ABSTRACT

Soil, as everyone knows, is essential to plant growth, yet the Wola people of the Papua New Guinea highlands, who are highly skilful shifting cultivators, maintain that assessment of it does not feature in their selection of garden sites. Their apparently off-hand attitude to soil on potential cultivation sites is unexpected. According to them, an inspection of the soil before clearing it for cultivation is not among the considerations that constrain and influence their choice of site, which include issues like cultivation rights as stipulated by their kin-founded land-tenure system, site aspect and ease of enclosure, location relative to house and other gardens, and so on.