Tropical forests and shifting cultivation: secondary forest fallow dynamics among traditional farmers of the Peruvian Amazon

Tropical secondary forests created by swidden-fallow agriculture cover extensive areas in the humid tropics and yield significant ecological and economic benefits, yet forest fallowing behaviour among swidden cultivators remains poorly understood. This paper reports on a study of forest fallow management among Amazonian peasant farmers in a traditional, riverside community near Iquitos, Peru. Data were gathered through in-depth household interviews (n=36) on farming practices, demographic characteristics, kinship relations and family history, income-expenditures and household wealth. Field visits and interviews allowed the reconstruction of forest fallow histories (n=593 fields) for the period of 1950–1994. These histories were combined with information on household land holding and demographic composition, over time, and incorporated into a panel data set for analysis of fallow dynamics at the plot and household level. Our analyses indicate marked variations among households in the area, number and age of fallow holdings through time. Tobit regressions suggest that households with better access to land and to both in-house (male) and communal labour hold more land in secondary forest fallow with longer fallow periods. Over time, as primary forest lands around the community became increasingly scarce, households increased their holdings of forest fallow but reduced the fallow length. Duration analyses at the plot level indicate that fallow length is influenced primarily by the type of prior crop, field size, and household access to labour as well as primary forest. Land poorer households have significantly shorter forest fallows than better-off households. Our findings point to the importance of intra-community variations in non-market mediated access to land and labour and their implications for secondary forest fallow management among traditional peoples in tropical rain forest regions. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.