Rural 2 shiftingx

HIGHER GEOGRAPHY HUMAN - RURAL

Let’s now look at the three case
study farming types.
They are called;-
SHIFTING CULTIVATION
INTENSIVE PEASANT FARMING
EXTENSIVE COMMERCIAL FARMING
You will need to know;-
•An example of where each type is practiced
•What the landscape looks like
•How each type works; the good and bad aspects of it
•The changes that have been affecting it, and how.
1


Tropic of Amazon Centra
Cancer Basin l Africa

Equator
Indonesia
and PNG.

Tropic of
Capricorn

Global Distribution of Shifting Cultivation
Global Distribution of Shifting Cultivation
2


Shifting cultivation is practiced in the Equatorial
Rainforest areas of the world.
An example is the Boro Indian tribe in Amazonia-
Brazil, South America.

3


This type of farming is subsistence, extensive, low
technology, peasant, low productivity, labour intensive,
mainly arable.
It is practiced by between 3 and 6 extended families
-perhaps twenty to fifty people- who live and farm
together.
They use a huge area of rainforest for their farming,
but only small amounts at any one time.
It relies on leaving the land empty- fallow- for many
years to recover after use.
The area of rainforest is traditionally handed down to
the next generation; no-one actually ‘owns’ the land.
4


The land is lush with dense vegetation cover, but it is
very fragile! Stop the cycle of nutrients and the soil
is easily ruined!
The native indians know how to work the land without
spoiling it in the long term.
This is called SUSTAINABLE, and it is good!

5


What are the processes involved in
Shifting farming?

1.The group decide to settle in an area- it could be
several hectares in size.
2.They build a large, communal hut called a MALOCA.
3.The men chop the smaller trees down with axes and
machetes.
4.Useful trees like bananas and pineapples are left.
5.The larger trees are left to help bind the soil and
to provide shade; they are too hard to remove,
anyway!
7


A clearing with its crops
surrounding the communal
hut.

A maloca- home to
several inter-related
families.

8


A Boro tribe Maloca A Guarani tribe version

The design varies between
different tribal groups…
9


SLASH AND BURN is used to
Some trees such as
clear the land. the banana tree
Why is this better than might be left
chopping the trees down standing. Why?
and removing them?
10


In Papua New
Guinea a house is
built in a few
hours…

The final roof
covering goes
on…

11


Inside, the houses are extremely 12
basic.


A family in their Maloca.
13


6. The women and children burn the chopped wood- it
adds ash as a weak fertiliser, though this is quickly
washed out of the soil by the rain.
7. The women then plant their ‘gardens’ called
CHAGRAS between the stumps in a random, irregular
way.
8. They weed and tend the plants over the next few
months, and can harvest up to three crops a year.
Remember there are no seasons in the rainforest, and
there is continuous growth!
9. All the work is done with digging sticks, hoes and
machetes- very low technology!
14


..the cut down trees are allowed to dry for
three months or so, then burned, in small,
controlled fires.

15


Who needs matches? … making fire with two sticks

16


Ground clearance is very hard work, so many
stumps, branches and roots are17left.


The burned wood adds ash (a natural fertiliser) to
the soil.

18


In this Chagra,
-a garden rather
than a field-,
maize seeds are
being planted
amongst Sweet
Potato.

19


Manioc – probably
the single most
important crop…

…its roots
providing
carbohydrate-rich
Cassava flour
(Tapioca).
20


Simple fences to keep out wild and domestic animals…
21


Maize (corn) may be
grown where the soils
are richer.

Papaya and other
fruits form an
important part of
the diet.

22


Other crops may include…

• Yams
• Tobacco
• Coca
• Mangoes
• Beans

Domesticated animals such as pigs and chickens may also
be kept. 23


However, the torrential rains cause rapid leaching
Unless the land is left fallow (rested) to minerals
of the already poor soils, washing vital recover
theseof the soil andwill be permanently degraded.
out nutrients, it reducing its fertility. This is
why the clearings are only used for a few years.

