Shifting cultivation, also known as slash and burn agriculture, is a farming method used by over 300,000 people worldwide. It involves clearing areas of forest for crops, which are grown for a few years until soil fertility declines, at which point a new area is cleared. Population densities are very low, around 1 person per square kilometer, due to the dispersed settlement pattern required with frequent field relocation. Crops grown include manioc, maize, bananas, and other fruits and vegetables. After several years of use, fields are abandoned to allow the forest and soil nutrients to recover through natural regeneration.

1. - RURAL GEOGRAPHY -
- RURAL GEOGRAPHY -
SHIFTING CULTIVATION
SHIFTING CULTIVATION
Title

2. Main learning outcomes: you
should…
• be able to describe the main features of
this type of farming, including the crops
grown, the level of technology used and the
main activities throughout the year.
• be able to describe and explain the
settlement pattern and the population
density.
• be familiar with the changes occurring in
areas of shifting cultivation and the impact
of these changes on the people and the
landscape.

3. INTRODUCTION
One of the most primitive form of farming found
on the earth, Shifting Agriculture still supports
over 300 thousand people.
This type of farming has probably existed for over
10,000 years and was once very widespread – even
found in stone-age Europe.
Largely replaced by sedentary or fixed farming, it is
now in danger of disappearing altogether. It is now
found mainly in equatorial rainforest areas.

4. Tropic of Amazon Centra Indonesia
Cancer Basin l Africa and PNG.
Equator
Tropic of
Capricorn
Global Distribution of Shifting Cultivation
Global Distribution of Shifting Cultivation

5. Around the World…
• Shifting cultivation is also known as:-
• Slash and Burn;
or
• Ladang (Malaysia)
• Roca (Brazil);
• Masole (Congo)
• Milpa (Mexico)
• This presentation looks at examples from
the Amazon Basin and Papua New Guinea

6. Types of Shifting Cultivation
• Shifting Cultivation proper;
• Permanent village, shifting cultivated areas;
• Rotational bush fallowing.

7. Shifting Cultivation proper…
• Shifting Cultivation in its purest form, clearings
are made in the forest, used for two to five years
to grow food, then abandoned and a new clearing
created. This is repeated, with the village
eventually returning to the original site after 25
years or more – or maybe never.
• Such frequent moves are necessary because the
soil quickly loses its fertility and crops will start
to fail after only a few years.
• Abandoned clearings will be reclaimed by the
forest and gradually the soil fertility will recover.

8. …Shifting village and cultivation

9. …permanent village, shifting
cultivation
• This variation is probably more common, particularly
in Africa.
• In this system, the village remains in one place and
the farmed clearing is changed every few years.
The old clearing is left “fallow” or rested.
• This system is found where the population is
permanent, the total land available may be less and
where population densities may be higher.

10. …permanent village: shifting cultivation
1
6 2
Village
5 3
4

11. …rotational bush fallowing
• As population pressure increases and the amount of
available land decreases, the land around the
village is used continuously.
• This often leads to rapid exhaustion of the soil,
particularly if animal manure or other fertilisers
are not used.

12. …rotational bush fallowing
Continuously cultivated
area around village
1
6 2 Outer clearings
farmed in rotation
Village
5 3
4

13. Population Density and Settlement
Pattern
Because of the large
The settlement required
area of forest pattern
with is dispersed or
all of these moves,
scattered.
the overall population
density is very low –
often less than 1 person
per sq.km.

14. The Climate
• Most shifting cultivation is found in areas of
Equatorial climate.
• Here the sun is overhead, or almost overhead
for the whole year, bringing consistently high
daily temperatures.
• The typical daily weather pattern is of
increasing humidity and heavy afternoon
thunderstorms, caused by convectional rain.

