Shifting cultivation problems and

remedies
Shifting cultivation, also known as slash-and-burn agriculture, or rotational bush
fallow agriculture, and as jhum cultivation in Northeast India, is an ancient method of
agriculture that is still practiced by tribal communities in many parts of the world,
particularly in the wet tropics.
One land-clearing system of shifting agriculture is the slash-and-burn method,
which leaves only stumps and large trees in the field after the standing vegetation has
been cut down and burned, its ashes enriching the soil. Cultivation of the earth after
clearing is usually accomplished by hoe or digging stick and not by plough.
Reasons for practicing shifting cultivation
Land area available for permanent cultivation is not enough even for subsistence
living for the majority of farmers.
Even where the biophysical setting allows permanent cultivation, the acute
shortage of drinking water sources has restricted the expansion of sedentary
agriculture
no external inputs other than labour and some seed are required to produce the
crop and enrich the soil;
the crop is not affected by marginal variations in climate; and
Shifting cultivation does not require high-level management capability.
Negative Impact of shifting cultivation practices
adverse environmental impacts have also been noted as a consequence of
prolonged shifting cultivation
Precious and more old forests are destroyed
Leguminous and nitrogen-fixing plants are victims of recurrent burning.
Productivity of jhum land is declining
Remedies:
Indian Forest Act of 1972 laid down that shifting cultivation was subject to
control, restriction and abolition by the state government.
resettlement of jhum farmers by relocation of their villages and provision of
alternate means of livelihood;
introducing terrace cultivation or forestry cooperatives on jhum lands
Diversification into horticulture, floriculture and plantation crops and
A complete change in the land tenure system in the hills whereby communally
owned and operated holdings are replaced by individual holdings.
Transfer of indigenous technology from one tribe to another or one area to
another;
Upgrading of jhum by introducing variations in the species composition in the
crop mix in order to increase economic returns and improve ecological efficiency;
Use of bamboo varieties and other fast- growing native trees as wind - breaks to
check wind and minimize the loss or water borne soil, ash and nutrients;
Introduction of appropriate rural technology such as rainwater harvesting, tanks,
mini - hydels, biogas, to strengthen village ecosystems; and
participatory development based on jhum fallow management including
community involvement in the selection of preferred species for fallow cycles
creation of the right kind of institutions for natural resource management at the
local level that are built on the pattern of the traditional institutions that already
exist
Redevelopment of valley wet rice cultivation and improvement of other land use
systems such as homestead gardens to increase productivity in the plains for state
level food security
Damage caused to the forest by shifting cultivation in certain areas must be
guarded against. To wean the aborigines who eke out a precarious living from area
cultivation, moving from area to area from their old and wasteful practices requires
persuasion not coercion, a missionary not an authoritarian approach.

References:
1. Shifting Cultivation in India By Sachchidananda
2. Wikipedia
3. http://manipur.nic.in/planning/draftmsdr/draft_sdr_pdf/chapter%206_land%20use.pdf
4. http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/V8380E/V8380E01.htm