Shifting Cultivation

Shifting cultivation is a mode of farming long followed in the humid tropics of Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America. In the practice of “slash and burn”, farmers would cut the native vegetation and burn it, then plant crops in the exposed, ash-fertilized soil for two or three seasons in succession.

Shifting Cultivation is a form of farming, where farmers cultivate the land temporarily for two or three seasons. Then they abandon the land and leave it to allow vegetables to grow freely. After that, farmers move to a different place. They leave the place when the soil gets out of fertility or land is overrun by weeds. The cultivation time is generally less than when the ground is allowed to regenerate fertility.There is still the use of shifting farming in India. That is being used in the hilly areas of the North-Eastern Region, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka.

CHARACTERISTICS

The shifting cultivation is characterised by the following features:

(i) Sites for the ladang are usually selected in the virgin forest by the experienced elders. Hill slopes

are preferred because of better drainage. Many ladangs are located in the remote interiors, far from the

main population centres.

This is partly for historical reasons as most shifting cultivators have been forced into less favourable

areas by the expansion of more advanced farmers into the lower and better lands. Their isolation

hinders their progress and makes the spread of new ideas more difficult.

(ii) The forests are usually cleared by fire and the ashes add to the fertility of the soil. Trees that are

not burnt are hacked out by the men or left to decay naturally. Shifting cultivation is thus also called

‘slash-and-burn agriculture’.

(iii) The cultivated patches are usually very small; about 0.5-1 hectare (1-3 acres) scattered in their

distribution and separated from one another by dense forests or bush.

(iv) Cultivation is done with very primitive tools such as sticks and hoes, without the aid of machines

or even drought animals. Much manual labour is needed in land clearance to produce food for a few

people.

Thus, despite the fact that little attention is given to the crops when they are once planted, no other

form of farming is so wasteful of human energy and so unrewarding as shifting cultivation.

(v) Few crops are raised in the ladings. The main crops are starchy foods, e.g., tapioca, cassava or

manioc, yams, maize or corn, millet, upland rice, beans and bananas. Crops are sown at calculated

intervals, often between the other plants, so that the harvest can be staggered to provide food all the

year round. Much the same types of crops are grown in all the farms.

(vi) Short periods of crop occupancy alternate with long periods of fallowing. When the yields can no

longer support the community because of soil exhaustion or the invasion of weeds and shrubs, the

fields are abandoned and fresh areas cleared. ‘Field rotation’ rather than ‘crop rotation’ is practised.

(vii) This form of ‘migratory agriculture’ still supports many of the aboriginal tribes of the tropical

rain forest, despite the efforts made by the local governments to resettle them. The exhaustion of soil

nutrients, deterioration of the lightly constructed bamboo houses, and attack by insect-pests, diseases

or wild animals are some of the major reasons that make migration a necessity.

Shifting Cultivation Advantages and Disadvantages 

There are several advantages of Shifting farming. But, also, it has a few disadvantages. So, we have noted some advantages and disadvantages of Shifting farming in the below section. 

1. Advantages of Shifting Cultivation 

The crops’ growth will start fast in this Cultivation, and sometimes it will get ready for harvest early. 

And there is no danger or fear for the crop-destroying animals and flood in It. 

In this farming, the soil bone diseases are also reduced significantly.

After slash and burn, it is easy to grow crops. 

2. Shifting Cultivation Disadvantages 

There is a loss of 22% of the top of the soil, which is full of fertility in Shifting agriculture. Therefore, it causes the loss of economic rate of people. 

As it has raw sewage and oil residue, water pollution can easily occur in it.

The Shifting cultivation process also restricts the land-use intensity. 

Loss of biodiversity is also an impact of shifting agriculture, and it is uneconomical.

WORLD DISTRIBUTION OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION 

Shifting cultivation is called by different names in different parts of the world. It is generally known as ‘slash and burn’ and ‘bush fal­low’ agriculture. It is variously termed as Ladcmg in Indonesia, Caingin in Philippines, Milpa in Central America and Mexico, Ray in Vietnam, Conuco in Venezuela, Roca in Brazil, Masole in the Congo and Central Africa.

It is also practiced in the highlands of Manchuria, Korea and southwest China. It is known as Jhum or Jum in the hilly states of Northeast India, as Podu, Dabi, Koman or Bringa in Orissa, as Kumari in Western Ghats, as Watra in southeast Rajasthan, as Penda, Bewar or Dahia and Deppa or Kumari in the Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh.