Shifting Cultivation

1. A patch of forest or bush is selected and the vegetation cut
2. The dried vegetation is burned, releasing nutrients in the ash and clearing the ground
3. Crops are planted, often as a mixture, drawing on the flush of released nutrients
4. The plot is cropped for a few seasons until fertility declines and weeds increase
5. The plot is left to fallow and regenerate while cultivation shifts to a new patch

The fallow period is what makes shifting cultivation work over the long term. During fallow, regrowing vegetation takes up and stores nutrients, soil organic matter and structure recover, and weed and pest pressures are broken. A sufficiently long fallow relative to the cropping phase allows the land to be used again later without permanent degradation, which is why the ratio of fallow to cropping time is a defining feature of the system.

Shifting cultivation typically grows a diverse mixture of subsistence crops suited to the local environment — root crops such as cassava and yam, upland rice, maize, plantains and bananas, and various vegetables and legumes — often intercropped on the cleared plot. The system is deeply tied to the cultures and landscapes where it is practised and has historically been well adapted to low-population, forest-rich settings.

Shifting cultivation is often viewed critically for its association with deforestation and burning, but its sustainability depends heavily on land availability and fallow length: under low pressure it can be a stable, low-input system, while under high pressure it can contribute to degradation. Much attention focuses on transitions toward more intensive or agroforestry-based systems where fallows can no longer be maintained.