ABSTRACT
Intensified swidden cultivation can have a place among future agro-ecosystems provided it is economically viable and environmentally stable, as long as it is a sustainable form of agricultural production. Replacing swidden cultivation with tree-crop plantations such as rubber, oil palm or fruit trees may, in some situations, be economically viable and even environmentally sustainable assuming that maintaining biodiversity levels and conserving natural ecosystems are not to be considered. During European colonization of Africa, the Belgians devised the 'corridor system' in the colonial Congo to rationalize shifting cultivation. Also known as the paysannat system, corridor methods of improving swidden cultivation were developed to supply food to growing urban centres and to produce cash crops. There are two types of integral agroforestry: the taungya system and the simultaneous cropping system. This is true not only for swidden cultivation, but also for other farming systems on less fertile lands, where farmers do not have access to agro-chemicals and other costly inputs.
