Aspects of land use in slash and burn agriculture

Abstract

This article first constructs a theoretical model of land use by swidden cultivators when these cultivators can choose whether to grow a cash crop or a food/subsistence crop. Second, it studies the land quality accumulation decision faced by shifting cultivators and, in the process, it shows how to compute the optimal length of time during which cleared land is to be left fallow. Finally, it investigates the implications that the optimal land quality accumulation decision has for the relative price of the food crop in particular and slash and burn agriculture in general.