In this essay we will discuss about Shifting Cultivation. After reading this essay we will learn about: 1. Definition of Shifting Cultivation 2. Process of Shifting Cultivation 3. Jhum Cycle 4. Area under Shifting Cultivation 5. Cropping Pattern 6. Advantages 7. Evil Effects.

Essay on Shifting Cultivation Contents:

  1. Essay on the Definition of Shifting Cultivation
  2. Essay on the Process of Shifting Cultivation
  3. Essay on the Jhum Cycle
  4. Essay on the Area under Shifting Cultivation
  5. Essay on the Cropping Pattern in Shifting Cultivation
  6. Essay on the Advantages of Shifting Cultivation
  7. Essay on the Evil Effects of Shifting Cultivation

Essay # 1. Definition of Shifting Cultivation:

Land cultivation in India is having its distinct feature in different regions of the country. Inspite of its minor variation, these cultivation processes are classified into two distinct patterns—(a) settled farming on the permanent and developed land in the plains and valley areas and (b) tribal agricultural practices, popularly known as shifting cultivation or ‘Jhumming’ on the hill slopes or Jhum lands available in the hill areas of different regions of the country by the tribal people of the country.

Shifting cultivation is a primitive method of cultivation which might have originated to the Neolithic period covering the years between 13,000 to 3,000 B.C. Perhaps the system of shifting cultivation is the first stage for the use of soil for the production of crops.

This system of cultivation was practised over a long period of time as a regular system by the hill inhabitants of Black Africa and America. In the remote parts of Sweden, this system of cultivation was followed until. 1920. Till the middle of last century, Europeans in Brazil and English settlers of seventeenth century in Virginia of the U.S.A. also practised this shifting cultivation.

In India, shifting cultivation is still practised in the hill areas of North-Eastern Region, Sikkim, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra. But among all these states, such practices are still prevalent in the hill areas of North-Eastern states, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. Even though this traditional method of cultivation has been discontinued for more advanced forms of farming, yet it is still being continued in certain parts of the country, apart from North-Eastern states, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

Shifting cultivation is known variedly in different regions as slash-and-burn agriculture, migratory primitive agriculture, nomadic agriculture, hoe and burn, forest field rotation, land-rotation agriculture and in north-east India it is known as ‘Jhum’ cultivation or ‘Jhumming’. Due to diminution of fertility, ‘Jhummias’ will have to shift from one area to another area and thus it is known as shifting cultivation.

Essay # 2. Process of Shifting Cultivation:

Shifting cultivation has its definite process and firstly it needs selection of a plot. The next step is to slash or cut the forest, bushes etc. up to stump level in the month of December-January followed by drying and the burning the jungle for making it clear. After that with the help of simple instruments like dibblers or digging sticks, holes are made on land for sowing seeds of several crops.

This dibbling and sowing of seeds are done by female workers. After sufficient shower, when the ash settles down then the field becomes ready for sowing seeds. Seeds of several crops are applied into the holes for getting a large variety of crops from a same field. After proper weeding by women and children, harvesting starts from third month and then it continued till December next. With this cycle of activities is completed. After harvesting, threshing and storing, merry making, following are the next steps to be followed.

In this process of shifting cultivation, the original fertility of land alongwith the burnt ashes makes it possible to raise a good yield of crops for a year or two. After that all the nutrients of the soil will become exhausted and thus yields falls drastically. This will force the farmers to shift into a new area leaving the previous land as fallow land for gaining fertility and follow the same process of slash and burn in a new area as mentioned above.

Essay # 3. Jhum Cycle:

In shifting cultivation, cultivation in a particular area for one or two years and then moving into other areas and again returning to the first area for cultivation completes a cycle. Thus, number of years between two consecutive jhum operations constitutes a ‘Jhum Cycle’. The cycle includes number of years an area is under cultivation plus the years the area is kept under forest fallow.

Previously the fallow period was of 30 years and at present due to high pressure of population and heavy erosion of soil this fallow period has declined to 4 to 9 years or even less in different states of our country. Among the North-Eastern states, Meghalaya and Nagaland are having the longest jhum cycle of 9 years, Manipur—6 years and the states like Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh are having the lowest jhum cycle of 3 to 4 years.

Table 7.6 shows the jhum cycle in various states of the country. It is found that the jhum cycle was very much common to 6 years in some states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh and the same cycle was 7 years in Orissa.

Number and Area of Operational Holdings

Essay # 4. Area under Shifting Cultivation:

Shifting cultivation requires a large amount of land but it can support only a small number of populations. About the extent of shifting cultivation in terms of area or in terms of number of persons engaged in it there is no definite reliable information. As per an old ICAR review the total estimated area under shifting cultivation was 5.42 lakh hectares and about 26.441 lakh tribal population were engaged in it.

