Shifting cultivation, also known as swidden agriculture or slash-and-burn farming, is an agricultural system in which a plot of land is temporarily cleared, usually by burning, and cultivated for short periods of time, then abandoned and left in fallow for more extended periods of time than that during which it was cultivated. During the fallow period, the land reverts to its natural vegetation, and the shifting cultivator moves on to another plot and repeats the process. Here are some key points about shifting cultivation:
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Shifting cultivation is a form of agriculture or a cultivation system, in which, at any particular point in time, a minority of fields are in cultivation and a majority are in various stages of natural re-growth.
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Shifting cultivation is a type of subsistence agriculture, i.e. crops are primarily grown to provide food for the farmer and his/her family. If there is any surplus, it may be bartered or sold. In this way, shifting cultivation is a self-sufficient system.
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Traditionally, in addition to being self-sufficient, the shifting cultivation system was a very sustainable form of farming. This was because the population involved in its practice was much lower, and there was enough land for the fallow periods to be very long. However, in contemporary times, this is not necessarily so; as the population has grown, the land available has become lower.
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Shifting cultivation is an extensive farming practice and refers to agricultural systems in which a plot of land is temporarily cleared and cultivated for short periods of time, then abandoned and left in fallow for more extended periods of time than that during which it was cultivated.
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Shifting cultivation is a mode of farming long followed in the humid tropics of Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America.
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Governments worldwide have long sought to eradicate swidden agriculture, which is often pejoratively called ‘slash-and-burn’, due to a mistaken belief that it is a driver of deforestation. However, much of the world’s ‘primary’ forest has in fact been historically managed under shifting cultivation. Much ‘secondary’ regrowth is rich in biodiversity as the clearings encourage the growth of a range of plant species which in turn attract a diversity of birds and animals.
