Changing Slash-and-Burn Cultivation in Xishuangbanna, Southwestern China

Slash-and-burn cultivation (Swidden) formerly occurred Japan and Europe too, but today we can find it only in the Tropics which abound in forest resources. This study discusses slash-and-burn cultivation by analyzing the characteristics and recent changes among the minorities, especially the Jinuo, in Xishuangbanna Dai Nationality Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. Xishuangbanna is located at the southwestern end on the borders of Burma (Myanmar) and Laos. The minorities in the mountainous regions place slash-and-burn cultivation at the centre of their living. Their agricultural systems, however, have been obliged to change because of the population growth since the 1950s. The decrease of the forest rate in Xishuangbanna has been caused by the population growth and the increase of the area used for slash-and-burn cultivation in the minority societies. The population growth is destructive to the sustainability of slash-and-burn cultivation, along with the introduction of the Responsibility System for Agricultural Production in the 1980s. Today, the minorities are keen on introducing cash crops on a large scale such as natural rubber, tea and herbs for Chinese medicines. Slash-and-burn cultivation is declining and the fields will change to permanently cultivated land in the near future.