Slash-and-burn

Historically, slash-and-burn cultivation has been practiced throughout much of the world. Fire was already used by hunter-gatherers before the invention of agriculture, and still is in present times. Clearings created by the fire were made for many reasons, such as to provide new growth for game animals and to promote certain kinds of edible plants.

During the Neolithic Revolution, groups of hunter-gatherers domesticated various plants and animals, permitting them to settle down and practice agriculture, which provided more nutrition per hectare than hunting and gathering. Some groups could easily plant their crops in open fields along river valleys, but others had forests covering their land. Thus, since Neolithic times, slash-and-burn agriculture has been widely used to clear land to make it suitable for crops and livestock.Jaime Awe, Maya Cities and Sacred Caves, Cu bola Books (2006)

Large groups wandering in the woodlands was once a common form of society in European prehistory. The extended family burned and cultivated their swidden plots, sowed one or more crops, and then proceeded on to the next plot.Clark J.G.D., 1952, Farming: Clearance and Cultivation II Prehistoric Europe: The Economic Basis, pg.s 91–107, Cambridge.

File:Svedjebruk.jpg, Finland, in the 1920s]]

Slash-and-burn fields are typically used and owned by a family until the soil is exhausted. At this point the ownership rights are abandoned, the family clears a new field, and trees and shrubs are permitted to grow on the former field. After a few decades, another family or clan may then use the land and claim usufructuary rights. In such a system there is typically no market in farmland, so land is not bought or sold on the open market and land rights are traditional.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

In slash-and-burn agriculture, forests are typically cut months before a dry season. The "slash" is permitted to dry and then burned in the following dry season. The resulting ash fertilizes the soil{{Cite web|url=https://athenaeum.libs.uga.edu/bitstream/handle/10724/12128/B1142.pdf?sequence=1|title=Best Management Practices for Wood Ash as Agricultural Soil Amendment|website=athenaeum.libs.uga.edu}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.ecologic.org/actions-issues/challenges/slash-burn-agriculture/|title=Slash and Burn Agriculture {{!}} EcoLogic Development Fund|website=www.ecologic.org|language=en|access-date=2018-01-10}} and the burned field is then planted at the beginning of the next rainy season with crops such as rice, maize, cassava, or other staples. This work was once done using simple tools such as machetes, axes, hoes and shovels.

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This system of agriculture provides millions of people with food and income. It has been ecologically sustainable for thousands of years. Because the leached soil in many tropical regions, such as the Amazon, are nutritionally extremely poor, slash-and-burn is one of the only types of agriculture which can be practiced in these areas. Slash-and-burn farmers typically plant a variety of crops, instead of a monoculture, and contribute to a higher biodiversity due to creating mosaic habitats. The general ecosystem is not harmed in traditional slash-and-burn, aside from a small temporary patch.

This technique is most unsuitable for the production of cash crops. A huge amount of land, or a low density of people, is required for slash-and-burn. When slash-and-burn is practiced in the same area too often, because the human population density has increased to an unsustainable level, the forest will eventually be destroyed.

Tribal groups in the northeastern Indian states of Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland and the Bangladeshi districts of Rangamati, Khagrachari, Bandarban and Sylhet refer to slash-and-burn agriculture as podu, jhum or jhoom cultivation. The system involves clearing land, by fire or clear-felling, for economically important crops such as upland rice, vegetables or fruits. After a few cycles, the land's fertility declines and a new area is chosen. Jhum cultivation is most often practiced on the slopes of thickly-forested hills. Cultivators cut the treetops to allow sunlight to reach the land, burning the trees and grasses for fresh soil. Although it is believed that this helps fertilize the land, it can leave it vulnerable to erosion. Holes are made for the seeds of crops{{cite web|url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Jhum|title=Jhum|work=banglapedia.org}} such as sticky rice, maize, eggplant and cucumber. After considering jhum{{'}}s effects, the government of Mizoram has introduced a policy to end the method in the state.{{cite web|author=TI Trade |url=http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=jan1711/oth05 |title=The Assam Tribune Online |publisher=Assamtribune.com |date=2011-01-17 |access-date=2013-06-22}}

Vietnam is home to a diverse range of ethnic groups. Some of these groups form primarily rural communities that reside far from the larger cities of the country, living on swidden fields where slash-and-burn agriculture is still in regular use as a part of everyday life.{{cite book|author=Nguyêñ Văn Huy|date=2001|title=The Cultural Mosaic Of Ethnic Groups In Vietnam|location=Hà Nội|publisher=Education Publishing House|oclc=51320108}}

