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Shifting cultivation and its merit and demerit: An overview
Course Seminar On Shifting cultivation and its merit and demerit: An overview Presented by Abhishek Raj M.Sc. Forestry Final year Department of Forestry College of Agriculture Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Raipur (C.G.)
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Content: What is shifting cultivation? Steps of shifting cultivation
Farming cycle of shifting cultivation Slash and burn Status of shifting cultivation in context of world Advantages and disadvantages Effects of Shifting cultivation Conclusion Bibliography
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What is shifting cultivation?
Shifting cultivation is a farming system in which land under natural vegetation (usually forest) is cleared by slash and burn method cropped with common arable crops for a few years and then left unattended after harvesting. Traditionally the fallow period is years but in recent times it is reduced to 2-5 years in many areas. Main function of fallow is to maintain or restore soil fertility and reduce soil erosion. Shifting cultivation is often practiced by primitive tribes in the forested highlands of the Amazon Basin, Congo Basin, etc. It is called ‘Jhum’ in the north-eastern hill region and ‘Podu’ in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa states . It is considered most destructive for forest areas. A variety of food crops like rice, maize, cassava are grown on the land mostly for subsistence purpose.
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Amazon Basin
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Steps of shifting cultivation:
1.Site selection 2.Slashing 3.Burning 4. Cultivation 5. Harvesting 6. Abandoning the old sites
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Farming Cycle of Shifting Cultivation
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Slash and Burn Slash and Burn (another name of shifting cultivation) is mostly practiced in Central America, Madagascar, Africa, India, Papua, New Guinea, etc.
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Slash and burn
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Shifting cultivation: a global view
It is very primitive form of agriculture, which is believed to have originated in the Neolithic period around 7000 B.C. A diversity of shifting cultivation systems is practiced in different historical, environmental and socio-economic situations in Africa, Central and South America, Southeast Asia and Oceania. (FAO, 1974). It was once a widespread practice in Europe (Greenland, 1974 ). Predominately upland rice in South east Asia, maize and manioc (cassava) in South America, and millet and sorghum in Africa. Yams, sugarcane, plantain (dessert bananas), and vegetables are also grown in some regions.
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Continued…. More than 6% area under tropical forests was converted to shifting cultivation between 1980 and 1990 across all tropical countries. (Ranjan and Upadhyay, 1999) About 10% of forest land was converted to shifting cultivation in Asia during the (Singh and Marzoli, 1995) In pioneer or frontier situations where ratios of fallow periods to cultivation phases are up to 10 or more, the system is stable, ecologically sound and reasonably efficient (Okigbo, 1981) As a result of population pressure and various reasons for intensification of production, the fallow periods become drastically reduced. Short fallow periods are no longer adequate to restore the soil’s productive capacity.
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Continued….. According to FAO, it is estimated that each year approximately 1.9–3.6x106 ha land of primary close forests, 3.4–40x106 ha land of secondary close forests, and 6.9–21.9x106 ha land of secondary open forests are being lost due to shifting cultivation. (Detwiler and Hall, 1988) This system is practiced extensively in the north-eastern hill region comprising the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura and the two union territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram and to some extent Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Karnataka states.
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Continued… Orissa is a major state adopting this practice.
The tribal communities, viz. Bhuiyan, Juanga, Kandha, Erengakola, Kutiya, Buniya, Saura, Jatapa, Paraja, Gadaba, Kamar and Koya are involved in this practices (Sahu et al. 2005) 85% of the total cultivation in northeast India is by shifting cultivation. In India, about 5.0 million tribal families are practicing this system on million hectare of land covering 11 states (Sahu et al. 2005)
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Terms used for shifting cultivatión in different parts of the worlds
Country or Region Asia Ladang Indonesia, Malaysia Jumar Java Ray Vietnam Tam-ray, Rai Thailand Hay Laos Hanumo Philippines Chena Sri lanka, Japan Karen Korea Taungya Burma Bewar, dhya, dippa, erka, jhum, kumri, penda, pothu, podu India
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Source: Manshard, 1974 ; Gourou, 1958.
Continued… Terms Country or Region America Coamile Mexico Milpa Mexico, Central America Icheli Guadalupe Roca Brazil Africa Masole Zaire Tavy Malagasy Republic Chitimene, Citimene Zaire , Rhodesia, Tanzania Proka Ghana Source: Manshard, 1974 ; Gourou, 1958.
