Yale Environment: I once stumbled out of a jungle in the Congo Basin and startled two Bantu farmers -- both women -- tending a small field. I spoke no Bantu and they no French, and so we just stared at each other, a little warily, until one of their toddlers wailed and we all shared a laugh.
For the Bantu, farming has changed little in 3,000 years. The women still work small farming plots made by slashing and burning the rainforest.
Small-scale farmers, such as these Bantu women in Gabon, have a relatively light...