Q- What is Swidden Agriculture? Where is it practised? Describe its main features.
Answer- The Swidden agriculture is also called as ‘Shifting cultivation’. It is a kind of cultivation in which people cultivate a piece of land only once then they moved to other land for cultivation. This method of cultivation is known as shifting cultivation. Its biggest demerit is that it leads to a large amount of deforestation as people burn or cut trees in forests to get clear land for cultivation.
It is mainly practiced in the major parts of Asia, Africa and South America.
It has several local names such as Landing in Southeast Asia, Milpa in Central America, Chena in Sri Lanka e.t.c.
In India, several local terms were used for ‘Swidden agriculture’. Some of them are Dhya, Bewar, Penda and Jhum.
Its main features are as follows:
1. In it a piece of land is cleared by burning or cutting trees and that land was used for cultivation but after a year it was left.
2. And people moved for another land for cultivation.
3. In this way people clear forests very rapidly. That’s why government banned it.