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implying the exchange of one picul of unmilled grain for one picul of the inferior quality. It has been estimated that by this procedure farmers can increase the quantity of their food supply by 25%. However, this process has been accompanied by a large-scale abandonment of arable land, and the total rice production has rather decreased in recent years. But before we turn to this phenomenon we shall have another look at the economic conditions prevailing at an earlier stage.
It is apparent that people in the valley have never been able to gain their livelihood by rice farming alone. From the very beginning of their settlement, they have almost certainly been looking for possibilities of complementary economic activities. There has always been some vegetable cultivation, but intended for local consumption only. Indeed, nowadays people have to buy most of their vegetable supply in the market towns. The plots are small and the technique of the villagers seems inadequate. In comparison with the thriving vegetable fields down in the plains the plots up here make a sad sight. It is agreed that difficult transportation has been the main obstacle for an expansion of gardening. To make a reasonable profit, marketing in the urban areas is necessary. Keen competition from the specialized plainsmen and their co-operatives gives villagers the feeling that rice cultivation gives the only crop that is worthwhile. The social value of rice growing surpasses the value accorded to gardening: the latter occupation is generally connected with the large numbers of recent immigrants from China. Bad means of transportation also limit the production itself. Vegetable growing requires intense fertilizing. The supply of manure is limited. To buy and transport additional fertilizers would heighten the production costs above profitability.
Some fields of sweet potatoes and ground-nuts are also to be found. The yield is for local consumption only. On the hillsides above Big Stream Village traces of terraces can still be seen. I was informed that they were once used for the cultivation of both vegetables and ground-nuts. This might imply that more extensive gardening actually took place here at one time. What this meant as an extra source of income to the villagers is difficult to estimate.