サラワク州イバン村落における湿地田稲作 : 植付け方法にみる適応戦略

Abstract

Although the Iban of Sarawak are famous for their shifting cultivation of hill paddy, swamp rice cultivation is also commonly practiced where swamp lands exist. It has been reported that the farming operations are : cutting Scleria grass with a long bush knife, burning the cut grass, transplanting, and harvesting. One of the characteristics of this method is transplanting. In the study village, however, some different operations from those mentioned above were practiced, and the farming operations were observed to be different depending on the household. In this paper, I will first describe the farming operations, especially those of land preparation and planting, and then examine the relationship between the planting methods, the type of vegetation, and the conditions of households. In the village, the planting was carried out not only by transplanting but also by broadcasting. In the land preparation, not only Scleria grasslands but also secondary forests and Leersia grasslands were utilized; and a herbicide was sprayed in many cases instead of cutting by bush knife. A relationship was found between the type of vegetation and the land preparation and planting methods. For example, in fallow Scleria grasslands, where small amounts of weed would appear, the bush knife was used for land preparation and broadcasting could be practiced, while in Leersia grasslands, where many weeds would appear, the herbicide was sprayed and only transplanting was practiced. Each household determined its planting method and cultivated area, based on the availability of manpower and the importance of rice for the household. The Iban are known to change their economic activities depending on the economic conditions of their surroundings. Swamp rice cultivation is not necessarily the main activity of a household, and the manpower that allocates to rice cultivation depends on its livelihood strategy. In this paper, it was found that not only transplanting but also broadcasting were practiced, and new methods, such as spraying of herbicides, were adopted, based on the farmers' accurate knowledge of the vegetation. Each household selected the farming methods and techniques, following an Iban style of the livelihood strategy. As a result, various farming operations were observed in the study village.