Milpa
The Milpa is an agricultural system practiced by the Maya in Central America for many centuries until today; Mainly corn , beans and pumpkins are grown. The form of cultivation serves the subsistence economy mainly of the indigenous Maya peoples of Mexico , Guatemala , Honduras and El Salvador .
Typical of the Milpa are the three plants maize, beans and pumpkin, which are grown together and form a symbiosis : the maize serves as a support for the beans, the beans in turn provide nitrogen to the maize , while the large leaves of the pumpkin cover the ground and so on Prevent erosion from rain and dehydration. This combination of plants is also called "the three sisters". Depending on the local conditions, several species and varieties of these crops are grown and other combinations of plants are also planted, so that the Milpa plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity and the genetic diversity of crops. Often the milpas are cultivated alternating between two years of cultivation, several years of controlled succession and subsequent slash and burn in preparation for renewed cultivation.
Together with the huerto-jardín (Eng .: garden), the Milpa forms the basic structure of Mayan agriculture. They cultivate the fields according to their cosmovision . After that, rituals are carried out before creating a Milpa, during its management and for the harvest, which ask nature's permission for its use and thank it for this. The maize plant is of outstanding importance for the Mayans, because on the one hand it is their staple food and on the other hand, according to the creation myth of Popol Vuh, the Mayas were formed from maize porridge by the gods.
As a result of the expulsions by the European and US colonizers and the targeted killing of the Mayan priests in the armed conflict in Guatemala, many communities have lost some of their agricultural knowledge. That is why you can also find milpas on which only maize is grown.
One common form of shifting cultivation ( shifting cultivation is) the Brandrodung (slash-and-burn) having a plurality of local names. A period of intensive use is followed by a period of fallow around 2.5 times longer. The burning of the vegetation is firmly integrated into this agricultural cultivation method. In Mexico today, agricultural land is prepared by slash and burn in almost all regions. The only exceptions are deserts or areas free of vegetation. This type of provision of usable land is known as Milpa in the south of the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico and as roza-tumba-quema in the rest of the country . The name milpa goes back to the indigenous language Náhuatl , where milli stands for “Saat, Saatfeld” and for -pa “an, bei, am Ort”.
For Roza-tumba-quema (Spanish rozar “clearing”; tumbar Spanish for “ falling ”; quemar Spanish for “burning”) the common name is also coamil , especially when practiced in mountainous areas and there on the slopes becomes. Due to the steep inclines, conventional agriculture is generally no longer possible, so this system of migratory cultivation is carried out on slopes of more than 12%, especially since use does not normally take place over a longer period of time.
First of all, when preparing the area, an area is selected that is densely overgrown by vegetation, because it provides most of the ash, i.e. minerals, when it burns. If the future cultivation area is being prepared for the first time, almost all trees are felled ( tumba ) and left to dry. Depending on the diameter of the trunk, this can take up to the entire dry period under different climatic conditions. In the following year, the same procedure is used with the bushes, but also cleared (roza). The burn (quema) takes place in the morning or evening hours when there is often no wind. In order to prevent the fire from spreading beyond the plot, the coamil farmers use various techniques and precautionary measures. It is not uncommon for a wide delimitation strip to be placed around the area; this security is supported by several people who also set fire at various points on the edge of the fire plot to ensure even and controlled burning. In addition, the fires are lit on the leeward side, i.e. the side facing away from the wind, in order to reduce the risk of uncontrolled burning with a counterfire.
With the coa ( chopping or broad hoe, digging stick), the seed holes are digged either before the first rain or shortly after it starts, the holes are then filled with water or the soil is saturated with water, after which the farmer sows the seeds.
The rule is a three-year cultivation period, which is generally replaced by a cultivation break of around ten years. Of course, it must be noted that this period is shortened because a growing population makes it necessary to change areas more frequently, which increases the risk of erosion immensely. For Mexico, an increase in the area of slash-and-burn agriculture has been registered, with the result of switching to previously uncultivated parts of the landscape with all of its consequences, such as increased fire pressure on natural and cultural landscapes.
Due to the intensive disturbance of the natural processes of the forests, as it is given, among other things, in shifting cultivation (coamil) , a new vegetation structure that is more susceptible to fire develops, which is expressed, for example, in the increase in herbaceous or shrub layers close to the ground in the edge areas of the slash and burn plots .
literature
- FAO: Wildland fire management terminology. FAO Forestry Paper 70, Rome 1986.
- Johann Georg Goldammer: Fire Ecology. Albert Ludwig University, Freiburg 1975.
- Guido Gómez de Silva: Diccionario breve de mexicanismos. Academía Mexicana, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México 2001, ISBN 968-16-6408-6 (Spanish).
- Michael Graudßus, Raymundo Villavicencio García, Agustín Rodríguez Gallegos: Riesgo de incendios forestales y manejo del fuego para el area de Protección de Flora y Fauna Sierra de Quila, usando Sistemas de Información Geográfica (GIS). Avances en la investigación cientifica en the Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biológicas y agropecuarias. XV Semana de la Investigación Cientifica 11/2004 (Spanish).
- Sabine Gündel: Participatory innovation development and diffusion. Adoption and adaptation of introduced legumes in the traditional slash-and-burn peasant farming system in Yucatan, Mexico. Margraf, Weikersheim 1997, ISBN 3-8236-1292-1 (English).
Individual evidence
- ↑ FAO: Wildland fire management terminology. FAO Forestry Paper 70, Rome 1986.
- ^ Johann Georg Goldammer: Fire Ecology. Albert Ludwig University, Freiburg 1975.
- ↑ Guido Gómez de Silva: Diccionario breve de mexicanismos. Academía Mexicana, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México 2001, ISBN 968-16-6408-6 (Spanish).
- ^ Sabine Gündel: Participatory innovation development and diffusion. Adoption and adaptation of introduced legumes in the traditional slash-and-burn peasant farming system in Yucatan, Mexico. Margraf, Weikersheim 1997, ISBN 3-8236-1292-1 (English).