The Development of Maize Cultivation and Changes in the Village Life of the Bemba of Northern Zambia

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Periodical article

Title:	The Development of Maize Cultivation and Changes in the Village Life of the Bemba of Northern Zambia
Author:	Sugiyama, Yuko
Year:	1992
Periodical:	Senri Ethnological Studies
Issue:	31
Pages:	173-201
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zambia
Subjects:	Bemba maize Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Development and Technology Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Labor and Employment
Abstract:	This paper is based on materials collected during several periods of field research between 1983 and 1989 among the Bemba of northern Zambia, who have a unique slash-and-burn cultivation system, called 'citemene'. In this area, maize cultivation for cash, called 'faamu' cultivation, has spread widely since 1986. Although maize-for-cash was accepted as an extension of traditional techniques and subsistence strategies, it has brought significant changes in diet and the structure of labour in agricultural activities. These changes are the gradual replacement since 1988 of cassava as a staple food by maize; the participation of men in agricultural activities; an increase in the use of employed labour (mainly women); and changes in the cash-circulating mechanism. This paper examines the factors contributing to these changes and provides a sociocultural analysis of village life in transition. Bibliogr., notes, ref.