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Landscapes of bio-cultural diversity: shifting cultivation in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa

Landscapes of bio-cultural diversity: shifting cultivation in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa This article presents a study of shifting cultivation in Guinea-Bissau, illustrating the diversity, flexibility and resilience of these multifold agricultural practices and of its non-linear relation with deforestation and biodiversity conservation. The comparative analysis of the country’s three social and agro-ecological regions shows that the shortest fallows are not associated with the longest cultivation periods and with higher population densities. Further, the fast-track conversion of shifting cultivation into permanent agriculture with orchards is similar in the three regions, and is not occurring in response to land scarcity, shorter fallows and decreasing soil fertility. The article, then, adds depth to the understanding of the complexity of shifting cultivation in Africa and of its multiple routes of transformation into permanent agriculture. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Agroforestry Systems Springer Journals

Landscapes of bio-cultural diversity: shifting cultivation in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa

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Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Subject
Life Sciences; Forestry; Agriculture
ISSN
0167-4366
eISSN
1572-9680
DOI
10.1007/s10457-014-9752-z
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article presents a study of shifting cultivation in Guinea-Bissau, illustrating the diversity, flexibility and resilience of these multifold agricultural practices and of its non-linear relation with deforestation and biodiversity conservation. The comparative analysis of the country’s three social and agro-ecological regions shows that the shortest fallows are not associated with the longest cultivation periods and with higher population densities. Further, the fast-track conversion of shifting cultivation into permanent agriculture with orchards is similar in the three regions, and is not occurring in response to land scarcity, shorter fallows and decreasing soil fertility. The article, then, adds depth to the understanding of the complexity of shifting cultivation in Africa and of its multiple routes of transformation into permanent agriculture.

Journal

Agroforestry Systems – Springer Journals

Published: Feb 1, 2015

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