What is the significance of slash and burn agriculture

The soil loses its fertility because the richness of the rainforest is in the trees. Thus continuous recycling keeps everything fertile and growing. When this no longer happens in a cleared plot it soon becomes infertile.

Torrential tropical rains quickly wash nutrients out of the soil when it is left bare after harvest. Slashed and burned slope. Photo by Richard Seal Maybe about million farmers they are not easy to count are forced to eke out a living like that on these poor rainforest soils. By slashing and then burning the forest, these farmers can usually sustain themselves for only 2 consecutive years on the same patch of soil.

Indeed quite often they clear a new plot every year. The soil then loses its fertility and the farmer is faced with either a daily walk of several miles to a new patch or, increasingly as the number of landless farmers grows, they may have to uproot their families to move.

Often they have to cultivate hillsides as all the land lower down is used up, and as they progress up and up they are likely to meet another farmer at the top who has similarly worked his way up from the other side.

Hillsides denuded by continuous slash and burn. Farmers must abandon the land, now degraded, and move to a new plot—clearing more forest in order to do so.

Slash-and-burn agriculture has been used in Central America and Mexico for thousands of years. But today, with more people than ever trying to survive in the midst of dwindling natural resources, its impact is particularly destructive and unsustainable.

There are many problems that result from this method of growing crops, including deforestation, a direct consequence of cutting down forests for crop land; loss of habitat and species; an increase in air pollution and the release of carbon into the atmosphere—which contributes to global climate change; and an increase in accidental fires.

EcoLogic helps local people adopt sustainable methods of agriculture, including alley-cropping, an agroforestry technique where people plant food crops alongside trees. We also promote planting a diversity of food crops, the creation of buffer zones of native trees around existing forests, and the reclamation of degraded land through reforestation and other practices. Create a personalised ads profile.

Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Colin Stief is an experienced project manager for environmental organizations. He holds a master's degree in environmental management from Duke University.

Updated August 12, Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Stief, Colin. Slash and Burn Agriculture Explained. History of Agriculture and Farm Machinery.