1t0SC7l

total TCP area for agricultural land expansion study. The maps of the sample areas are given in
Annexes 3 – 6.
The agricultural land expansion opportunities in the TCP area may be influenced by a variety of
factors such as population increase, available accessible land, electrification (in some villages),
roads opened by logging (though poorly motorable in the rainy season), increased market demand
for food crops and the return of young people from towns to the villages. Another factor is the
active participation of the elite 4 in farming, opening new forest land for commercial production of
banana-plantain, pineapple, cassava, oil palm and horticultural produce, and the increasing use of
chainsaws for forest clearing.
Results show that between 1984 and 1997 the proportion of land under agricultural use expanded
from 31 to 40.3%. This corresponds to an average annual expansion of 0.71% of the total land
area (an absolute value of 1200 ha / year). Figure 4.1 gives the evolution of agricultural land area
from 1984 to 1997, compared to the total land area and the potential agricultural land area of the
TCP research area.
Table 4.1. Extent of the areas influenced by shifting cultivation in 1984 and 1997
Intensity of shifting cultivation Extent (ha) % of total area
1984 1997 1984 1997
None to hardly any
116 170
Low to high intensity
51 180
Source: adapted from van Gemerden and Hazeu (1999)
99 472
67 652
69
31
59.7
40.3
Agricultural field expansion trend
% of total land
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998
Year
Potential Agri. land
Actual Agri. land
Figure 4.1. Trends in agricultural land expansion in the TCP area
In the shifting cultivation system, because of yield decline during the cropping period, fields are
abandoned and new fields are cleared in a natural fallow or in an undisturbed forest. Soil
degradation and weed infestation are reported to be the main reason for yield decline (Nye and
4 The elite consists of comparatively rich urban people, who originate from the village concerned.
47