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7. 'Total Acreage' in Thble 17 refers to the total area of all farms surveyed which was actually
under crops at the time of surveying. This is to say that, in calculating the percentages in
the table all uncultivated land (under fallow) is left out of consideration. For further
statistical-details; see Appendix D;-
8. Fallow periods reported are as follows:
Total No. No. of Average
of Years Fallow No. of
Periods
Years
Odompem 40.5 14 2.9
Amoanda 159.0 30 5.3
Nearby Lands 199.5 44 4.5
Osekyerew 105.5 21 5.0
Edumenu 80.0 14 5.7
Distant Lands 185.5 35 5.3
Total 385.0 79 4.9
9. In this table 'Total Acreage' is the sum total ofiand under foodcrops and land under
fallow: that is to say that the total area of farms surveyed and measured on each of the
family lands has been reduced by the area under permanent cultivation. The rationale
for this will be clear: land under perennial crops, cultivated for a term of some 30-40 years,
is removed from the alternation between food cropping and fallow.
10. This time the total acreage equals the total area surveyed and measured, including all land
under crops as well as under fallow. We are now contrasting the part of each farm which
is devoted to temporaiycultivation (which includes land under foodcrops as well as land
under fallow which is only waiting to beput under foodcrops) and the part that is devoted
to (more) permanent cultivation.
11. There is no doubt that, as a consequence, the contrast between the nearer and the more
distant family lands on this score in Table 16 amounting to 46 vs. 161l7o, is exaggerated.
12. We refer the reader to Table 3, from which it can be seen that the Amoano ebusua has
bought two parcels of Abura-Dunkwa land: first Osekyerew and second the smaller
Kurado4.
13. Wherever we discuss the Abura-Dunkwa family lands and their asasewurahom, as well
as the Abura-Dunkwa ebusuaand theirmpanyinfo, they are referred to under their proper
names. In these cases anonymity would be as useless as it is unwanted and might even
be self-defeating. Where, however, we are concerned with such sensitive matters as the
way in which the Ebusua Pyanyin leads his family as well as the way in which the
Asasewura administers the family land (more especially because this involves their
fiduciary role over the family) anonymity is a necessity.
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