Land tenure change and impact on fallow fields

Prior to 1978, all land belonged to collectives of Daka and Baka under the commune system, but since the early 1980s several new policies have had a large effect on land use in these villages. These changes started when the Household Responsibility System was implemented in 1978, the purpose of which was to transfer communal land to households. Reform in the forestry sector began in 1981, when the State issued its Linyesanding (a regulation consisting of 3 articles governing forest tenure and production, such as stabilizing tenure of hill areas and forests, as well as delimiting the areas of individually held hills and forests, and setting out responsibility for forest production), immediately followed by the more detailed policy of Liangshangyidi (freehold and contracted forestlands and swidden fields) in 1982. Under these reforms, both freehold plots and collectively held forests were leased or contracted to individual households exclusively with fixed identifiable boundaries (Guo and Padoch 1995).

Changes in land tenure have significantly reduced the area of fallow fields in Daka and Baka. For example, with the introduction of the Household Responsibility System in 1978, 66.7 ha of fallow fields were transferred from Daka to another village. Similarly, in Baka, land use and land tenure have varied frequently in recent times (Table 1). Some examples include the transference of 33.3 ha of state forest from Mangkong village to Baka for use as fallow fields, of which 6.7 ha were not suitable for cultivation and thus kept as state forest since 1990. However, generally fallow fields have been lost. Relatively large areas (200 ha and 66.7 ha) of fallow fields were transferred from Baka to nature reserves in 1978 and 1982, respectively. In addition, 40 ha of fallow fields were given over to rubber plantation by the Menglun government to establish a state farm in 1982. In terms of individual allocations, each household in Baka was given 0.07 ha of mountain land at Ziliushan and each person was allocated 0.53 ha of fallow fields in 1983. In the other Jinuo villages, people were allotted an average of 1.53 ha of fallow fields. The net result of these changes has been a reduction in fallow fields and, consequently, indigenous households have had to shorten fallow periods and increase the duration of cultivation.

Paddy field development and impact on fallow fields

Paddy fields are increasing while fallow fields are decreasing in both Daka and Baka (Table 2). Government policies encourage local people to develop paddy fields as a replacement for swidden agriculture. Local living patterns changed from high-altitude sites to low-altitude sites, from mountain to valley, and the neighborhood of the highway after people began to plant paddy rice. As of 1968, when villagers started moving from their traditional high-altitude swidden sites to their present lower-altitude locations, they began to cultivate paddy fields. With the implementation of the Household Responsibility System in 1983, each person was allocated 0.026 ha of paddy field from communal land, the ownership of which remained collective. In addition, this system means households can build and own new paddy fields and, in fact, indigenous households are encouraged to cultivate new paddy fields even far away from the village. For example, by 1998 there was a 13.5% increase in paddy field area constructed by sample households of Daka. This increase in rice production was in response to the local environment, which, being lower and warmer, was more conducive to rice growing: data from the households in Daka showed that the yield of lowland paddy fields was 3.81 t/ha, while that of upland rice was only 2.01 t/ha in 1998. Similarly, in Baka, the shift in location from traditional high-altitude sites to present sites at lower altitudes also allowed an increase in rice yield: data for 2000 show that the yield of upland rice was 1.8 t/ha while lowland paddy rice was 5.25 t/ha. Households that own more paddy fields have in turn planted cash crops such as rubber and Chinese litchi in the old fallow fields. Despite these high rice yields, however, the lack of an irrigation system affects the stability of paddy fields in Daka and Baka. An irrigation system built in Daka in 1983 failed after 4 years, and at the same time an 1800-m irrigation channel in Baka only worked for 4 years before being abandoned.

The dominance of rubber and its impact on fallow fields

Rubber plantations have developed rapidly in both villages, especially in Daka, where rubber plantations increased from 0.7 ha in 1985 to 134 ha in 2000 (Table 2). Rubber plantations have replaced not only fallow fields but also collective forests. As the villagers experimented, there were three development stages of cash crop plantation in fallow fields. First, upland rice was intercropped with rubber; following this, upland rice was intercropped with rubber and with passion fruit (87% of 30 sample households in Daka planned to cultivate passion fruit in 1998). Presently, local people have started to plant Chinese litchi and common teak instead of passion fruit, as the price of the latter dropped greatly in 1999.

Deforestation and impact on fallow field

Deforestation has been widespread in both Baka and Daka. Trees were removed as timber for both local needs and for sale, and more recently forests have been replaced by cash crop plantation before the logging ban. This deforestation has at times verged on the irresponsible: for example, part of a collective forest maintained to conserve the catchment for drinking and irrigation water in Daka was cleared for rubber plantation in 1988. In Daka, the secondary forest available for fallow agriculture declined from 520 ha to 107.7 ha from 1968 to 1996. This represents a per capita decrease from 3.1 ha to 0.3 ha. Similarly in Baka, the forest for fallow declined from 418.7 ha to 136.7 ha from 1978 to 2000.

As secondary forest for fallow was lost to rubber plantations, indigenous households had fewer fallow fields available for shifting cultivation. Hence they had to shorten fallow duration and enlarge swidden duration to satisfy livelihood needs. For example, fallow duration in Daka has shortened from 7–10 years to 5 years since the 1980s. At the same time, fallow duration in Baka has been reduced from the traditional 13 years to 5–6 years.

Population development and impact on fallow fields

The Hani and Jinuo nationalities have traditionally believed that more children mean more happiness because of the great need for labor during periods when living conditions are harsh. Recently, however, the population growth rates of both villages have been reduced by the national family planning policy. For example, Daka's average annual population growth rate dropped from 33.58% between 1968 and 1985, to 10.23% between 1986 and 1996.

