Shifting cultivation has long been a major livelihood
for people in the miombo woodlands of southern,
central and eastern Africa. However, increasing deforestation
and forest degradation throughout the region are resulting
in growing pressure on traditional shifting agricultural
systems. Indeed, agricultural intensification and expansion
itself is considered the primary cause of miombo deterioration,
which is driven by both endogenous and exogenous
variables operating at various scales. On the basis of data
collected in the 1990s and 2010 from two villages in Northern
Province, Zambia and two in the Rukwa Region, Tanzania,
the paper will document the transition of shifting
cultivation towards more intensive land use practices. It is
argued that the main drivers influencing miombo degradation,
and thereby the transition process of traditional shifting
cultivation practices, have been a growing population, government
policies, and an increasing commercialization/market
integration. Questionnaires, focus group meetings, and
in-depth interviews reveal that despite the breakdown of the
traditional shifting cultivation practices, a general improvement
of livelihoods has taken place. This has happened
through adaptation and diversification in both agricultural
practices and livelihood activities. However, it is also seen
that because of the often rapidly changing external factors
(market conditions and policies), life in the shifting cultivation
communities involves a continual shift of emphasis
among a variety of livelihood strategies.