Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (5.1984/1987)

THE INFIELD-OUTFIELD SYSTEM AMONG THE BEMBA

83

Table 1. Millet and cassava available for consump-
tion daily, dry-weight. Average figures for three
households. Yields of cassava found by daily re-
cordings over a month; millet data based on pre-
vious year’s total harvest. Energy and protein
content from Johnston (1963), and Annegers
(1973).

kg
capita
day
capita
day
V
capita
day
gprotein
capita
day
Millet
0.23
627
2623
23
Cassava
0.8
996
4167
10

Tabelle 1. Hirse und Kassave verfiigbar zum tag-
lichen Gebrauch, Trockengewicht. Durch-
schnittszahlen fur drei Haushalte. Ertrag an Kas-
save nach taglichen Berichten wahrend seines
Monats, wogegen die Zahlen fur Hirse auf der
gesamten Ernte friiherer Jahre fuBen. Energie-
und Proteingehalt nach Johnston (1963) und An-
negers (1973).
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to the Zambian government, De-
partment of Agriculture, for support in the col-
lection of the data, as well as to the many people,
inhabitants of the area, for their assistance and
friendship. The work on which this paper is based
was carried out with financial support of the Dan-
ish Development Agency DANIDA, to whom I
am most grateful. Thanks also to Professor Sofus
Christiansen of the Institute of Geography, Co-
penhagen, for fruitful discussions, and to Jorgen
Ulrich, Cartographer at the same place, for the
drawing of maps and diagrams.
Notes
1. “Licembe talitwa icitwa mutima - the axe is
not sharp, it is the heart that is sharp.” Mean-
ing: to have a good tool is of no avail unless
one has the courage to use it, or: a blunt axe
becomes sharp in the hands of a determined
man (Bemba proverb).
2. “When we see the burn, we see the flames, we
start shouting because we are happy, ikuti
tuatemwa okuti twisa kwata ifiho ifingi

mulichi fitemene impashi kutiya tuafwa yaisa
tuatotela. We are happy if next time we shall
have more food from the chitemene, and we
greet the people who died before that they
should help us to come and harvest”.

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