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Formal agricultural region:
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Area under shifting cultivation in tropics:
FAO, 1974
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Tribal (Million) Families
SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN DIFFERENT STATES OF INDIA State Tribal (Million) Families Total Area (Million hectare) % Area cover Orissa 2.00 1.60 36.61 Tripura 0.19 0.49 11.21 Meghalaya 0.61 0.47 10.75 Madhya Pradesh 0.38 8.69 Assam 0.31 7.09 Manipur 0.36 0.26 5.94 Arunachal Pradesh 0.43 0.21 4.80 Mizoram 0.40 4.34 Bihar 0.23 Andhra Pradesh 0.11 0.15 3.43 Nagaland 0.12 2.74 Total 5.02 4.37 100.00 Source : Shifting cultivation in India, ICAR
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District (Undivided) Area (ha) Estimated by land Sat.1. % Cover
SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN DIFFERENT DISTRICTS OF ORISSA District (Undivided) Area (ha) Estimated by land Sat.1. % Cover Sambalpur 22.7 Keonjhar 22.0 Koraput 16.6 Ganjam 11.7 Phulbani 11.4 Sundargarh 4.4 Mayurbhanj 3.9 Kalahandi 3.1 Dhenkanal 2.7 Bolangir 0.9 Total 100.00 Source :"Agriculture in Orissa" by D. Lenka, 2001
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CHANGE OF SOIL PROPERTIES DUE TO SHIFTING CULTIVATION
Soil characteristics Before burning After burning Increase by End of crop cycle Reduce by pH(1:2) 5.1 5.5 0.4 4.2 1.3 OC(%) 0.13 0.25 0.12 0.05 0.2 Available P (mg/100g.) 3.3 2.2 1.2 4.3 Available K (mg/100g.) 210 570 360 40 530 Exchangeable Ca (mg/100g.) 7.15 9.46 2.31 2.82 6.64 Source :" "Waste land management" by Dhrubanarayan, 1992 (ICAR)..
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Extent of shifting cultivation area in NE region
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Status of Shifting Cultivation in North East India
State Annual area under shifting cultivation (ha) Fallow period (Years) Number of jhumias families Jhum land/family (ha) Arunachal 70,000 3-10 54,000 1.29 Assam 69,600 2-10 58,000 1.20 Manipur 90,000 4-7 1.28 Meghalaya 53,000 5-7 52,000 1.01 Nagaland 19,000 5-8 116,000 0.16 Tripura 22,300 5-9 43,000 0.51 Mizoram 63,000 3-4 50,000 1.26 (Source: GBPIHED, 2006)
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Advantage: Small investment needed. Simple growing method. No need of animal labour power Environmentally friendly because it is organic farming Well-fertilized soil. It may reduce the incidence of soil-borne diseases. It can play a part in pest management. Disadvantages Not long term Destroying habitats of wild animals. Taking our life element: oxygen. Deforestation. Troublesome to move around all the time.
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Effects of shifting cultivation
Shifting cultivation causes loss of flora and fauna which includes precious species of tree plants, shrubs, medicinal plants and minor forest products. It is an easy method of deforestation. The wild animals loss their shelter. Causes heavy flood in the rivers below. Siltation to the tanks, nallas, river and reservoirs. Ecology is disturbed and distored which never restored. Soil erosion: The intensity of erosion depends on slope, soil characteristics, crop coverage, depth of soil and rainfall pattern etc.
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Conclusion: The existing practice of shifting cultivation in tropical and subtropical countries has been identified as one of the anthropogenic and unscientific form of land use which is influencing the biodiversity to impede the ecological balance of the region. Otherwise, jhuming has many benefits from livelihood point of view, but in long run it destroys the ecosystem balance because one inch soil formation in nature takes about 1000 years. But several inches of soil are washed out each year due to jhuming. Also resulted in large-scale deforestation, soil and nutrient loss, and by the way affecting the indigenous biodiversity to a large extent. Although shifting cultivation is a non-viable resource-utilization practice, tribals are still clinging to this primitive practice to sustain themselves and their families.
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Reference: Detwiler, R.P. and Hall, C.A.S., 1988. Science, 239: 42–47.
Singh, J.S. and Singh, S.P., Forests of Himalaya, Gyanodaya Prakashan, Nainital,, p. 294. Lenka, D., "Agriculture in Orissa“ Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi. Dhrubanarayan, U.U., Wasteland Management, ICAR, Publication. Sahu, S.K., Nayak, R.K. and Sarangi, D Sustainable Soil and Land Management Under Shifting Cultivation in Orissa. Orissa Review, pp Subramanyam, N.S. and Sambamurty, A.V.S.S., Ecology, 2nd edn, Narosa Puublishing House, New Delhi. Ranjan, R. and Upadhyay, V. P Ecological problems due to shifting cultivation. Singh, K.D. and Marzoli, A Paper presented at the World Wildlife Fund Conference on the Potential Impact of Climate on Tropical Forests, San Juan, Puerto Rico, pp. 2–3.
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Thanks
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