Abstract
This paper re-examines the relationship between agriculture and hunting in central Africa, which had generally been considered as mutually unrelated activities. Focusing on the Fang in southern Cameroon, I show the complementary relationship between slash-and-burn agriculture, cacao production, and hunting of wild animal, from the viewpoint of land and labor utilization.
First, farmlands of the Fang are also used as hunting fields, partly to reduce damage to crops caused by wild animals. Second, bush meat can be used as a gift or reward to acquire help in their farmlands, especially with slashing fields and harvesting cacao which requires additional labor. Cash obtained from the sales of bush meat can also be used to buy local whisky, another important reward given for agricultural labor. Thus slash-and-burn agriculture and cacao production of the Fang are closely related with hunting activities in terms of both land and labor utilization. The Fang even intensify both agriculture and hunting activities by combining them in a complementary way, in contrast to other agriculturalists in Africa who tend to depend on off-farm incomes as a risk aversion strategy.
