Tran Duc Vien

Recognizing contemporary roles of swidden agriculture in transforming landscapes of southeast Asia.

Geography Department, AS2-04-21, 1 Arts Link, Kent Ridge. National University of Singapore117570, Singapore, emailgeoadz@nus.edu.sg†Program on Environment, East-West Center, 1601 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96848, U.S.A.‡Department of Biological Sciences, 14 Science Drive 4, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117543

Using Traditional Swidden Agriculture to Enhance Rural Livelihoods in Vietnam's Uplands

Abstract Research in Vietnams uplands shows that poverty alleviation and environmental protection can be most readily achieved by communities building, protecting, and using their own assets more effectively. This approach starts by looking at what poor people already have, not what they lack. By contrast, government development policies often seek to modernize the rural sector through the introduction of new agricultural technology and improved marketing without taking existing local capacities into account. Such policies often fail to achieve their objectives. Traditional composite swidden agriculture (CSA), by contrast, may be more environmentally sustainable and better able to enhance household food security than many “modern” agricultural systems. Therefore, improvement of existing systems of composite swiddening in combination with adoption of new ventures, such as cattle raising, may achieve greater success than attempts to replace swidden agriculture with completely new “modern” farming systems.