Indigenous Fallow Management

(IFM)

By: Malcolm Cairns, Kurniatun Hairiah, Paul Burgers

Increase economic valueof fallow vegetation

Accelerate soil fertilityto sustain food cropping

Promotion/cultivation of forest products

Integration of livestock

Perennial-annual rotational farming

Dispersed trees on cropland

Cyclical/permanentAgroforest

Shrub-basedfallows

Cover crops/green manure

Imperata grasslands / fallows

Land pressure

No fallow management in traditional shifting cultivation

Permanent annual cropping

Degradation?

Link

s w

ith u

rban

are

as

Tree-based improved fallows

Promotion of preferred volunteer species

Imperata cylindrica

Roof thatching

Wild mushrooms at fresh market

Ferns and other species are part of invasive fallow species, and sold with farm produce on a weekly basis in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

Shrub-based accelerated fallows

Austroeupatorium inulaefolium

Callopogonium mucunoides

Tithonia diversifolia

Mimosa invisa

Herbaceous legume fallows

Phaseolus carcaratus Roxb.

Extensive root system of Phaseolus carcaratus

Pachyrhizus tuberosus

(Yam bean, Bangkuang)

Yam bean

Mucuna pods

Mucuna pruriens var. utilis climbs over Imperata

Imperata

Tree-based improved fallows

Leucaena leucocephala, West Timor

Alnus nepalensis

Casuarina

Perennial-annual crop rotations

tobacco , cinnamon, coffee, chili

Tectona grandis (Teak)

Paraserianthes falcataria

Styrax tonkinensis

Resin ‘benzoin”

young leaves of Cinnamon

Cinnamon bark

Broussonetia papyrifera (paper mulberry)

Permanent Agroforestry Systems

Alnus nepalensis Tea

Gliricidia

Cacao

Cassava

Coconuts

Flower

Fruits

Integration of livestockin fallow systems

Gmelina arborea

Grass + LCC (Callopogonium)

Tithonia fallow: fodder for goats

improved fallow of Leucaena leucocephala, fixes nitrogen for crops, and is a high quality fodder.