Slash-and-burn
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Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a
Slash-and-burn is a type of
A similar term is assarting, which is the clearing of forests, usually (but not always) for the purpose of agriculture. Assarting does not include burning.[9]
History
Historically, slash-and-burn cultivation has been practiced throughout much of the world. Fire was already used by hunter-gatherers before the invention of agriculture, and still is in present times. Clearings created by the fire were made for many reasons, such as to provide new growth for game animals and to promote certain kinds of edible plants.
During the
Large groups wandering in the woodlands was once a common form of society in European prehistory. The extended family burned and cultivated their swidden plots, sowed one or more crops, and then proceeded on to the next plot.[11]
Technique
Slash-and-burn fields are typically used and owned by a family until the soil is exhausted. At this point the ownership rights are abandoned, the family clears a new field, and trees and shrubs are permitted to grow on the former field. After a few decades, another family or clan may then use the land and claim usufructuary rights. In such a system there is typically no market in farmland, so land is not bought or sold on the open market and land rights are traditional.[citation needed]
In slash-and-burn agriculture, forests are typically cut months before a dry season. The "slash" is permitted to dry and then burned in the following dry season. The resulting ash fertilizes the soil[12][13] and the burned field is then planted at the beginning of the next rainy season with crops such as rice, maize, cassava, or other staples. This work was once done using simple tools such as machetes, axes, hoes and shovels.
Benefits and drawbacks
This system of agriculture provides millions of people with food and income. It has been ecologically sustainable for thousands of years. Because the leached soil in many tropical regions, such as the Amazon, are nutritionally extremely poor, slash-and-burn is one of the only types of agriculture which can be practiced in these areas. Slash-and-burn farmers typically plant a variety of crops, instead of a monoculture, and contribute to a higher biodiversity due to creating mosaic habitats. The general ecosystem is not harmed in traditional slash-and-burn, aside from a small temporary patch.
This technique is most unsuitable for the production of cash crops. A huge amount of land, or a low density of people, is required for slash-and-burn. When slash-and-burn is practiced in the same area too often, because the human population density has increased to an unsustainable level, the forest will eventually be destroyed.
Regionally
South Asia
Tribal groups in the
Americas
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Some American civilizations, like the Maya, have used slash-and-burn cultivation since ancient times.
Northern Europe
Slash-and-burn techniques were used in northeastern Sweden in agricultural systems. In Sweden the practice is known as svedjebruk.[18]
Svedjebruk
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Svedjebruk is a
The practice also spread to New Sweden in North America. Reinforced by the use of fire in agriculture and hunting by American Indians, it became an important part of pioneering in America.[16]
Description of process
Svedjebruk involved stripping a ring of bark completely around the trunk of
Only two tools were required, the axe and the sickle. The axe cut the trees to start the cycle. When the rye had ripened, it was harvested with a sickle, which could reach among the rocks and stumps where a scythe would have been ineffective.[20]
In the second and third year the field would be sown with turnips or cabbages. It then might be grazed for several years before being allowed to return to woodland.
Svedjebruk culture
Svedjebruk required felling new forest and burning a new area every year. It was necessary to allow the former fields to regrow with forest for 10–30 years before repeating the cycle. As a result, the dwellings were often many kilometers from the fields. Furthermore, since the process was man-power intensive, extended families tended to work together and live in compact communities.
The svedjebruk farming approach required a large area. When forest was plentiful, the Finns were very prosperous. As population grew and restrictions were placed on the forest which could be burned, it became increasingly difficult. By 1710, during the conflict with Sweden, because of their suspect loyalties Norwegian authorities considered expelling them from the border area, but did not do so because it was judged they were too poor to survive if evicted.
Research
This type of agriculture is discouraged by many developmental or environmentalist organisations, with the main alternatives being promoted are switching to more
Not allowing the slashed vegetation to burn completely and ploughing the resultant charcoal into the soil (slash-and-char) has been proposed as way to boost yields.[21]
Promoters of a project from the early 2000s claimed that slash-and-burn cultivation could be reduced if farmers grew black pepper crops between Inga trees, which they termed 'Inga alley cropping'.[22]
A method of improving the yields in a type of traditional assarting cultivation used to grow common beans in Central American called 'slash-and-cover', has been proposed, by additionally planting
Gallery
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Arunachal Pradesh, India
See also
- 2006 Southeast Asian haze
- 2013 Southeast Asian haze
- 2015 Southeast Asian haze
- 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires
- History of the forest in Central Europe
- Agricultural waste
General literature
- Conklin, H. C. (February 1961). "The Study of Shifting Cultivation" (PDF). Current Anthropology. 2 (1): 27–61. S2CID 132297474.
- Nesholen, Birger (1994). "Svedjebrukerne", Østlandske Skogsområder, Den Norske Turistforening.
- ISBN 0-295-97596-2.
- Sawyer, Birgit; ISBN 0-8166-1739-2.
- Stagg, Frank Noel (1956). East Norway and Its Frontier. Allen & Unwin.
Citations
- ^ "Slash-and-burn agriculture". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- ^ EcoLogic Development Fund. "Slash and Burn Agriculture". ecologic.org.
- ^ Md Shahidul Islam (2012). "Jhum". In Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal (ed.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
- ^ Choudhury, Sanjoy (March–April 2010). "Jhum". Geography and You. Vol. 10, no. 59. Archived from the original on 4 March 2019.
- ^ Disha Experts (2018). 1500+ MCQs with Explanatory Notes For Geography, Ecology & Environment. Disha Publications. p. 130.
- ^ Skegg, Martin (24 September 2011). "TV highlights 27/09/2011". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 March 2017.
- ^ "Slash and Burn Agriculture – An Overview of Slash and Burn". Geography.about.com. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
- S2CID 133993874.
- ^ "Assarting", The Free Dictionary, retrieved 2020-10-12
- ^ Jaime Awe, Maya Cities and Sacred Caves, Cu bola Books (2006)
- ^ Clark J.G.D., 1952, Farming: Clearance and Cultivation II Prehistoric Europe: The Economic Basis, pg.s 91–107, Cambridge.
- ^ "Best Management Practices for Wood Ash as Agricultural Soil Amendment" (PDF). athenaeum.libs.uga.edu.
- ^ "Slash and Burn Agriculture | EcoLogic Development Fund". www.ecologic.org. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
- ^ "Jhum". banglapedia.org.
- ^ TI Trade (2011-01-17). "The Assam Tribune Online". Assamtribune.com. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
- ^ a b Pyne, 1997:470
- PMID 12334855.
- ^ "Sviðna, Svedjebruk and Slash & Burn cultivation | Northern Bush". Retrieved 2020-10-12.
- ^ "Telkkämäki Nature Reserve". Outdoors.fi. 2013-05-14. Archived from the original on 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
- ^ Video on the procedure. In: YouTube
- S2CID 86216355.
- ^ Elkan, Daniel (21 April 2004). "Fired with ambition". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 March 2019.
- S2CID 40357446.
External links
- Karki, Sameer (2002). Community Involvement in and Management of Forest Fires in South East Asia (PDF) (Technical report). Project FireFight South East Asia. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2018.
- Video of slash-and-burn at the Telkkämäki Nature Reserve, Finland, in 2012
- Video of slash-and-burn in Sweden around 1930–32 (from the YouTube channel of the Nordic Museum)