Ecological Wisdom in Slash Burning Farming of Remote Indigenous Community in North Mamuju Regency

Abstract

The slash and burning system is a farming system that is the most widely practiced in many places in the world. The System is generally sedentary from one place to others. Slash and burning community has developed ways to cultivate the fields so that it becomes an integral part of their cultural system. This paper aims to explain the sociocultural of remote indigenous communities in practicing slash and burning farming in North Mamuju Regency, West Sulawesi, Indonesia. This study was designed with a qualitative approach using ethnographic tradition. Data collected through interviews for selected snowballing and FGD (Focus Group Discussion). The informants include residents of the indigenous communities, indigenous elders, village heads and local government officials. The results of this study indicate that slash burning farming is done by indigenous communities in North Mamuju Regency for generations. Totua Panggare' or Bangunasa. Rice for people in the region understood as a manifestation of the ancestral spirits that must be respected or treated well like to humans treat. All the activities of farming are filled with rituals as a manifestation of their culture.