Innovation, continuity and social dynamic

By the end of 1960's, Baka Pygmies have adopted shifting cultivation and have established permanent villages along main roads in close proximity to their farmer neighbors. Their economical and social systems, traditionally based on hunting and gathering and small mobile groups (BAHUCHET 1991), evolved in unprecedented way with crop production and farming. About 25 000 people living in the forest left this habitat to come to live along main roads (DHELLEMMES 1982). While traditional group composition was about 32 persons (BAHUCHET 1992), Baka road settlements is grouping today up to 200 persons. The spatial mobility being considered incompatible with farming and crop production, anthropologists predicted an extraordinary revolution of Baka society similar to the one occurred 10 000 years ago with sendentarization (ALTHABE 1965). This presentation analyzes how and why agriculture adoption was a successful innovation. Using ethnographic data, it shows that innovation was here possible because the change did not lead to the expected revolution or to radical changes. On the contrary, the maintenance of the social organization, and the continuity and the stability of the cultural, political as well as technical systems seem to be prerequisite conditions for successful improvement of traditional production systems. Implication for sustainable development projects is discussed using "social space" as operational concept. Ethnographic survey was lead during two years (1996-1998) using quantitative and qualitative approach to compare Baka Pygmies (N=204) and neighboring farmers (Nzimo, N=200) that are exploiting the same forest and living in the same village. Environment-societies relations were assessed using sociological comparative method: as forest natural resources are available for both Baka and Nzimo, the difference in their techno-economical systems is depending only on cultural factors. The social organization, the spatial mobility, the cropping systems and the area cultivated by the two groups were surveyed, as well as Baka territories to map hunting, fishing, gathering and farming activities. The random spot checking method (JOHNSON 1975) was used to assess the time allocations, and to estimate person-to-person cooperation between Baka and Nzimo. Average area cultivated by Baka is 0.07 ha per person as compared to 0.15 ha among Nzimo. 11% out of Baka cultivated area is for cash crop (coffee, cacao), 56% for subsistence (mainly banana and also cassava), 21% for both subsistence and cash crop. Surprisingly, 12% of Baka fields remain uncultivated after the field preparation. Farming activities for Baka and Nzimo are managing at the family level. Cooperation between families is rare, but usual between Baka and Nzimo. Contrarily to Nzimo, Baka do not cultivated nut. Baka areas cultivated and access pathways reflect in the space the three distinct subgroups living along the road. Thus, Baka are using crop field not only to produce food, but yet to support the identity of the three subgroups composing the road settlement. Despite cultivation, Baka continue to migrate into the forest on a seasonal basis. In fact, the Baka spend on average only 28 percent of their time in the village along the road as compared to 90 percent among Nzimo. During the rainy season, almost all Baka are living in forest, road settlement seeming as ghost town. Mobility between villages in infrequent but motivates the longest absence. Visits to relatives and attendance at funeral are the primary cause of inter-village movement. The highest ratio of presence in the village corresponds to the long dry season when the demand from Nzimo for farm labor is most intense. Crops that Baka do not cultivate for them are obtained through Nzimo in exchange of farm labor. By this way, Baka agricultural knowledge is acquired and continually improved through neighbor farmers. Thus, the agricultural knowledge cannot explain why Baka do not use the same farming strategy than N