Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

When growing in large stands, mango trees especially provide an important source of
shade for domestic animals. Stands of fruit trees on the savannah may also form the
basis of the formation of ‘bush islands’ (Salisbury 1968: 12-14), although the
botanical composition of these patches of vegetation and the processes involved in
their establishment and expansion have not been investigated sufficiently to
determine if this is indeed the case. Ethnoecological evidence reported by Salisbury
(1968: 8) suggests that at least some of the islands predate Wapishana occupation
of the South Rupununi, and the size of some of the larger islands would appear to
preclude an anthropogenic origin, via processes akin to those described by Salisbury
(also cf. Posey 1985), within the interval since the first Wapishana immigration into
the region. These larger islands are the major sites of agriculture in the villages of the
central savannahs, Potarinau, Sawariwau and Katoonarib. The name of the latter, in
fact, is derived from the Wapishana term for these formations.
Cultivation of staple crops on the savannahs proper is far more limited in extent.
In Maruranau, two families practice corral agriculture, growing cassava and other
crops in fenced areas fertilised by their previous use as corrals for cows, when they
are rounded up for the purposes of milking and branding during the breeding season.
This practice is made possible by the fact that both of these families possess
relatively large herds of cattle, and it seems unlikely that it could be adopted within
the population as whole without large increases in stocking rates. Within Maruranau
there are high levels of interest in increasing the use of the savannah for agricultural
purposes. In a series of NGO-funded workshops aimed at generating community-
determined proposals for development projects, residents of Maruranau devised a
project proposal centred around experimental investigations of savannah agriculture.
Although a lack of funding has meant that no concrete action has been taken, it
demonstrates the interest that exists locally in this type of innovation. A major
incentive in this is that people are becoming increasingly aware of the time and labour
inputs involved in travel to and from the farm and the transport of crops to the
homestead, and in particular the demands imposed upon women by this. The
opportunity to locate the household's main farm closer to the homestead on the
savannah would thus assist to alleviate the domestic workload.
Elsewhere, workers resident at the outstations of Dadanawa are given strong
encouragement to practice corral agriculture by the management. In Sand Creek, the
former health worker, a progressive thinker who lived for a number of years outside
the Rupununi and is married to a coastlander, has a strong interest in savannah
agriculture, and retired her post in order to have free time to dedicate to the pursuit