question_answer

(a) What is shifting cultivation? (b) What were its local names in Central America, Africa and India? (c) Why was this practice banned by European foresters?

Answer:

 (a) In shifting cultivation, parts of the forests are cut and burnt in rotation. Seeds are sown in the ashes after the first monsoon rains and the crop is harvested by October-November. Such plots are cultivated for a few years and then left fallow to enable trees to grow while another area is cut for use. (b) In Central America this practice is called milpa. it is called tavy or Chitemene in Africa and penda, bewar, podu and kumri in India. (c) European foresters felt that land used for cultivation every few years could not grow trees for railway timber. Moreover, when a forest was burnt, there was a danger of the flames spreading and burning valuable timber. Shifting cultivation also made it harder for the government to calculate taxes. Therefore, they banned shifting cultivation.