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Shifting Cultivation. Mocachino: Aaron Sean Ji Won Micalla. Contents. What is Shifting Cultivation? Who and where is Shifting Cultivation practiced? Steps of shifting cultivation Characteristics of Shifting Cultivation Advantages of Shifting Cultivation
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Shifting Cultivation Mocachino: Aaron Sean Ji Won Micalla
Contents • What is Shifting Cultivation? • Who and where is Shifting Cultivation practiced? • Steps of shifting cultivation • Characteristics of Shifting Cultivation • Advantages of Shifting Cultivation • Disadvantages of Shifting Cultivation • Environmental effects of Shifting Cultivation
What is Shifting Cultivation? • Shifting cultivation is usually practiced by the tribal groups living in the forests, and involves only a very small land area. • The chosen piece of land in the forest is cut down and burnt to ashes that act as a form of temporary fertilizers. • A variety of crops are cultivated at the same time. When the land loses its fertility in about 2 to 3 years' time, the land is abandoned and the tribe will search for a new patch of forest to clear. • This form of "slash-and-burn" method could sometimes destroy a larger forested area than planned.
Who and where practices Shifting Cultivation? • Shifting Cultivation is practiced in countries such as India, Africa and Asia, in areas which meet the conditions, such as forested highlands. • Usually practiced by individuals and families, sometimes also practiced by primitive tribes. • It is also mainly practiced in tropical or equatorial rainforests.
Steps of Shifting Cultivation • The tribe chooses a plot of land in the rainforest and clears it using the slash and burn method. • The crops are then grown. The crops usually grown in shifting cultivation include rice, beans, maize, cassava, etc. After a 2 to 3 years of growing and harvesting on the plot of land, the soil begins to lose fertility, and weeds start growing extensively. • The family or tribe would then abandon the plot of land and move to a new area. The tribe would not return to the same plot of land for another 20 – 50 years because the soil has to regain it’s fertility.
Characteristics of Shifting Cultivation • Crops are mainly frown for subsistence. • Small scale farming. • Small farmlands used. • The longer the same patch of land is abandoned, the more fertile it will be when used again. • The method used for clearing space is mostly “slash-and-burn”. • After the trees are burnt, the ashes are then returned to the earth as natural fertilizer.
Advantages of Shifting Cultivation? • In lesser populated areas, the “Slash-and-burn” method is more sustainable and productive than other methods, due to the lack of people in the area, and shifting cultivation relies heavily on “slash-and-burn”. • By regularly switching farmlands, the prevention of over-exhaustion on farms will increase. • Sometimes the timber salvaged from making the clearing are used in stead of burned. For example, construction, fences, etc…
Disadvantages of Shifting Cultivation • “Slash-and-burn” method will cause a lot of pollution. • Shifting cultivation will not earn a lot of money as it is a type of subsistence farming. • It could be a lot of hassle to regularly switch farmlands as well as homes.
Environmental Effects of Shifting Cultivation • Due to the clearing of trees and such, floods will happen more often because there are no roots to absorb the water. • Air pollution will happen when the trees are burned. • Landslides will also happen more frequently as there aren’t any roots to hold the earth together.
Bibliography Bibliography Shifting Cultivation – Definitions and much more from Answers.com [Accessed on October 17th] Available at http://www.answers.com/Shifting+Cultivation?cat=technology (This site has shown a lot of the information we have, not all, but a lot.) Shifting Cultivation [Accessed on October 17th] Available at http://library.thinkquest.org/26634/forest/farming/shiftcult.htm (This site contain more details on the steps of our topic.) Shifting Cultivation[online] Available from http://www.eoearth.org/article/Slash_and_burn Accessed on 18 Oct 2007 (Most of our information of Slash and Burn are found here.)
Quiz!!!! List down 3 crops that grow in shifting cultivation. WHAT is shifting cultivation? Do they sell the crops for the money? Explain Why do people do shifting cultivation?
Arrange the followings • Burn the crops • Plant the crops in another place • Cut the crops • Plant the crops • Move to another place