what does slash and burn agriculture mean

What is the meaning of slash and burn agriculture?

slash-and-burn agriculture, method of cultivation in which forests are burned and cleared for planting.

What is slash and burn agriculture and who used it?

Slash & burn agriculture is a form of agriculture that has been practiced in places all around the world for centuries. The process starts with an area of land that is covered with foliage such as trees and shrubs.

What do you mean by slash and burn agriculture class 10?

Slash and burn agriculture:Slash-and-burn Agriculture is a type of farming that involves cutting and burning plants in a forest or woodland to produce a swidden field. Cutting down trees and woody plants in an area is the first step in the procedure.

What do you mean by slash and burn agriculture Class 7?

Slash and burn is a method of farming that involves clearing land by destroying and burning all the trees and plants on it, farming there for a short time, and then moving on to clear a new piece of land.

Where is slash and burn used?

Slash and burn agriculture is most often practiced in places where open land for farming is not readily available because of dense vegetation. These regions include central Africa, northern South America, and Southeast Asia. Such farming is typically done within grasslands and rainforests.

Who developed the von thunen model?

geographer Johann Heinrich von ThünenGerman geographer Johann Heinrich von Thünen created one of the first geographical models related to agricultural land use. The von Thünen model of agricultural land use was created in 1826, which was initially developed prior to major industrialization found in Europe and elsewhere.

What is slash and burn agriculture and what are the positive and negative effect of it?

Slash and Burn Farming: The Positive and Negative Aspects It allows farming to be conducted in regions that is normally not associated with this practice. It helps to temporarily boost the fertility of a region. It provides communities with a source of income and food during uncertain times.

Why do African farmers practice slash and burn farming?

26, 2020. Slash and burn agriculture techniques is thought to have started sometime around 8,000 years ago. Agriculture within less hydroponically advanced countries rely on a continuous cycle of cultivation, harvest, and burning of farmland to help replenish vital nutrients for the next year’s harvest.

Where is slash and burn used?

Slash-and-burn agriculture is often used by tropical-forest root-crop farmers in various parts of the world and by dry-rice cultivators of the forested hill country of Southeast Asia. The ash provides some fertilization, and the plot is relatively free of weeds. After several years of cultivation, fertility declines and weeds increase.

What happens after a year of cultivation?

After several years of cultivation, fertility declines and weeds increase. Traditionally, the area was left fallow and reverted to a secondary forest of bush. Cultivation would then shift to a new plot. After about a decade the old site could be reused.

Where did swidden farming originate?

Swidden production, also known as slash-and-burn agriculture, was practiced from temperate eastern North America to the tropical lowlands of South America. Field fertility in swidden systems resulted from the burning of trees and shrubs in order to add nutrients to the soil. Such systems had high ecological diversity, thus providing…

Does slash and burn produce carbon dioxide?

Although traditional practices generally contributed few greenhouse gases because of their scale, modern slash-and-burn techniques are a significant source of carbon dioxide emissions, especially when used to initiate permanent deforestation. In Southeast Asia, slash-and- burn agriculture for oil palm cultivation has been a major source …

What is slash and burn farming?

Slash and burn agriculture is a highly controversial and misunderstood practice. The practice has sometimes been associated with mass cutting, clearing and deforestation, but in fact “slash and burn” agriculture has a long standing history. The term slash and burn does sound harsh and destructive, but this farming technique, also known as shifting cultivation, can be extremely fruitful and sustainable if done correctly.The harsh cutting that is so often associated with slash and burn, is actually not at all the same practice. In the negative cases, large scale forests – often rainforests – are cut and cleared to make room for huge agricultural plots. These new farm lands are then usually planted with a single crop that is cultivated on that land until the soil is depleted of all viable nutrients. The process of shifting cultivation, however, is based on maintaining a sustainable, balanced form of farming that rotates and “shifts” within a given area, in order to allow the natural habitat to recuperate. Much like with seasons, there are various stages to this form of farming, and the process is not done in one fell swoop, cutting down entire forests and replanting them immediately.

Where is slash and burn cultivation?

Slash and burn cultivation (locally called jhum cultivation in India) in progress at Wokha, Nagaland, India. Similarly, the fire works as a natural pesticide, and thus no harmful chemicals are needed prior to planting. Once an area has been burned, it is then planted with the desired crop. Part of the shifting aspect of shifting cultivation, which …

How does slash and burn affect the environment?

