmental transfers have tended to stabilize household economies and decrease dependency on agricultural production, but have also allowed households to maintain their milpas for subsistence and cultural reproduction. Findings in Calakmul point to the need to consider swidden as an evolving and active response to changing policy, economic, and environmental conditions.
U2 - 10.1007/s10745-012-9557-5
DO - 10.1007/s10745-012-9557-5
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0300-7839
VL - 41
SP - 93
EP - 107
JO - Human Ecology
JF - Human Ecology
IS - 1
ER -