Report of the Dhebar Commission revealed that nearly 5.41 lakh hectares of area are covered per year by the shifting cultivation and about 25.89 lakh tribal populations are depending on it. Again as per the estimates of Vidyarthi, about 2.6 million tribal people are engaged in shifting cultivation covering nearly 1.35 million acres of land scattered in different parts of India.

In north-eastern region, the estimates framed by the state departments of the region in 1974 reveals that shifting cultivation is prevalent in nearly 2.4 per cent of the total area of the entire NE Region at a point of time. About 2.7 million hectares of area i.e., about 14.19 per cent of the area of the entire NE Region is at present available for shifting cultivation and out of which only 16.8 per cent (i.e., about 4.3 lakh hectares) of the area is cultivated at one point of time leaving the rest area for natural regeneration of fertility. Further, about 4.25 lakh tribal families of the entire NE Region are found engaged in shifting cultivation and total area cultivated per tribal family in the region is 1.07 hectares.

As per an recent estimate it is found that total area under shifting cultivation in a year in all north-eastern states is nearly 4.16 lakh hectares in comparison to that of 9.89 lakh hectares of area in whole India.

Again nearly 2.8 million hectares of land is at present available for shifting cultivation in the north-eastern region in comparison to that of 6.76 million hectares of land in the whole country. About 5.47 lakh tribal families of north-eastern region are involved in the shifting cultivation. Table 7.7 will make it more clear.

Area Under Shifting Cultivation

Moreover, Table 7.7 shows that about 5.29 lakh hectares of land in Orissa and 17.0 thousand hectares land in Andhra Pradesh were utilised under shifting cultivation in a year. Again estimated total area under Jhuming is about 3.7 million hectares in Orissa and 1.03 lakh hectares in Andhra Pradesh.

Again, as per the Task Force Report on Shifting Cultivation, Ministry of Agriculture, 1983, total annual area under shifting cultivation in the entire north-eastern region was 3,805 sq. km. and about 14,660 sq km of minimum area was under shifting cultivation in one time or other. Total number of families practising shifting cultivation in the entire north-eastern region was 4.43 lakh.

Essay # 5. Cropping Pattern in Shifting Cultivation:

In shifting or Jhum cultivation tribal farmers follow a mixed land use-pattern for raising various crops together.

Thus, they produce large variety crops from the same field and these include foodgrains, vegetables and cash crops. The most common crop of ‘Jhummias’ are high land paddy or jhum paddy which they produce along with maize, fox-tail millet, finger millet, beans, tapioca, yam, sweet potato, ginger, tobacco, sheesham, chillies and leafy vegetables.

Essay # 5. Advantages of Shifting Cultivation:

The major advantage of the shifting cultivation to the hill people is that it provides a very easy method for the preparation of land for cultivation. Weeds and bushes can be cleared easily by slash-and- burn process and within a shortest possible period crops can be produced and harvested.

In this system there is no danger from either flood or drought. The mountain streams are providing regular water supply for cultivation at moderate rate.

Essay # 6. Evil Effects of Shifting Cutlivation:

The most important evil effect of shifting cultivation is that destruction of forest in the hill area causes heavy soil erosion during rainfall and consequent situation in the major rivers like Brahmaputra and Barak leading to a heavy flood in the plain low-lying areas.

Moreover, loss of top soil in the hill areas to the extent of 22 per cent of the total soil due to ‘Jhumming’ causes a serious fall in the fertility of the soil and thus it creates a serious economic problem for the tribal people. Renewed cultivation has permanently rendered the land waste.

Studies show that the top-soil loss in the shifting cultivation is 40 tonnes per hectare, compared to a mere three tonnes per hectare in conventional farming. Further, severe soil erosion on the hill tops and catchment areas cause silting of river bed and reservoirs.

Second evil effect of jhum cultivation is that as there is no private ownership of land thus the farmers do not undertake any measure for soil conservation and improvement.

Thirdly, shifting cultivation causes deforestation on a large scale and is highly destructive to productive and protective values of forests.

A recent report released by the Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India (FSI), surveys, reveals that Assam is the main victim. In the early 1990s, the state lost about 243 sq km of forests to shifting cultivation. During the same period, shifting cultivation deforested 100 sq km in Meghalaya, 28 sq km in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and 10 sq km in Tripura.

As for example, in Meghalaya, unabated jhumming has converted the once thick evergreen forest belt of Cherrapunji, a place known for its record of highest rainfall in the world, into a dry and brown scar. This jhumming practice has already resulted in extensive climatic changes in the state and destroyed its rare flora and fauna.

Fourthly, shifting cultivation causes a high national waste as it converts a green land into fallow land for the major part of the jhum cycle.

Lastly, shifting cultivation upsets the ecological balance of nature. It is observed that this type of cultivation leads to environmental degradation and disturbs the fragile eco-system of the region. This is mostly resulted from the destruction of surrounding natural vegetation.

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