15. Climate Graph for Iquitos, Amazon Basin, Peru (3½ ºS)
Climate Graph for Iquitos, Amazon Basin, Peru (3½ ºS)
350 30
300
25
250
20
This combination of
Rainfall is abundant all Temperature is high all
Rainfall (mm)
200
Temp.ºC
year, with most areasand moisture
warmth year – above 25º C – and 15
receiving creates twelve monthsvery little from
around varies
150
2000mm annually - growingmonth to month.
of perfect
about the same as the for plants –
conditions 10
100 west of Scotland!
Rainforest is the result
5
50
0 0
J F M A M J JL A S O N D
Months

16. The farming landscape
and the people…

17. Main features…
• This is subsistence farming – only providing enough
for the group, with little or nothing left to sell.
• It is extensive farming i.e. it covers a large area of
land;
• The technology level is very low – all work is done
by hand, with only a few basic tools.
• This type of farming is sustainable or eco-friendly –
it does no lasting harm to the forest environment,
as long as the clearings are given enough time to
recover their fertility.

18. In the top diagram the fallow period is long enough to allow the soil to
recover its nutrients: in the lower one the land is returned to farming
too soon and it quickly loses its fertility.

19. A
Here we see a communal Yanomami house
(Maloca) in a rainforest clearing…

20. Such settlements
usually house about
20 – 100 people.
Many of these
groups have had no
contact with the
modern world.

21. A Boro tribe Maloca A Guarani tribe version
The design varies between different tribal groups…

22. In Papua New
Guinea a house is
built in a few
hours…
The final roof
covering goes
on…

23. Inside, the houses are extremely basic.

24. Yanomami – one of the Amazon hunter gatherer
tribes who also practice shifting cultivation.

25. A Yanomami family in their Maloca.

26. Two members of the Mati tribe (cat people)…only
recently “discovered” by the outside world.

27. Although they may look
a bit primitive to us,
these people are able to
live in a very tough
environment, where soft
westerners like us
wouldn’t last long.
…some Mati boys go to
school - part of a
government development
programme for the
native Amerindian
tribes.

28. Main activities…

29. Slash and Burn - first the forest is cleared – by hand…

30. Who needs matches? … making fire with two sticks …

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

32. Ground clearance is very hard work, so many
stumps, branches and roots are left.

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

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

35. In this Chagra,
a garden rather
than a field,
maize seeds
are being
planted
amongst Sweet
Potato (Papua
New Guinea).

36. The plants grow quickly in the warm, wet climate.

37. A Chagra, in its first year.

38. Taro, similar to Sweet potato, nearly ready for lifting.
Taro, similar to Sweet potato, nearly ready for lifting.

39. Manioc –
probably the
single most
important crop…
…its roots
providing
carbohydrate-
rich Cassava
flour (Tapioca).

40. Simple fences to keep out wild and domestic animals…

41. Maize (corn) may be
grown where the soils
are richer.
Papaya and other
fruits form an
important part of
the diet.

42. Sugar cane may sweeten
an otherwise bland diet.
Banana provides
important minerals such
as Potassium

43. Other crops may include…
• Yams
• Tobacco
• Coca
• Mangoes
• Beans
Domesticated animals such as pigs and chickens may also
be kept.

44. Meat is usually
hunted in the forest
… monkey, tapir..
The forest also supplies the
people with fruit, berries,
medicines, poisons and
drugs...and, of course, fish
from the rivers add
important protein.

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

46. 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, diamond and other mineral hunters & miners, HEP
schemes, road building e.g. Trans Amazon highway and
new settlers moving in to the forest;
• Population growth is also putting additional strain on
this way of life – particularly in west Africa.

47. 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.

48. 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.

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

50. Huge fires now destroy
enormous areas in a few hours.
Shifting cultivation is
abandoned and replaced by
large, often foreign owned
schemes.

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

52. Thousands of
garimpeiros, or
gold miners,
devastate an area
of rainforest in a
desperate search
for gold.

53. 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.

54. Important Terms
• Slash and burn
• Ash for fertiliser
• Subsistence farming
• Maloca - house
• Chagra - garden
• Manioc, Sweet Potatoes, Banana
• Leaching of soil
• Fallow period
• Eco-friendly / sustainable