ABSTRACT
A description of the husbandry practices of the system is the key to understanding why the farmers do what they do. The long-term objective of maintaining the productive capacity of the land as the basic resource is common to all agriculture. This chapter discusses the short-term objectives of traditional farmers, with considerable emphasis on the security of food supply. Identification of falling fertility is vital in deciding extension content, which must be consistent with the needs for long-term resource balance. Within the community the ways in which land is acquired change in a way which parallels the evolution of rotational practice. The agronomy category will have provided a description of land acquisition practice and the degree of control excert by the community. The effects of social custom on labor supply, as the limiting resource in peasant agriculture, are particularly important.
