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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Dry farming among the San in the Central Kalahari |
Author: | Ikeya, Kazunobu |
Year: | 1996 |
Periodical: | African Study Monographs: Supplementary Issue |
Issue: | 22 |
Pages: | 85-100 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Botswana |
Subjects: | San arable farming small farms |
External link: | http://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/68375/1/ASM_S_22_85.pdf |
Abstract: | Before the San (Bushmen) settled in Xade in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana in 1979, not many of them were engaged in farming. Most of the 40 San households now engaged in crop farming had been farmers before settling in Xade. Thus the main change in farming following settlement in Xade was not an increase in the number of households engaged in farming, but rather an increase in the size of fields. The author analyses dry farming among the San in Xade, focusing on farming techniques, methods of land use, agricultural management and the distribution of agricultural products. In 1993, fields were made at 40 locations in Xade, extending 20 km from the central settlement. The size of the fields ranged from less than 10 ares to more than 100 ares. The land was used amongst others for the combined cultivation of watermelon, cowpea and maize. There were 10 varieties of cultivated watermelon grown for the fruit, and 3 varieties for the seeds. Due to the system for distributing watermelons among the San, it is impossible for farmers to become rich from a good harvest. Bibliogr., sum. |