Why is Bush fallowing important to farmers?
Shortening fallows eliminate many stages of natural vegetation succession, which would normally result in secondary forest species, resulting in their replacement by weedy herbaceous species which are thereafter present in the soil seed bank in greater quantities, resulting in greater weediness of subsequent cropping …
Why is fallow important?
‘Fallow’ periods were traditionally used by farmers to maintain the natural productivity of their land. The benefits of leaving land fallow for extended periods include rebalancing soil nutrients, re-establishing soil biota, breaking crop pest and disease cycles, and providing a haven for wildlife.
How does Bush fallowing work?
1. Shifting cultivation is a system where a few years of cultivation are followed by very long fallow periods. Fallowing is so long that trees and bushes can grow up again to form a secondary forest. In this way, fertility is completely restored to the soil after it has been farmed.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of bush fallowing?
Advantages: This method helps to eliminate weeds, insects and other germs effecting the soil. Shifting cultivation allows for farming in areas with dense vegetation, low soil nutrients content, uncontrollable pests. Disadvantages: In shifting cultivation, trees in the forests are cut.
What is the meaning of bush fallowing?
Bush fallow farming is a response and adaptation of farmers to this environment. It can be defined as an agricultural land use system and set of practices that is based on the rotation of land between different uses rather than a single permanent use, to achieve several agronomic goals.
What is the fallow period?
: a period in which a writer does no writing.
What is the difference between bush fallowing and shifting cultivation?
the Bush fallowing agriculture system is used when there is more than 33 % of available and arable and temporarily use land is cultivated . Shifting cultivation takes place when less than 33 % of land is cultivated in one year. During this fallow period, the farmer cultivates another piece of land.
What are disadvantage of shifting cultivation?
The major disadvantage of Shifting Cultivation is that many trees in the forest are cut and this increases soil infertility and leads to soil erosion.
What is a fallow period in farming?
Fallow agricultural land refers to arable land not under rotation that is set aside for a period of time ranging from one to five years before it is cultivated again; or land, usually under permanent crops, meadows or pastures, that is not being used for such purposes for a period of at least one year.
What do you mean by fallowing?
1 : usually cultivated land that is allowed to lie idle during the growing season. 2 obsolete : plowed land. 3 : the state or period of being fallow Summer fallow is effective for destroying weeds. 4 : the tilling of land without sowing it for a season.
What is fallow period?
What are the types of shifting cultivation?
The different forms of shifting cultivation described include slash-and-burn type of shifting cultivation, the chitemene system, the Hmong system, shifting cultivation cycle in the Orinoco floodplain, the slash-mulch system, and the plough-in-slash system.
What is the advantages and disadvantages of shifting cultivation?
It provide the very easy and very fast method of the preparation of the land for the agriculture. In the shifting cultivation the growth of the crops will start fast and in the sometimes only it will get ready for the harvest.
What are the harmful effects of shifting cultivation?
The actual unsustainable shifting cultivation creates a lot of inverse consequences. The environmental effects include forest and land degradation and deforestation, followed by forest product impoverishment, soil erosion and downstream effects.
What is the advantage and disadvantage of shifting cultivation?
The most and the important disadvantage of the shifting cultivation is to cut the Forrest and the trees that are helpful for the soil erosion and that is very helpful for nature.
What is a fallow period?
Why are fertilizers not good for the soil?
Though chemical fertilizers increase crop production; their overuse has hardened the soil, decreased fertility, strengthened pesticides, polluted air and water, and released greenhouse gases, thereby bringing hazards to human health and environment as well.
What are advantages and disadvantages of bush fallowing?
What does Bush fallowing mean?
What are the characteristics of bush fallowing?
Features of bush fallowing
- Farming is done on subsistence level.
- It involves the use of crude implements like cutlass and hoe.
- It is common in rural areas with abundant farmlands.
- It involves small holding of farmlands.
- Food crops like yam, maize, cassava etc are grown.
What are the advantages of shifting cultivation?
Advantages of Shifting Cultivation: In this shifting cultivation, the growth of the crops will start fast and sometimes only it will get ready for the harvest. In this shifting of the cultivation, there is no fear or danger for the flood and the animals which destroy the crops.
What is the difference between shifting cultivation and bush fallowing?
the Bush fallowing agriculture system is used when there is more than 33 % of available and arable and temporarily use land is cultivated . • Shifting cultivation takes place when less than 33 % of land is cultivated in one year.
What is shifting cultivation what are its advantages and disadvantages of this?
$advantages:This method helps to eliminate weeds, insects and other germs effecting the soil. Shifting cultivation allows for farming in areas with dense vegetation, low soil nutrients content, uncontrollable pests. Disadvantages: In shifting cultivation, trees in the forests are cut.
What is the benefits of shifting cultivation?
What are the benefits of fallowing the soil?
In addition, fallowing the soil can cause potassium and phosphorus from deep below to rise toward the soil surface where it can be used by crops later. Other benefits of fallowing soil are that it raises levels of carbon, nitrogen and organic matter, improves moisture holding capacity, and increases beneficial microorganisms in the soil.
What is the purpose of fallowing the land?
The goal of fallowing is to allow the land to recover and store organic matter while retaining moisture and disrupting the lifecycles of pathogens by temporarily removing their hosts . Fallowing is also essential to biodiversity, which ensures the presence of predators which can control pests.
Why is it bad to leave a field fallow?
As agriculture boomed, crop fields grew in size and new equipment, tools and chemicals became available to farmers, so many crop producers abandoned the practice of soil fallowing. It can be a controversial subject in some circles because a field left unplanted does not turn a profit.
What did farmers do in the early days of fallowing?
Early in the history of fallowing, farmers usually did a two-field rotation, meaning they would divide their field into two halves. One half would be planted with crops, the other would lie fallow. The following year, farmers would plant crops in the fallow land, while letting the other half rest or fallow.
Are there any benefits of fallowing the ground?
In this article, we will answer these questions and provide information on the benefits of fallowing as well as how to fallow soil. What is Fallowing? Fallow ground, or fallow soil, is simply ground or soil which has been left unplanted for a period of time. In other words, fallow land is land left to rest and regenerate.
Why did farmers stop the practice of fallowing?
The following year, farmers would plant crops in the fallow land, while letting the other half rest or fallow. As agriculture boomed, crop fields grew in size and new equipment, tools and chemicals became available to farmers, so many crop producers abandoned the practice of soil fallowing.
Why are fallow crops good for the garden?
Crop fields or gardens can benefit from fallowing. Allowing the soil to have a specific rest period gives it to replenish nutrients which can be leached from certain plants or regular irrigation. It also saves money on fertilizers and irrigation.
What does it mean to leave a field fallow?
Fallow ground, or fallow soil, is simply ground or soil which has been left unplanted for a period of time. In other words, fallow land is land left to rest and regenerate. A field, or several fields, are taken out of crop rotation for a specific period of time, usually one to five years, depending on crop.
