Chitemene, Fundikila and Hybrid Farming
This is an interesting post:
Chitemene
Chitemene has been well described by several authors (e.g. Peters, 1950; Trapnell, 1953; Stromgaard, 1989). It is a form of 'slash-and-burn' cultivation, but is unique in that the lopped area is much larger than the cropped area. There is some evidence that the system is indigenous to the Zaire-Zambezi watershed, and that it was brought from that area during migrations in the 17th century (Stromgaard, 1989). Although there are variations described by Stromgaard (1989), the basic (or 'large-circle') form of chitemene is as follows. Branches are lopped from trees within the selected area betwen July and September, laid out to dry, and before the beginning of the rains in November, are gathered into a heap in the centre of the cut area. In general, the area of a heap is around 0.4 ha (Trapnell, 1953), while the size of the cut area depends on the quantity of woody biomass in […]
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