One of the biggest perceived issues with slash and burn and shifting cultivation farming techniques is the negative impact on the environment. It is true that deforestation and uncontrolled slashing have had massive nad devastating impacts on ecosystems and habitats as well as greatly affected the environment at large. The removal of large expanses of trees and vegetation not only eliminates some of the world’s greatest carbon absorbers, but it has also led to erosion, soil nutrient depletion and left many areas completely barren wastelands. This drastic type of slashing is what is so often associated with slash and burn techniques, and has been argued against and ridiculed on a wide scale. However properly monitored and controlled shifting cultivation actually does not affect the environment in this way. One reason is, as mentioned above, the crops are rotated. This means that nutrients do not get depleted as rapidly or as thoroughly. When the same crop is planted in a given area season after season, the particular nutrients needed to nourish that plant are used at an increased rate. By rotating out plant crops, the soil has a chance to replenish – at least partially – between uses. Of course, for the nutrients to fully replenish, the soil does need down time, where no cultivation or agriculture occurs, which is why the most sustainable shifting agriculture involves rest periods where the ground is allowed to fallow and grow plants naturally.

What happens when you slash and burn?

When slash and burn agriculture involves deforestation of massive tracts of forest and use of unsustainable practices, it leads to loss of biodiversity and permanent degradation of the forest quality.

What happens to the natural plants in a forest?

Over time, the natural plants of the local area will regrow, nourishing the soil and creating an organic cycle of vegetation rebirth. While one area is in fallow, cultivation and agriculture will exist in another part of the forest. This way, the cut areas have time to regrow fully, before they are used for farming again.

Where is the cultivation of crops after burning?

Cultivation of crops in deforested area after burning in Wokha, Nagaland, India. After the alloted growing seasons, the plot of land is then allowed to fallow, meaning it is left to regrow, and not used for agriculture or cultivated means.

How many seasons does shifting cultivation take?

Part of the shifting aspect of shifting cultivation, which is not found in other types of slashing, is that these crops are usually only planted for two growing seasons. This way, the plants benefit from the nutrient rich soil, without allowing the area to be over-used or completely depleted.

What is slash and burn agriculture?

Slash-and-burn agriculture, method of cultivation in which forests are burned and cleared for planting. After several years of cultivation, fertility declines and weeds increase.

Why is slash and burn agriculture important?

Slash-and-burn agroecosystems are important to rural poor and indigenous peoples in the developing world. Ecologically sound slash-and-burn agriculture is sustainable because it does not depend upon outside inputs based on fossil energy for fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation.

What are the disadvantages of slash and burn agriculture?

One of the disadvantages of using slash and burn agriculture is deforestation. When this type of agriculture is practiced by large populations, they have to cut down a lot of trees to grow new crops. This leads to an increase in carbon dioxide levels. Furthermore, these high levels of CO2 boost climate change effects.

What is shifting farming?

Swidden agriculture, also known as shifting cultivation, refers to a technique of rotational farming in which land is cleared for cultivation (normally by fire) and then left to regenerate after a few years.

What happens to vegetation after slashing?

Burning vegetation residues after slashing exposes the soil surface to direct contact with rain. Exposed soil surface erode easily with rainfall impact leaving gullies on your field. Erosion takes away the fertile topsoil of your field. Moreso, you expose the soils and wind can easily erode them too.

How do you spread flames?

Flames are usually spread with a drip torch, which drips a mixture of diesel fuel and gasoline. Small flames can be smothered with a flapper, which looks like a mud flap with a long rake handle attached. Running a drip torch requires some experience – the flapper, not so much.

Why is slash and burn important?

Slash and burn allows people to farm in places where it usually is not possible because of dense vegetation, soil infertility, low soil nutrient content, uncontrollable pests, or other reasons .

What is slash and burn farming?

Slash and burn farming is a form of shifting agriculture where the natural vegetation is cut down and burned as a method of clearing the land for cultivation, and then , when the plot becomes infertile, the farmer moves to a new fresh plat and does the same again. This process is repeated over and over.

Why do farmers cultivate hillsides?

Often they have to cultivate hillsides as all the land lower down is used up, and as they progress up and up they are likely to meet another farmer at the top who has similarly worked his way up from the other side.

Can cash crops be guarded from thieves?

When the plots are far from the dwelling place cash crops cannot be guarded from thieves or wild animals, nor can the family help when there are young children. This too ensures the farmers remain poor. In earlier times when the population density was less, slash and burn worked reasonably well.

How often do farmers clear new plots?

Indeed quite often they clear a new plot every year. The soil then loses its fertility and the farmer is faced with either a daily walk of several miles to a new patch or, increasingly as the number of landless farmers grows, they may have to uproot their families to move.

How many farmers are forced to eke out a living on these poor rainforest soils?

Maybe about 250 million farmers (they are not easy to count) are forced to eke out a living like that on these poor rainforest soils. By slashing and then burning the forest, these farmers can usually sustain themselves for only 2 consecutive years on the same patch of soil.

Why does the rainforest lose its fertility?

The soil loses its fertility because the richness of the rainforest is in the trees. As leaves fall or trees die everything is broken down by the soil’s organisms, nutrients are returned to the soil and the tree roots take them up again.

Is it hard to live in slums?

