What is Jhum Cultivation Where is it followed in India

H1: What is Jhum Cultivation? Where is it followed in India?

Answer: Jhum cultivation, also referred to as slash and burn agriculture is of crop-growing practice. Shifting agriculture of jhum cultivation is predominantly practiced in the North-Eastern states of India. 

It is basically a traditional shifting cultivation farming technique that is being practiced by the indigenous communities and Bengalis in the Chittagong hill tracts in Bangladesh and nearby areas in Mizoram, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh for many years. 

The individuals or farmers practicing jhum cultivation are called jhummias. The jhummias cut down the forest on the slope of the hill, in January and it is afterward that the land is cleaned and the bamboo, wood, and plants that are cut down are dried in the sun. in March or April, the dried material is burnt to make the land suitable for the crop cultivation. 

It is in the Bengali month of Baishakh and Jyeshtha (around May) that the holes are dug by the jhummias in the burnt jhum soil and different types of seeds are sowed in the land. These seeds include Marfa, cotton, paddy, maize, sweet pumpkin and sesame which are further cultivated after several months, depending on each crop. 

Jhum cultivation is not practiced in some years and places due to drought. When adapting jhum cultivation, farmers are required to move their plots from year to year so that the land can be allowed to recover. 

When talking about the cons of jhum cultivation, practicing this type of cultivation can cause extensive damage to the environment. The drawbacks of jhum cultivation include deforestation, loss of soil fertility, soil erosion, destruction of flora and fauna, flooding of lakes and rivers and many more. Additionally, jhum cultivation is not only about cleaning the patch of land but also involves other agricultural activities and also demands a huge amount of continuous labor.