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Lets now look at the three case study farming
types.

• They are called-
• SHIFTING CULTIVATION
• INTENSIVE PEASANT FARMING
• EXTENSIVE COMMERCIAL FARMING
• You will need to know-
• An example of where each type is practiced
• What the landscape looks like
• How each type works the good and bad aspects of
  it
• The changes that have been affecting it, and how.

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Amazon Basin
Central Africa
Indonesia and PNG.
Tropic of Cancer
Equator
Tropic of Capricorn
Global Distribution of Shifting Cultivation
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Shifting cultivation is practiced in the
Equatorial Rainforest areas of the world. An
example is the Boro Indian tribe in Amazonia-
Brazil, South America.
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• This type of farming is subsistence, extensive,
  low technology, peasant, low productivity, labour
  intensive, mainly arable.
• It is practiced by between 3 and 6 extended
  families -perhaps twenty to fifty people- who
  live and farm together.
• They use a huge area of rainforest for their
  farming, but only small amounts at any one time.
• It relies on leaving the land empty- fallow- for
  many years to recover after use.
• The area of rainforest is traditionally handed
  down to the next generation no-one actually
  owns the land.

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The land is lush with dense vegetation cover, but
it is very fragile! Stop the cycle of nutrients
and the soil is easily ruined! The native indians
know how to work the land without spoiling it in
the long term. This is called SUSTAINABLE, and
it is good!
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What are the processes involved in Shifting
farming?

• The group decide to settle in an area- it could
  be several hectares in size.
• They build a large, communal hut called a MALOCA.
• The men chop the smaller trees down with axes and
  machetes.
• Useful trees like bananas and pineapples are
  left.
• The larger trees are left to help bind the soil
  and to provide shade they are too hard to
  remove, anyway!

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A clearing with its crops surrounding the
communal hut.
A maloca- home to several inter-related families.
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A Guarani tribe version
A Boro tribe Maloca
The design varies between different tribal groups
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SLASH AND BURN is used to clear
the land.
Some trees such as the banana tree might be left
standing. Why?
Why is this better than chopping the trees down
and removing them?
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In Papua New Guinea a house is built in a few
hours
The final roof covering goes on
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Inside, the houses are extremely basic.
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A family in their Maloca.
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6. The women and children burn the chopped wood-
it adds ash as a weak fertiliser, though this is
quickly washed out of the soil by the rain. 7.
The women then plant their gardens called
CHAGRAS between the stumps in a random, irregular
way. 8. They weed and tend the plants over the
next few months, and can harvest up to three
crops a year. Remember there are no seasons in
the rainforest, and there is continuous growth!
9. All the work is done with digging sticks,
hoes and machetes- very low technology!
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..the cut down trees are allowed to dry for three
months or so, then burned, in small, controlled
fires.
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Who needs matches? making fire with two sticks
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Ground clearance is very hard work, so many
stumps, branches and roots are left.
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The burned wood adds ash (a natural fertiliser)
to the soil.
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In this Chagra, -a garden rather than a field-,
maize seeds are being planted amongst Sweet
Potato.
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Manioc probably the single most important crop
its roots providing carbohydrate-rich Cassava
flour (Tapioca).
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Simple fences to keep out wild and domestic
animals
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Maize (corn) may be grown where the soils are
richer.
Papaya and other fruits form an important part of
the diet.
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Other crops may include

• Yams
• Tobacco
• Coca
• Mangoes
• Beans

Domesticated animals such as pigs and chickens
may also be kept.
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However, the torrential rains cause rapid
leaching of the already poor soils, washing vital
minerals out of the soil and reducing its
fertility. This is why the clearings are only
used for a few years.
Unless the land is left fallow (rested) to
recover these nutrients, it will be permanently
degraded.
LEACHING by rain.
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After a few years, the crops start to fail and
the clearing is abandoned to be reclaimed by
the forest.
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See Booklet p7
Forest cleared by slash and burn method. The
ash acts as a fertiliser
Copy labels
This farming does not lead to serious destruction
as it allows the forest to naturally regenerate.
Food crops such as manioc, sweet potatoes and
maize are grown. The diet is supplemented by
hunting, fishing and gathering food from the
forest.
River sites are good for fishing and transport
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Shifting village and cultivation
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The settlement pattern is dispersed or scattered.
Because of the large area of forest required with
all of these moves, the overall population
density is very low often less than 1 person
per sq.km.
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There is a variation on this type of farming
BUSH FALLOWING is where the group settle in one
area, living in a permanent maloca for very much
longer than usual. They grow their crops in
fields around the settlement. To stop the soil
getting ruined too soon, they practice CROP
ROTATION. This is where they use a different
field each time for a different crop. They
usually leave some of the fields FALLOW to let
them recover a bit. See the booklet, pages 12/13.
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Changes 1
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• Shifting cultivation is in danger of
  disappearing
• This is due to destruction of large areas of the
  rainforest on which this system depends the
  area available is rapidly shrinking
• This is caused by logging companies, cattle
  ranchers, gold and diamond miners and other
  mineral hunters, and new settlers moving in to
  the forest
• Population growth is also putting additional
  strain on this way of life particularly in west
  Africa.

See Booklet P10/11
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Changes 2
Some Indian groups have been forced into
reservations or retreated into more remote areas
deep in the forest many tribes have suffered
from Culture Shock There has been violence and
intimidation against these tribes, with many
thousands killed by new settlers Thousands have
also died due to lack of immunity to western
diseases such as measles There has been serious
water pollution by gold mining, which uses toxic
substances such as mercury. This has caused
poisoning of rivers and people.
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In Brazil, for example, the building of the Trans
Amazonian Highway has opened up the virgin
rainforest to settlement and exploitation, often
with disastrous consequences for the shifting
cultivators.
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Huge fires now destroy enormous areas in a few
hours.
Shifting cultivation is abandoned and replaced by
large, often foreign owned schemes.
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such as the Jari Project in the 70s and 80s,
with its forestry plantations, cattle ranches,
towns and railway lines.
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Thousands of garimpeiros, or gold miners,
devastate an area of rainforest in a desperate
search for gold.
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Review of Main points
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• Shifting Cultivation is also known as slash and
  burn
• It is found mostly in the equatorial rainforest
  areas of the world e.g. Amazon, Congo, PNG.
• It has several versions, including bush
  fallowing
• It is low technology
• It supports a very low population density
• Its settlement pattern is dispersed
• It is subsistence farming, with little surplus
• It is under threat due to a combination of
  outside influences. Detailed knowledge of these
  forces of change is essential.

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Now try questions 5-14 of the rural question
sheet. Answer in fully described and explained
sentences. The details are the things that will
earn you marks, not the vague gist!
END