Itinerant Agriculture in the Bobonaro District in East Timor During the Post-Independence Period

Abstract

Itinerant agriculture is a primitive agricultural system historically adopted in the ecosystems of tropical forests in which people make a clearing in the forest and burn the residues to prepare the ground for planting. Food production occurs for 2 to 3 years; the area is then abandoned and becomes non-productive. A secondary forest establishes itself frequently on the abandoned ground and may be used once more for crop planting after ten to twenty years. Itinerant agriculture is still employed in East Timor as subsistence agriculture. Current analysis characterizes the iterant agriculture in East Timor and enhances its social and economic relevance for rural populations, identifies impacts on the environmental sustainability of ecosystems and describes solutions to minimize its negative effects. Methodology is based on the bibliographical information on the theme and on a questionnaire survey to itinerant peasants of the sub-district Atabae in Bobonaro. The questionnaire characterized itinerant agriculture and collected the opinion of peasants on its effects. Current itinerant agriculture in East Timor is restricted to kitchen gardens and the material produced in forest clearings is used as firewood and building material. The negative impacts on goods and services produced by the forests are measured by changes in rainfall, erosion, climate changes, decrease in the number of wild animals and plants and in products collected in the forest.