@article {827, title = {Los agricultores de Yurimaguas: Uso de la tierra y estrategias de cultivo en la selva peruana}, year = {1989}, note = {includes photographs, diagrams, maps, bibliography}, month = {[1989]}, institution = {Lima, Peru}, address = {Centro de Investigaci{\'o}n y Promoci{\'o}n Amaz{\'o}nica}, abstract = {

(trans.) The Farmers of Yurimaguas: Land Use and Cultivation Strategies in the Peruvian Jungle

This book is the result of a study conducted by the Center for Amazonian Promotion and Investigation. The book contains nine chapters examining traditional agricultural practices and rural domestic farms. The study is based on a perspective recently developed by agriculturists which is farmer-oriented instead of the traditional western development model. The principal objectives in the book are understanding the complex system of subsistence agriculture and the cultivation of commercial products in the Yurimaguas area. The book consists of an in-depth look at the results of the study conducted in the Yurimaguas. Some important areas of the study are the work force, ethnoecology, crops (such as rice, yucca, plantain and bananas, corn, beans, peanuts, sugar cane, pineapple, and sweet potatoes). The authors stress the importance of indigenous technology and emphasize the methods in which the peasants of Yurimaguas have regained their traditional techniques.

}, keywords = {Amazon, bananas, beans, corn, crops, ethnoecology, farmer participatory research, peanuts, peasants, pineapple, plantains, rice, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, technology, work force, yucca, Yurimaguas}, author = {Pedro Bidegaray and Robert E. Rhoades} } @article {679, title = {The ecology of Swidden cultivation in the Upper Orinoco rain forest, Venezuela}, journal = {The Geographical Review}, volume = {61}, year = {1971}, month = {October 1971}, pages = {475-495}, abstract = {

Swidden, a word created by Harold C. Conklin, is defined as as systematic study of shifting cultivation. A survey on Swidden cultivation agreed on two principles themes, \" a manmade ecosystem,\" and the way it relates to population and patterns of settlement. Scientist in Africa are working on the biological and pediological aspects of this technique. The upper Orinoco area of Venezuela is where most of the research is headed. The amount of time needed for research is the biggest obstacle to the study.

Along the Upper Orinoco rivers were ten conucos \"plots in active cultivation,\" ten rastrojos, \"fallow plots in the early stages of forest regeneration.\" In conucos, bananas and manioc were planted and flourished. The rastrojo was harder to pinpoint the growth because of the time and the regeneration process of the forest. It was not possible to tell the length of time that was to be studied.
The study of swidden revealed a change in soil nutrients. The nutrients that were changed were: organic carbon, phosphorus, exchangeable cellium and magnesium, all increased potassium and sodium decreased, as well as a change in pH.

Swidden had made a great contribution to the process of understanding ecology and evolution.

}, keywords = {arrowroot, bitter manioc, bottle gourd, cecropia trees, forest regeneration, Indian arrowleaf, mapuey yam, pejibaye, pijiaguao, rainforests, Rio Ocamo, sugar cane, tobacco, totuma, Waika Indians}, doi = {10.2307/213388}, url = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/213388}, author = {David R. Harris} }