What is Shifting Agriculture

Q. What is Shifting Agriculture?

Agriculture, sometimes known as farming, is the cultivation of plants and cattle. Agriculture was a significant factor in establishing sedentary human civilisation since it enabled humans to dwell in cities by creating food surpluses from tamed species.

As opposed to crop rotation, shifting agriculture is a kind of farming that protects soil fertility by rotating plots (fields). A piece of land is cleared and farmed for a brief period in shifting agriculture, after which it is abandoned and left to restore to its native vegetation while the farmer moves on to the next plot. When the soil displays indications of weariness or, more typically, when the field is overtaken by weeds, the time of cultivation typically ends. The time spent cultivating a field is frequently less than the time spent allowing the ground to rejuvenate by lying idle.

Shifting agriculture has been widely criticised because it destroys the fertility of tropical forestlands. On the other hand, shifting agriculture is adaptable to tropical soil conditions in areas where long-term, continuous farming of the same field without enhanced soil conservation and fertiliser application would be severely harmful to the land’s fertility. In such conditions, cultivating a field for a short time and then abandoning it before the soil is entirely depleted of nutrients may be better. Slash-and-burn agriculture is another term for this type of farming.