The Iban community practises forest-fallow system. When the fertility of a farmland declines, Iban farmers would leave the farmland to fallow, so that it would regain its soil fertility. The farmers would shift to different plots of land for farming and only return to cultivate the first plot of farmland many years later, either with similar or different crop.
(i) ‘jerami’ which is a bush-fallow land between 1-2 years after padi crop has been harvested;
(ii) ‘temuda’ which is a land that has been left to fallow for a period of between 3-10 years.
(iii) ‘damun’ which is secondary jungle where the fallow period of between 20-30 years.
(iv) ‘pengerang’ which is a temuda which has been left uncultivated for more than 20 years.
There are four main categories of forest-fallow, namely:
Rights to cultivate a ‘temuda’ rest on the person who first felled the virgin forest.
Comments