Home
Milpa
- introduction
- history
- henequen
- practices
- people
- benefits
- threats
- controversy
- intensive milpa
- milpa references

Milpa controversy

Milpa is seen by many as a primitive and ecologically destructive agricultural practice. The name 'slash and burn' evokes images of forest destruction, uncontrolled cattle grazing and loss of biodiversity. The State Government of Yucatan has recently broadcast radio messages discouraging burning of forests. However, such policies have not hindered the farmers, who have little alternative but to continue what they have been doing for hundreds of years. Indeed, what are the alternatives? Could the alternatives be sustainable over hundreds of years like Milpa has been? On the other hand, is it realistic to support a subsistence farming system in a market economy? One partial answer to this question is that Milpa is no longer simply subsistence agriculture - milpa is part of a range of rural income generating practices, and excess maize is often sold. Milpa must be considered within its socio-economic context, rather than seen simply as 'a destructive practice of ignorant peasants'.

Trees are often left standing in Milpas, to provide firewood, preserve useful trees, and hasten the process of forest re-growth. Photo: D. Parsons.

Milpa is a complex gardening polyculture. Maya farmers have a sound and advanced knowledge of how to make use of forest resources, particularly of useful plant species(15). Mayan agroforestry is perhaps a better term, compromising the complex interaction between Milpa, home gardens, and other forest uses. If the forests are to be used for some other alternative, then the potential environmental and socioeconomic consequences of this should be carefully examined.

Next: Intensive Milpa