Specialized in TAVY, or slash-and-burn agricultural system of eastern Madagascar: Dissertation research and project work Influence of slash-and-burn farming practices on fallow succession and land degradation in the rainforest region of Madagascar Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 2007: 119; 257-269 Full text Article Summary on PLECServe, Sept. 2007 Dissertation : Fire-less Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn Agriculture (Tavy) in the Rainforest Region of Madagascar  Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 2003 Abstract Retaining and Regaining Agricultural Productivity of Degrading Uplands  CIIFAD Annual Report 2000-2001(2002), p.88-89  Full text Upland Management without Fire  
CIIFAD Annual Report 1999-2000 (2001), p.78-79  Full text Project Evaluation Profitable and Environmentally Sound Farming Systems Replace Slash-and-Burn Agricultural Practices at the Landscape Scale Mid-term project evaluation for the Eco-Regional Initiatives to Promote Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ERI-Program) of Project Component Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn. (2006) Full text Slash&Burn Alternatives_files/EStyger%20S%26B%20Madagascar.pdfhttp://c3.unu.edu/plec/plecServ/index.cfm?template=view_plecserv.cfm&message=207Dissertation%20Abstract.htmlSlash&Burn Alternatives_files/Erika%20Styger%20Upland%20Productivity.pdfSlash&Burn Alternatives_files/Erika%20Styger%20Upland%20Management%20without%20Fire.pdfhttp://www.google.com/Slash&Burn Alternatives_files/ERI%20Evaluation%20E%20Styger.pdfshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4shapeimage_1_link_5shapeimage_1_link_6
Fire-less Rice Planting on fallow mulch (right) and fallow mulch plus 40kg P through guano-phosphate (GP) (left) Ambavaniasy, Madagascar
Traditional planting method of tavy rice one day after the field was burned
Ginger crop, third in rotation after rice and beans. from left to right: tavy, slash and mulch (SM), SM+40kg P through GP, SM+80kg P through GP, Beforona, Madagascar
Alternatives to Slash and Burn
 
Rainforest (in back), Trema tree fallow (dark green = last year’s rice field) and tavy rice field (yellow, deforested same year), Ambavaniasy, Madagascar
Previous rainforest site, remnants of rainforest in depressions, and hillsides highly degraded with gully formation (Lavaka) due to repeated fire use; Ambatovy, Madagascar
 
Example of field level studies of  past and present land use at landscape scale to identify the land degradation dynamics associated with the tavy practice (Dissertation research), Ambavaniasy, Madagascar
 
Burning of a tavy field, Beforona, Madagascar