Iban energy nutrition and shifting agriculture

This paper reports findings of a cross‐sectional, harvest season anthropometric study of 533 children under 10 years age, and 447 men and 564 women aged over 18 years, belonging to the Iban tribe of rural Sarawak. Neither the weight‐for‐height nor height‐for‐age of children was associated with the type of fallow vegetation from which households had cleared farms for rice cultivation, although weight‐for‐height reflected reported morbidity. Among adults, the stature of both sexes, and the weight, body mass index (BMI, W/H²) and cross‐sectional area of arm muscle plus bone (AMBA) of men, were significantly lower in those working long fallow than in those on short‐fallow farms, independently of reported illness. In men and women, reported symptoms of illness independently affected AMBA. The findings suggest that failure to sustain long fallow periods under shifting agriculture does not entail lower standards of health, but the converse. This result is contrary to the expectations of most concepts of carrying capacity and population pressure applied to shifting cultivators.

Key words:

• Shifting agriculture
• anthropometry
• energy nutrition
• morbidity
• South East Asia
• Sarawak