the transition from shifting agriculture to permament agriculture.
Please send all replies to me, Adam Tiller, email: adamt@peg.pegasus.oz.au
I will publically post a summary of the responses.
Integrated Kastom Agriculture Resources for Solomon Islands
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Subsistence Agriculture is an integral part of the lives of the
majority of people in the Solomon Islands, where close to 90% of
land is customarily owned. 87% of all households make use of food
gardens and subsistence agriculture is estimated at 16.5% of GDP.
Shifting Cultivation (sometimes called bush fallow, or slash and burn)
is the typical method of subsistence agriculture. Food self-reliance
has been sustainably practiced for thousands of years. In the Solomon
Islands this is called Kastom agriculture.
Shifting agriculture in the Solomn Islands is increasingly unsustainable.
Land is under increasing pressure with a need to accomodate a rapidly
growing population estimated at 3.5% per year. Comparison of aerial
photographs prior to 1972 with recent photographs shows a doubling of
land area under shifting cultivation.
Apart from population increase, other factors reduce the sustainablity
of traditional agricultural practices:
- changes in traditional land settlement patterns around churches and
new coastal commerical trading and fishing villages.
- occupation of suitable land by permanent cash crops.
- land degradation by logging operations.
- introduction of new species and demand for non traditional crops.
- shortened fallow periods causing decline in soil fertility.
This project uses an innovative approach that draws upon existing indigenous
knowledge. It involves participation of rural people, especially women.
This process will create models of ecologically and culturally sustainable
alternatives to the present patterns of shifting cultivation.
Replicable models are to be progressively created to demonstrate and enhance
subsistance agriculture and land management ethics. This ethic draws from
indigenous knowledge integrated with modern methods that are sustainable.
Some components of the project are:
Permaculture
community gardens
organic growers network
documentation
seed saving network
seed banks
village workshops
village models
Integrated Kastom Agriculture Resources for Solomon Islands
by
Appropriate Technology for Community and Environment (APACE)
c/- UTS
P.O. Box 123
Broadway NSW 2007
Sydney, Australia
Tel: +61 2 330 2554
Fax: +61 2 330 2611
Email: peterv@acslink.net.au (Peter Vail)
or contact
Adam Tiller
Permaculture Global Assistance Network
6 Derby St
Kew VIC 3101
Melbourne, Australia
Tel/Fax: +61 3 9853 6828
Email: adamt@peg.pegasus.oz.au