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

that of previous studies of Wapishana agriculture may reflect differences between the
prevailing systems in the study villages, but I suspect it is more likely a consequence
of the different duration of past studies. Casual questioning of my part did not reveal
the existence of the system of regulation of access to farming land. The latter only
became evident to me after I had spent several months in the field, a longer duration
than was available in either of the previous studies cited, and started to undertake a
period of research dedicated to agriculture.
Farms generally remain at peak productivity for two years. The most common
varieties of cassava planted have a maturation period of about nine months: a farm in
its second year of life will therefore be actively harvested over the period before the
new farm comes to maturity. After two years fields are generally neglected as
weeding ceases, although some crops will continue to produce and may be harvested
for several years beyond this. The most important examples of this are some tubers,
such as yam and sweet potato, and tree crops such as banana (Musa spp.) and
papaya (Carica papaya). Fruit trees are commonly planted in the vicinity of farm
camps, most commonly mango (Mangifera indica), cashew (Anacardium occidentale)
and citrus trees (Citrus spp.), and also guava (Psidium guajava), soursop (Annona
sp.), jamoon (Syzygium cuminii) and calabash (Crescentia cujete), grown for technical
rather than alimentary purposes. Conscious agroforestry barely extends beyond this:
palm trees with edible fruits and other useful products may be left standing when
fields are cleared, or when very abundant felled in such a way as to allow the tree to
grow back from the stump. This occurs most commonly in the case of the kokerite
palm (Attalea regia), which is very common in the farming area; I also observed cases
when other palms such as buru (Astrocaryum sp.) were spared when found in areas
being cleared for farms. Apart from this I saw only a single instance of a tree being
left standing in an area cleared for agriculture, a food tree for macaws used by the
farmer and his relatives for trapping these birds.
Edible fruits of forest trees may be dispersed by people into old farms, or their
immediate vicinity, when their fruits are collected and brought to the farm for
consumption. Wild guava and wild cashew are reported to have been introduced into
the farming area in this way, but this appears to have been an accidental
consequence of their consumption rather than any conscious manipulation of
succession. Fallows are used to a limited extent for gathering useful products, most
important of which from a cultural perspective being bishawud, or 'kari mother',
whose leaves play an important part in the fermentation of cassava during the
manufacture of parakari. Certain popular species of game animal are known to