Not only is this devastating the worlds remaining tropical forests (see “keeping carbon in the trees ” and “saving the rich diverse life of the rainforests”) while keeping the farmers in poverty , but it is also forcing many of them to abandon the land, and migrate to city slums in the hope of feeding their families. Life in the slums can be very hard indeed. There is not enough work available.

What is slash and burn agriculture?

Slash-and-burn agriculture, method of cultivation in which forests are burned and cleared for planting. After several years of cultivation, fertility declines and weeds increase.

What is slash and burn?

Slash-and-burn is a type of shifting cultivation, an agricultural system in which farmers routinely move from one cultivable area to another.

What is agriculture in the world?

Agriculture is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in cities.

What are the salient features of agriculture?

Salient features of this agriculture are: (i) Forests are cleared and trees are burnt to make the land available for cultivation. (ii) Digging stick is mainly used for cultivation. (iii) Mainly root crops and food crops are grown for their own use.

How do you spread flames?

Flames are usually spread with a drip torch, which drips a mixture of diesel fuel and gasoline. Small flames can be smothered with a flapper, which looks like a mud flap with a long rake handle attached. Running a drip torch requires some experience – the flapper, not so much.

Why is slash and burn important?

Slash and burn allows people to farm in places where it usually is not possible because of dense vegetation, soil infertility, low soil nutrient content, uncontrollable pests, or other reasons .

Is slash and burn bad for the environment?

Environmental Effects of Slash and Burn Since the 1970s or so, swidden agriculture has been described as both a bad practice, resulting in the progressive destruction of natural forests, and an excellent practice, as a refined method of forest preservation and guardianship.

Is slash and burn agriculture good or bad?

Environmental Effects of Slash and Burn Since the 1970s or so, swidden agriculture has been described as both a bad practice, resulting in the progressive destruction of natural forests, and an excellent practice, as a refined method of forest preservation and guardianship.

How does slash and burn affect the soil?

It is burned here because the burning process releases nutrients which then fertilize the soil. So, the slash and burn process successfully clears land for agriculture and introduces fertilizing nutrients into the soil, leaving it in excellent condition to grow crops.

Why was slash and burn farming both good and bad?

By slashing and then burning the forest, these farmers can usually sustain themselves for only 2 consecutive years on the same patch of soil. This too ensures the farmers remain poor. In earlier times when the population density was less, slash and burn worked reasonably well.

Why slash and burn is bad?

There are many problems that result from this method of growing crops, including deforestation, a direct consequence of cutting down forests for crop land; loss of habitat and species; an increase in air pollution and the release of carbon into the atmosphere—which contributes to global climate change; and an increase

Is slash and burn cheap?

Abstract. The slash and burn technique is used in many developing countries as a cheap means of clearing forest land for agriculture and involves cutting vegetation and setting it alight.

Is slash and burn good for the environment?

Slash-and-burn agroecosystems are important to rural poor and indigenous peoples in the developing world. Ecologically sound slash-and-burn agriculture is sustainable because it does not depend upon outside inputs based on fossil energy for fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation.

Does slash and burn damage the environment?

Recent decades have seen a dramatic increase in tropical deforestation caused by slash-and-burn clearing for the establishment of more permanent agriculture, plantations and pastures, which often result in degraded grasslands or degraded fallows.

What does slash and burn farming mean?

Slash-and-burn agriculture, method of cultivation in which forests are burned and cleared for planting. Slash-and-burn agriculture is often used by tropical-forest root-crop farmers in various parts of the world and by dry-rice cultivators of the forested hill country of Southeast Asia.

Is slash and burn good or bad?

Since the 1970s or so, swidden agriculture has been described as both a bad practice, resulting in the progressive destruction of natural forests, and an excellent practice, as a refined method of forest preservation and guardianship.

What type of farming is slash and burn?

Slash-and-burn is a type of shifting cultivation, an agricultural system in which farmers routinely move from one cultivable area to another.

What is slash and burn farming What are its disadvantages?

One of the disadvantages of using slash and burn agriculture is deforestation. When this type of agriculture is practiced by large populations, they have to cut down a lot of trees to grow new crops. This leads to an increase in carbon dioxide levels. Furthermore, these high levels of CO2 boost climate change effects.

Why slash and burn is bad?

There are many problems that result from this method of growing crops, including deforestation, a direct consequence of cutting down forests for crop land; loss of habitat and species; an increase in air pollution and the release of carbon into the atmosphere—which contributes to global climate change; and an increase

Is slash and burn sustainable?

Slash-and-burn agroecosystems are important to rural poor and indigenous peoples in the developing world. Ecologically sound slash-and-burn agriculture is sustainable because it does not depend upon outside inputs based on fossil energy for fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation.

Is slash and burn cheap?

Abstract. The slash and burn technique is used in many developing countries as a cheap means of clearing forest land for agriculture and involves cutting vegetation and setting it alight.

How Does Shifting Cultivation Work?

See more on worldatlas.com

Shifting Cultivation and The Environment

Impact on Climate Change