Social organization is based on consanguinity. Kinship is reckoned bilaterally. The household includes the conjugal family and its children. Private property applies to irrigated rice fields and orchards, both being cultivated on a permanent basis. But the swidden plot is only owned while in use, unless it is converted into an orchard or planted with useful trees.
Children inherit from their parents.
All the Ifugao without exception use swidden agriculture to supplement permanent crops . Average cultivation period of swidden land is 3 years. A man takes 80 to 90 days to clear and burn 1 ha, and longer in high altitude forest land. Most plots are next to each other on steep slopes and sweet potato is usually the first crop to be planted. Permanent rice agriculture on irrigated terraces is an old practice.