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Some American civilizations, like the Maya, have used slash-and-burn cultivation since ancient times. American Indians in the United States also used fire in agriculture and hunting.Pyne, 1997:470 In the Amazon, many peoples such as the Yanomami Indians also live off the slash and burn method due to the Amazon's poor soil quality.{{Cite journal |last=Owl |first=M. Y. |date=1976 |title=Yanomamo ecology, population control, and their relationship to slash and burn agriculture |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12334855/ |journal=California Anthropologist |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=6–20 |issn=0272-5452 |pmid=12334855}}

File:Kaskialue Kaavin Telkkämäessä (2013).JPG in Finland, demonstrating the technique.]]

Slash-and-burn techniques were used in northeastern Sweden in agricultural systems. In Sweden, the practice is known as {{lang|sv|svedjebruk}}.{{Cite web|title=Sviðna, Svedjebruk and Slash & Burn cultivation {{!}} Northern Bush|url=https://northernbush.com/swidden-svedjebruk-and-slash-burn-cultivation/|access-date=2020-10-12|language=en-US}}

File:NMA.0043006 Skogsbruk, svedjebruk. Svedje tillhörande Anesgården i Slätafly, Torsås socken, Småland.jpg, Sweden (1904)]]

Telkkämäki Nature Reserve in Kaavi, Finland, is an open-air museum where slash-and-burn agriculture is demonstrated. Farm visitors can see how people farmed when slash-and-burn was the norm in the Northern Savonian region of eastern Finland beginning in the 15th century. Areas of the reserve are burnt each year.{{cite web |url=http://www.outdoors.fi/destinations/otherprotectedareas/telkkamaki/Pages/Default.aspx |title=Telkkämäki Nature Reserve |publisher=Outdoors.fi |date=2013-05-14 |access-date=2013-06-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130717034103/http://www.outdoors.fi/destinations/otherprotectedareas/telkkamaki/Pages/Default.aspx |archive-date=2013-07-17 }}

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{{lang|sv|Svedjebruk}} is a Swedish and Norwegian term for slash-and-burn agriculture derived from the Old Norse word {{lang|non|sviða}}, which means "to burn". This practice originated in Russia in the region of Novgorod and was widespread in Finland and Eastern Sweden during the Medieval period. It spread to western Sweden in the 16th century when Finnish settlers were encouraged to migrate there by King Gustav Vasa to help clear the dense forests. Later, when the Finns were persecuted by the local Swedes, {{lang|sv|svedjebruk}} farming was spread by refugees to eastern Norway, more specifically in the eastern part of Solør, in the area bordering Sweden known as Finnskogen ("the Finnish woods").

The practice also spread to New Sweden in North America. Reinforced by the use of fire in agriculture and hunting by American Indians, it became an important part of pioneering in America.

File:Slash and Burn Agriculture, Morondava, Madagascar.jpgs in dry deciduous forests of Madagascar are threatened by deforestation for the creation of farmland and pasture.]]

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{{lang|sv|Svedjebruk}} involved stripping a ring of bark completely around the trunk of coniferous trees like pine or spruce or felling them, allowing them to dry, setting fire to the dried forest and growing crops on the fertile ash-covered soil. The resulting ash was highly fertile, but only for a short period. The clearing was initially planted to rye as soon as the ash had fully settled and sufficiently cooled. When the rain came, it packed the ash around the rye. The rye germinated and grew prolifically, with anywhere from 25 to 100 stalks (or straws), each with multiple grains.

Only two tools were required, the axe and the sickle. The axe cut the trees to start the cycle. When the rye had ripened, it was harvested with a sickle, which could reach among the rocks and stumps where a scythe would have been ineffective.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S7LTbJ-ErQ Video] on the procedure. In: YouTube

In the second and third year the field would be sown with turnips or cabbages. It then might be grazed for several years before being allowed to return to woodland.

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{{lang|sv|Svedjebruk}} required felling new forest and burning a new area every year. It was necessary to allow the former fields to regrow with forest for 10–30 years before repeating the cycle. As a result, the dwellings were often many kilometers from the fields. Furthermore, since the process was man-power intensive, extended families tended to work together and live in compact communities.

The {{lang|sv|svedjebruk}} farming approach required a large area. When forest was plentiful, the Finns were very prosperous. As population grew and restrictions were placed on the forest which could be burned, it became increasingly difficult. By 1710, during the conflict with Sweden, because of their suspect loyalties Norwegian authorities considered expelling them{{clarify|date=March 2025}} from the border area, but did not do so because it was judged they were too poor to survive if evicted.

