SWIDDEN COUNTS: A PETEN, GUATEMALA, MILPA SYSTEM Production, Carrying Capacity, and Sustainability in the Southern Maya Lowlands

The traditional swidden (milpa) system practiced in Peten, Guatemala (in the southern Maya subtropical moist lowlands) closely resembles pre-Spanish-conquest milpa farming. Evidence suggests that the Petenero milpa (a type of agroforesty)-based on 1:6-year crop.fallow cycles and two harvests/plot/year- is sustainable across time, does not deplete the resource base, is compatible with biodiversity conservation, and enables one farm family to produce enough to feed itself and two to three other families. By managing no more than 60% of Peten's 35,854 km(2), traditional milperos (farmers) could have provisioned, by very conservative estimate, 3-4 million people. Greater knowledge of traditional milpa farming can help explain certain aspects of precolumbian Peten history and may help impoverished families in contemporary Peten cope with chronic food insecurity.