Although population growth is slowing, the farmland allotted to each person has declined in both Daka and Baka. In Daka over the last 2 decades, fallow fields have declined by 0.008 ha per capita annually, while population has increased by 3 people annually (Table 2). Meanwhile, Baka shows a similar, though less dramatic pattern, with an annual decline in the per capita area of fallow fields of 0.001 ha and an annual population increase of 1 person.

Diversity of land use change in Daka and Baka

Overall, population has a significant negative simple linear correlation with the availability of fallow fields. This is to be expected, as the fallow field resource is limited and those born since the land reform cannot be allocated new fallow fields. Rubber plantation and paddy fields also showed a negative correlation with fallow field availability (Table 3). Again, this supports the observation that development of these activities has occurred largely at the expense of fallow fields. Contrary to this, there was an extremely significant positive correlation between population and paddy fields and rubber plantation. Population increase greatly stimulates the need for food consumption and cash income.

Change in fallow crops

A feature of fallow agroecosystems is the high diversity of cultivated species and varieties: there are 26 and 35 species planted in the fallow fields in Daka and Baka, respectively (Table 4). According to our sample of households in Baka in 2000, the highest cultivation frequency crops were rubber, upland rice, maize, and passion fruit. Recently fruit has been increasingly planted in fallow fields to earn cash income (Figure 2). In addition, some traditional crops, such as cotton, are still being cultivated. Fallow crops are dominated by the staple upland rice and maize in both Daka and Baka, while cash crops, encouraged by the government, have tended to be more vulnerable to fluctuating market prices. For example, passion fruit had a high yield and produced a rapid cash income for local households as of 1997, when the price was USD 145/t; however, most of the passion fruit has been abandoned or even removed from fallow fields since 2000, when the price dropped to only USD 24/t.

Change in upland rice variety

A diversity of upland rice is produced to suit different natural and social conditions among local minorities: 20 indigenous upland rice varieties are planted in Baka and 7 in Daka. Some traditional varieties, such as mowanggu and honggu (local names), are still cultivated; however, with less area under fallow cultivation, they are gradually being replaced by exotics, such as hybridized varieties. Nevertheless, local varieties such as xihong and hejieba have been cultivated by most households, as they grow on less fertile soils (Figure 3).

There was an extremely significant positive correlation between upland rice fields and crops in fallow fields, and cultivated upland rice varieties in Baka (Table 5). Cash income, however, showed a significant negative correlation with cultivated upland rice varieties. In essence this means that although fallow agriculture supports a diversity of upland rice varieties, households with more cash income do not have to worry about food demand (as they can buy from the market), so they cultivate fewer upland rice varieties and concentrate instead on select varieties with good quality in spite of low yield (Fu and Chen 2002).

Traditional indigenous varieties are closely linked with the livelihood customs and farming practices of indigenous minorities. Indigenous varieties are threatened not only by the introduction of exotic varieties such as hybridized strains (the latter with high yield and great ecological tolerance) but also by the loss of fallow fields, meaning many traditional varieties are no longer in cultivation. There were 20 traditional upland rice varieties in Baka in 1999 (Fu and Chen 2002), while in 2001 there were only 14, and these were dominated by varieties characterized by drought resistance and tolerance to poor soil fertilizer, as well as with high yield (Gong et al 2004). The disappearance of local varieties, especially those with excellent characteristics and breeding potential, is a grave loss in terms of agrobiodiversity.

Change in cultivation technology

Loss in species and varieties is mirrored in the loss of traditional cultivation techniques. Traditional knowledge of land classification, in terms of categories for different cultivation technologies and different fallow crops and varieties best adapted to local conditions, forms the basis of fallow agriculture. These skills are being lost as hybridized varieties that can adapt to different environments are planted widely both in Daka and Baka. Consequently, intercropping technology and long-term continuous cultivation technology with different crops has been ignored, resulting in a reduction of fallow crop diversity. In addition, the shortage of secondary forest for fallow has led to a decline in fallow duration from 13 years to 5 years in Baka and from 8 years to 5 years in Daka. At the same time, short-term continuous cultivation has replaced long-term continuous cultivation, causing a rapid decline in soil fertility and an increase in soil erosion. These changes have been hastened by the introduction of new technology: cultivation tools have advanced while pesticides and herbicides have been introduced to upland rice fields and maize fields, especially in Baka.

Expert farmers and their role in agrobiodiversity conservation

Rapid changes in farming practices in these rural areas of China are now subject to individual farming households' decisions under the Household Responsibility System and the expanding influence of the market. Many farmers successfully take these opportunities and innovate or adapt their farming systems and techniques to the new social landscapes. Expert farmers are often those who have some practical technique for natural resource management, together with extensive knowledge of wild plants and their uses. These local experts may possess special skills in propagation, eg germination of rare species and grafting improved varieties of tree crops onto local wild types.

For example, one household in Daka began to plant common teak in fallow fields for commercial purposes, as well as for personal use to remedy future lack of construction wood from collective forests. Moreover, some households cover the soil around young rubber trees with maize stems to reduce soil erosion and maintain moisture (Figure 4). Some households keep tree roots for better natural regeneration of vegetation and enhanced soil fertility for shifting cultivation. The number of crops and upland rice varieties grown varied greatly between households (Figure 5). Households that cultivate more upland rice varieties do not intend to cultivate more crops in fallow fields. Some households cultivated rare upland rice varieties to meet special tastes. Others cultivated several varieties to reduce natural risk. At the same time, some households cultivated numerous crops in fallow fields to meet family consumption needs and earn cash income, while avoiding market risks, as is the case with farmers in other regions who diversify agricultural production to hedge against the risk of food shortages (Frei and Becker 2004). All these practices are the result of a long association with the environment and the specific needs of the community.