Foragers: Subsistence Strategies

Foraging is a subsistence strategy that depends directly on plants and animals available in the environment. Foragers collect wild plants, fruits, nuts, seeds, and hunt animals and fish. Foragers require a large territory for subsistence. Most foragers are nomadic and live in relatively small communities so as not to overburden their environment. The labor division is based on sex, women would gather while men would hunt. Foragers rely mainly on their own muscle power in carrying out their subsistence tasks. Most labor is done individually or in small groups of relatives and friends. Hunting and gathering subsistence characterized humans as we evolved. Foragers generally have a passive dependence on what the environment contains, they do not plant crops. Although the environments were inhospitable, the diet was well-balanced and ample, and food was shared. Hunting and gathering
This is also known as slash and burn, is used for a relatively short period of time, and then left alone for a longer period of time so that vegetation can grow again. Slash and burn is a method of agriculture primarily used by tribal communities for subsistence farming (farming to survive). Humans have been using this method for many years, the time when humans stopped hunting and gathering and started to stay put and grow crops. When used properly, slash and burn agriculture provides communities with a source of food and income. Slash and burn allows for people to farm in places where it usually is not possible because of dense vegetation, soil infertility, low soil nutrient content, uncontrollable pests, or other reasons. For example in the clip Dani sweet potato from clearing off the old brush and weeds from a fallow field to planting, harvesting, cooking and