Traditional Shifting Cultivation
Type: Technologies
Creation: 2010-11-04 13:46 Updated: 2019-03-07 09:14
Compilers: Abdul Gafur
Reviewers: David Streiff, Alexandra Gavilano
Country/ region/ locations where the Technology has been applied and which are covered by this assessment
- Country: Bangladesh
- Region/ State/ Province: Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)
- Map: View Map
Description of the SLM Technology
Short description of the Technology
Traditional shifting cultivation is a rain-fed cultivation practice of the trible people of CHT (Chittagong Hill Tracts) for their subsistence, where natural vegetation is cleared off by slash-and-burn, to grow mixed annual crop for one year and then the land is left fallow for 3-5 years for natural regeneration.
Detailed description of the Technology
Jhum or Shifting cultivation is an age-old hill farming practice of CHT as elsewhere in the world, especially in the hilly region of the tropics and sub-tropics covering different agro-ecological zones. In this system the plant nutrients, which are gradually released in the soil, added from the atmosphere or from dust or silt deposition, accumulates in the fallow vegetation and in the soil during the fallow period. It is then utilized over a shorter period of time than the period of accumulation. In this rain-fed cultivation system an area is cleared off from natural vegetation by slash-and-burn, cropped for one or two years and then allowed to revert to natural vegetation. After some years, the area may be cleared and cropped again in the similar manner, but not necessarily within the same boundaries, nor by the same farmers.
This is a mixed cropping system of the ethnic people of CHT for their sustainable food supply . In Jhum system sowing and weeding are done without major topsoil disturbance using simple tools. Jhumias grow mixed crops like upland paddy, maize, sesame, flower, chilli , sour leaf, cucurbits, beans, turmeric, ginger, cotton, etc together but harvest the crops in succession. This cultivation system is not environment friendly as it declines soil fertility, acclerates soil erosion, and reduces biodiversity.