Indigenous soil management in the Amazon basin: Some implications for development

This paper focuses on two main issues. First, it discusses the indigenous versus modernization approaches to soil resource management in Amazonian research and development strategies. The production systems of the Kayapó Indians of southern Para state are compared with those that inform current regional agricultural programs. While indigenous systems are complex, the principles that underlie them are not. Native land management models could be adapted by development planning agencies in a fuller way. Second, the outcomes of Kayapó and conventional colonist and livestock systems are compared in terms of soil fertility and yields. (author)