Land-use patterns on the inhabited islands are mapped by the respective island committees. Some areas are designated for agricultural production, others for the production of timber or fuelwood. Land use can be divided into three categories: house plots used by individuals, community land and government land.
Maldivian law prohibits ownership of agricultural land. Thus, land designated by the island committee for agricultural purposes can be used by all the residents of the island. Since agriculture is practised for subsistence, plots are small in size, ranging from 100 m2 to 500 m2. Land is sufficient on the atolls so that inhabitants can abandon plots after two to four years and select new ones. Given that agricultural land is not individually owned, communities are not normally interested in enhancing or conserving land productivity.
Traditional farming systems are based on shifting agriculture, poly-cultural home gardens, agroforestry and taro pits. A large range of crops are cultivated, including cereals, vegetables, fruit, tubers and plantation crops. Coconut is an important commercial crop. Coconut products are integral to the diet and coconut timber is used widely for boat-building and construction purposes. Coconut palms are grown in home gardens, on community and government land and on uninhabited islands.
Crop production
Women participate in all aspects of agricultural production, from selection of land and crop to harvesting. In general practise, chillies were planted for commercial sale and other crops were grown for home consumption. Women also practise horticulture for commercial purposes.
Forestry
Most timber species preferred by Maldivians are becoming increasingly scarce. The bulk of timber required for dhoni (boats) and house construction is now imported. Under the government's "Million Tree Programme", the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture is engaged in a national plantation effort and in the distribution of various tree species with food and timber value. The ministry also encourages the planting of casuarinas as windbreaks or shelter-belts to protect plants from the damaging effects of sea spray and to provide firewood. The ministry also promotes the planting of bamboo seedlings to provide poles for pole-and-line fishing.
Since spheres of work are gender specific, knowledge and skills related to particular activities can also be defined along gender lines. Both men and women possess knowledge about the land-based natural resources, though their ability or skill to extract these resources varies (for example, only men harvest coconuts).
Women use the interwoven ecosystems of forests, farms, home gardens and livestock production in a balanced manner. Women's collection of fuel and other forest materials, coupled with their farm and home production activities, play an essential part in helping to balance resource flows and maintain local economic systems in a sustainable fashion.
Fishery
Fishing activities and harvesting marine life in the oceans, lagoons or reef flats are performed exclusively by men. Post-harvesting activities aimed at adding value, such as salting and drying fish, are the domain of women. Forty-five species of reef fish are commercially important; the salted and sun-dried reef fish are exported.
In 1974, the government initiated a major mechanization programme of the country's pole-and-line fishing vessels. Engines were installed in dhonis under a government-sponsored credit scheme. Mechanized vessels are better suited to supply fresh fish to the mobile collector vessels. Since most of the catch is sold to collector vessels, there are usually fewer fishes to take home. The share of the catch allocated to the crew has decreased as a result of mechanization. Due to this process, women believe that less fish is available to them to make dried fish, fish soup and fish paste (a concentrated form of fish soup), the staples of the Maldivian diet. Concern exists about the consequent nutritional wellbeing of children.
Livestock
In the homestead the animals reared are goats and chickens. Given that poultry rearing practised by communities is based on an 'open' system whereby hens and chickens forage in the bush, poultry are endangered by harmful waste. Manure is not applied to crops; farmers believe that the remaining ash is sufficient for the growth of new crops.