LEACHING by rain. 24


After a few years, the crops start to fail and
the clearing is abandoned – to be reclaimed by
25
the forest.

See
Forest cleared by
Booklet
‘slash and burn’ p7
method. The ash
acts as a
fertiliser Copy
labels

This farming does not lead to
serious destruction as it
allows the forest to naturally
regenerate.

Food crops such as manioc,
sweet potatoes and maize are
grown.
River sites are
The diet is supplemented by
good for fishing
hunting, fishing and gathering
26
and transport
food from the forest.


…Shifting village and cultivation

27


The settlement pattern is
dispersed or scattered.

Because of the large area
of forest required with all
of these moves, the overall
population density is very
low – often less than 1
person per sq.km.

28


There is a variation on this type of farming;
BUSH FALLOWING is where the group settle in one
area, living in a permanent maloca for very much
longer than usual.
They grow their crops in ‘fields’ around the
settlement.
To stop the soil getting ruined too soon, they
practice CROP ROTATION. This is where they use a
different field each time for a different crop.
They usually leave some of the fields FALLOW to
let them recover a bit.

29

…rotational bush fallowing

Continuously cultivated
area around village
1

6 2 Outer clearings
farmed in rotation
Village

5 3

4
30

1. What is a cash crop? What term means the opposite of this?
2. What are the differences between intensive and extensive farming?
Give an example of a British farm type for each.
3.Name the example place from the slides where shifting cultivation is
practiced.
4. Describe the amount of land each group uses over the whole time.
Compare this to how much is used at any one time.
5. Who makes up the group who farm together? How many might there
be? What density of population can they provide for?
6. Describe their house in some detail.
7. What do they need to do to the land before they can plant crops?
How do they do this?
8. What other name is given to this practice?
9. Name six crops they grow. How do they supplement their diet? Give
two ways.
10.Describe examples of the technology they use.
11.What makes them move to another area? Explain why this happens.
12.Why does bush fallowing sometimes get done instead of the original
practice?
13.Name and describe briefly six different reasons 31 their farming
for
type changing.


Changes 1
• Shifting cultivation is in danger of disappearing;

• This is due to destruction of large areas of the
rainforest on which this system depends – the
area available is rapidly shrinking;

• This is caused by logging companies, cattle
ranchers, gold and diamond miners and other
mineral hunters, and new settlers moving in to
the forest;

• Population growth is also putting additional strain
on this way of life – particularly in west Africa.
32


Changes 2
Some Indian groups have been forced into reservations or
retreated into more remote areas deep in the forest;

Many tribes have suffered from Culture Shock;

There has been violence and intimidation against these
tribes, with many thousands killed by new settlers;

Thousands have also died due to lack of immunity to
“western” diseases such as measles;

There has been serious water pollution by gold mining,
which uses toxic substances such as mercury. This has
caused poisoning of rivers and people. 33


In Brazil, for
example, the building
of the Trans
Amazonian Highway
has opened up the
virgin rainforest to
settlement and
exploitation, often
with disastrous
consequences for the
shifting cultivators.

34


Massive deforestation is removing the habitat on
which shifting cultivation depends, as here in
Brazil.

35


Huge fires now destroy
enormous areas in a few hours.

Shifting cultivation is
abandoned and replaced by
large, often foreign-owned
schemes.
36


…such as the Jari Project in the 70s and 80s, with
its forestry plantations, cattle ranches, towns and
railway lines. 37


Thousands of garimpeiros
(illegal gold miners)
devastate an area of
rainforest in a desperate
search for gold.

38


Review of Main points
• Shifting Cultivation is also known as slash and burn;
• It is found mostly in the equatorial rainforest areas of
the world e.g. Amazon, Congo, PNG.
• It has several versions, including bush fallowing;
• It is low technology;
• It supports a very low population density;
• Its settlement pattern is dispersed;
• It is subsistence farming, with little surplus;
• It is under threat due to a combination of outside
influences. Detailed knowledge of these forces of
change is essential.
39

Rural 2 shiftingx

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