Aspects of Land Use in Slash and Burn Agriculture

In this paper we first construct 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, we study the land quality accumulation decision faced by shifting cultivators and, in the process, we show how to compute the optimal length of time during which cleared land is to be left fallow. Finally, we investigate 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