Disasters. 2012 Apr;36(2):233-48. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2011.01257.x. Epub 2011 Oct 13.
Prior to 1996 and the Congolese wars, exploitative land policies pushed farmers in the eastern highlands of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) into a vulnerable position, with cattle manure sustaining intensive cultivation. This exposed households to a complete breakdown in mixed farming as cattle became targets of war. This study of villages in South Kivu offers an inside understanding of continuity and change in farming practices in a region where there are no easy solutions, and it assesses how the province lost its present and where farmers look when they glance to the future. For farmers, who hold a broad view of soil fertility, the casualties of war were not only people and cattle but also the land itself, which has enduring scars. Perceiving a rupture in tradition, South Kivu farmers are searching desperately for new livelihoods that are built on education instead of livestock, setting aside old ethnic signifiers to seek a future beyond protracted conflict.
1996 年以前的刚果战争和剥削性土地政策将刚果民主共和国（DRC）东部高地的农民推向弱势地位，牛粪维持着密集的耕作。这使农户的混合农业完全崩溃，因为牛成为战争的目标。本研究对南基伍省的村庄进行了研究，深入了解了在一个没有简单解决方案的地区，农业实践的连续性和变化，评估了该省如何失去了现在，以及农民在展望未来时的着眼点。对于那些对土壤肥力有广泛认识的农民来说，战争的伤亡不仅是人畜，还有土地本身，它留下了持久的伤疤。南基伍的农民感到传统被打破，他们拼命寻找新的生计，这些生计不是建立在畜牧业上，而是建立在教育上，他们抛开旧的民族标志，寻求超越长期冲突的未来。
