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What is Shifting Agriculture? Why was it regarded as harmful by the British?
Answer:
Points to be remembered:
Answer to be written in the exam:
-
In shifting cultivation, parts of the forest are cut and burnt in rotation
.
Seeds are sown
in the ashes after the first
monsoon rains
, and the
crop is harvested by October-November.
-
Such plots are
cultivated for a couple of years
and then
left fallow for 12 to 18 years for the forest to grow back
. A mixture of crops is grown on these plots.
-
Shifting Agriculture or Swidden Agriculture is a
traditional agricultural practice in many parts of Asia, Africa, and South America
. It has
many local names
such as ‘lading’ in South-East Asia, ‘milpa’ in Central America, ‘chimenea’ or ‘tavy’ in Africa, ‘chena’ in Sri Lanka, dhya, Penda, bewar, nevad, jhum, podu, khandad and kumri in India.
- It was regarded as harmful by the British to the forests. They felt that land which was used for cultivation every few years could not grow trees for Railway timber. When the forest was burnt there was the danger of the flames spreading and burning valuable timber.
