Providing alternative to traditional agricultural methodology

The move of some members of the Dayak tribe from their old homes in the Borneo highlands to a new area by the coast meant that their shifting-cultivator style of agriculture has been modified due to the availability of outboard motors, machine-hulled rice, and chainsaws. A study concluded that these machines (1) provide material advantages for the Dayak people, (2) present more potential for environmental degradation if used indiscriminately, and (3) tend to disempower women because of their weight (only men can easily handle them). Though the Dayaks' lives have improved in many ways, the children are suffering from the great amount of machine-hulled rice in their new diet (machine-hulled rice is less nutricious than hand-hulled rice). One reason for this is the new availability of outside jobs; there is less time to plant and maintain vegetable gardens.