This type of agriculture is discouraged by many developmental or environmentalist organisations, with the main alternatives being promoted as switching to more intensive, permanent farming methods, or promoting a shift from farming to working in different, higher-paying industries altogether. Other organisations promote helping farmers achieve higher productivity by introducing new techniques.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

Not allowing the slashed vegetation to burn completely and ploughing the resultant charcoal into the soil (slash-and-char) has been proposed as a way to boost yields.{{Cite journal | first=L. A. | last=Biederman | date=31 December 2012 | title=Biochar and its effects on plant productivity and nutrient cycling: a meta-analysis | journal=GCB Bioenergy | language=en | volume=5 | issue=2 | pages=202–214 | doi=10.1111/gcbb.12037| s2cid=86216355 }}

Promoters of a project from the early 2000s claimed that slash-and-burn cultivation could be reduced if farmers grew black pepper crops, turmeric, beans, corn, cacao, rambutan, and citrus between Inga trees, which they termed 'Inga alley cropping'.{{Cite news | first=Daniel | last=Elkan | title=Fired with ambition | url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/apr/21/environment.environment | newspaper=The Guardian | date=21 April 2004 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190304153915/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/apr/21/environment.environment | archive-date=4 March 2019 | url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=Inga Alley Cropping |url=https://www.echocommunity.org/en/resources/6ddc498b-d59e-4bc3-a499-1c2d57061162 |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=ECHOcommunity |language=en}}

A method of improving the yields in a type of traditional assarting cultivation used to grow common beans in Central America called 'slash-and-cover' has been proposed by additionally planting leguminous shrubs to act as a fallow crop after the soil is exhausted and one is ready to clear a new patch of forest.{{Cite journal | first=. S. | last=Kettler | title=Fallow enrichment of a traditional slash/mulch system in southern Costa Rica: comparisons of biomass production and crop yield | date=1996-08-01 | journal=Agroforestry Systems | language=en | volume=35 | issue=2 | pages=165–176 | doi=10.1007/BF00122777 | bibcode=1996AgrSy..35..165K | s2cid=40357446 | issn=0167-4366}}

Bolivia slash & burn lo (4386225275).jpg | Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Jhum fire.jpg | Arunachal Pradesh, India

• 2006 Southeast Asian haze
• 2013 Southeast Asian haze
• 2015 Southeast Asian haze
• 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires
• History of the forest in Central Europe
• Agricultural waste

• {{Cite journal |last=Conklin |first=H. C. |date=February 1961 |title=The Study of Shifting Cultivation |url=http://anthro.du.ac.in/e-resources2020/kennedy/Shifting%20cultivation_Anthropological%20Perspectives.pdf |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=27–61 |doi=10.1086/200160 |jstor=2739597|s2cid=132297474 }}
• Nesholen, Birger (1994). "Svedjebrukerne", Østlandske Skogsområder, Den Norske Turistforening.
• Pyne, Stephen J. (1997). Vestal Fire: An Environmental History, Told Through Fire, of Europe and Europe's Encounter with the World. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press. {{ISBN|0-295-97596-2}}.
• {{Cite book |last1=Sawyer |first1=Birgit |last2=Sawyer |first2=Peter H. |author2-link=Peter Hayes Sawyer |title=Medieval Scandinavia: from Conversion to Reformation, Circa 800–1500 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=1993 |author-link=Birgit Sawyer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGJrXOjYvQgC |isbn=0-8166-1739-2}}
• Stagg, Frank Noel (1956). East Norway and Its Frontier. Allen & Unwin.

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{{Wiktionary|swidden}}

{{Wikisource|Slash and burn}}

• {{Cite tech report | first=Sameer | last=Karki | title=Community Involvement in and Management of Forest Fires in South East Asia |url=http://www.fao.org/forestry/17649-086b69f51b9bdb4ae39e32be08d52c1f5.pdf | year=2002 | publisher=Project FireFight South East Asia | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022153221/http://www.fao.org/forestry/17649-086b69f51b9bdb4ae39e32be08d52c1f5.pdf | archive-date=22 October 2018 | url-status=live}}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwV0nWfZJ1M Video of slash-and-burn] at the Telkkämäki Nature Reserve, Finland, in 2012
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S7LTbJ-ErQ Video of slash-and-burn] in Sweden around 1930–32 (from the YouTube channel of the Nordic Museum)

{{Forestry}}

{{Deforestation and desertification}}

{{Fire}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slash-and-burn}}

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