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The impact of cash cropping on shifting cultivation in Sabah, Malaysia
Author(s) -
Lim Jennifer NyukWo,
Douglas Ian
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
asia pacific viewpoint
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.571
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8373
pISSN - 1360-7456
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8373.00072
Subject(s) - cash crop , agriculture , business , incentive , cropping , production (economics) , shifting cultivation , cash , economic shortage , government (linguistics) , agricultural economics , economics , geography , market economy , finance , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , macroeconomics
Pressure from the state government to abandon shifting cultivation and of the market to increase the production of cash crops are causing not simply a reduction in the practice of shifting cultivation in Sabah, Malaysia but marked alterations in the way many remote communities grow hill rice. Many traditional practices have been abandoned including the substitution of cash payments for community labour co‐operation ( gotong‐royong ), the use of traditional methods to monitor soil fertility such as maintaining fallow periods and the selection of appropriate hill rice varieties. The result has been a reduction in labour input, a shortage of land, continuous production, increased used of weedicides and a general failure to continue sustainable agricultural practices. Despite state incentives to abandon the practice the pressure to maintain real incomes among the rural communities has meant a continuation of the practice of shifting cultivation but under conditions which are now resulting in land degradation, slope instability and soil infertility.