There are many ways to look at the idea of crop diversification, and one perspective that should not be omitted is the traditional view of the farmers who are the object of various programmes aimed at agricultura1 development. The way Jamaican farmers traditionally think about crop diversification is primarily expressed in relationship to the practice of intercropping-the simultaneous growing of two or more crops in the same field. This paper looks at the cultural concept of crop diversification that is implicit in the practice of intercropping. For Jamaican farmers, the basic objective of this method of cultivation is not only efficient production but social independence.