408 Modern Agricultural Reforms
lacks periodic cultivation. This view is reflected in reports from early colonial
administrators in tropical countries who regarded indigenous populations as ‘lazy’
because they did not work hard to produce their sustenance. There was no annual
cycle of ploughing, planting and so on, which counterparts in colder climates had
to maintain. People who harvested what they had not planted, or had not planted
recently, were not regarded as ‘real agriculturalists’ by people from temperate
zones.
There is seasonality in tropical regions, to be sure. The contrast between wet
and dry seasons can be as stark as that between summer and winter. But with agri-
culture seen primarily as a matter of cultivation, annual crops get more attention
and status than perennials. The latter have very important roles to play, however,
particularly if one is concerned with the sustainability of agriculture. Their growth
usually does not disturb or tax the soil as much, or as often, as does annual crop-
ping. The latter invests in myriad biological ‘factories’ that produce food or fibre
and then demolishes them at the end of the season. On the other hand, trees, vines
or crops that ratoon keep all or most of that biological factory intact from year to
year.
Since, usually, very little biomass is discarded in the farming systems operated
by poorer farm families – it is used for fodder, fuel, mulch or other purposes – our
point here is directed to research and extension priorities rather than to farmers.
The latter have long known that combining a variety of perennials with annuals,
animals and horticultural crops creates opportunities for more total output from
given areas of land during the year, and with less pressure on soil resources; energy
and nutrient flows are more efficient, and adverse pest and environmental impacts
can be reduced by growing perennials rather than annuals.^6 Especially if the sus-
tainability of agricultural production is an objective, giving perennials a larger role
in agriculture makes sense.
Within agriculture understood in annualist terms, fallows are periods of rest
and recuperation for the soil, a kind of gap in the cropping calendar. Many farm-
ers, however, have thought of fallows differently, managing them so that they are
more productive than land that is simply left alone. ‘Managed fallows’ are not an
oxymoron but rather a source of supplementary income, providing fodder, fruit or
other benefits while enriching the soil when leguminous species or plants other-
wise considered to be weeds are allowed or encouraged to grow.^7 Cropping cycles
are best looked at in terms of how soil fertility can be continuously enhanced while
utilizing a wide variety of plant and animal species – a strategy described as ‘per-
maculture’ by Mollison (1990) – looking beyond crops that are planted periodi-
cally.
Spatial dimensions of agriculture: Thinking in terms of soil
volume instead of surface
Agriculture has been defined and limited by a mental construction of agricultural
space in much the same way that it has been stereotyped in terms of annual cycles.