Intensive Smallholding Farming in the Belizean Maya Milpa and Matahambre Agro-ecosystems PDF Download

Author: Carmen Julia Cortez
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ISBN: 9781369201413
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Languages : en
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Book Description
Small-scale non-industrialized farmers using traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and household labor manage a system of shifting cultivation in their maize milpa and matahambre forest plots. The feedbacks from their immediate environment and household provide a platform where micro-level agricultural dynamics are practiced for subsistence. In Belize, Mayan farmers in their lands sustain their families and maintain a level of sustainability by relying on their household, ecology, and community rather than industrialized or mechanized strategies. This dissertation details three main facets of this farming system: 1.) The effect of fallow and soil property on maize yields in a shifting swidden farm system called the milpa, 2.) The effect of household (HH) labor and cultivation lengthing on the selection of weed control strategies in the slash and mulch farm type, matahambre and 3.) The effect of school enrollment has on how much school going versus non-school going young adults participate in activities that build traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). We did not find an effect of fallow length, or any of our soil properties (pH, TKN, %OM, or P) on maize yields. This suggests that other cultural factors such as land tenure, weeding management, and pest management may instead play a role in the selection of sites with a variety of fallow ages for planting maize. In the matahambre system we find that household hand weeding is still the prevalent method of weeding and weakly found support for the relationship of cultivation lengthening associated with a decrease in the use of herbicides while displaying an increase in the use of both herbicides and cover crops. Finally, critical to land-based subsistence activities, is TEK that is learned by young adults by participating in community agro-ecological activities that engage the practice of this knowledge. We find no difference between school going (SG) and non-school going (NSG) females' time devoted to TEK related activities. We also found that SG males spend less time engaged in agricultural related activities than NSG males. Despite the national state level policies that attempt to undermine land tenure, customary management of milpa and matahambre farming, and threaten traditional ecological learning in the Mayan lands, Mayan farmers' milpa management with respect to fallow does not appear to hinder their sustainability in terms of yields and possibly to soil. Management of matahambre continues to consider HH weeding as its main method of weeding rather than the use of herbicides or cover crops. Finally, our final results suggest that traditional ecological knowledge and agricultural activities must be included in school curriculum to transmit subsistence farming knowledge. Altering farming practices without full consideration of HH decision making, the parameters these decisions are made under, their consequences on the environment and the exclusion of the farmer's themselves from the development project table is detrimental to long term sustainability of both natural and human communities.