Which term describes a form of subsistence agriculture in which fields are used for crops for relatively few years and left fallow for a long period?

Which term describes a form of subsistence agriculture in which fields are used for crops for relatively few years and left fallow for a long period?

• A. Sedentary Farming
• B. Shifting Cultivation
• C. Flood Water
• D. Human Inputs

Answer: (B)

Shifting cultivation is a subsistence farming method in which fields are used for crops for only a few years and left fallow for a long period to restore soil fertility. Farmers clear and cultivate a patch for a short time, often using fire to release nutrients, then move on to a new area while the previous plot regrows vegetation and nutrients rebuild during a long fallow. This cycle works well in humid tropical regions with low population pressure, where large areas are available for fallow land and the natural regrowth helps restore soil fertility. Other farming patterns don’t fit this description: sedentary farming keeps fields in one place and crops them year after year; flood-water (or floodplain) farming relies on controlled flooding to deposit nutrients; and systems that depend on human inputs use external fertilizers or irrigation rather than long fallow periods.

Shifting cultivation is a subsistence farming method in which fields are used for crops for only a few years and left fallow for a long period to restore soil fertility. Farmers clear and cultivate a patch for a short time, often using fire to release nutrients, then move on to a new area while the previous plot regrows vegetation and nutrients rebuild during a long fallow. This cycle works well in humid tropical regions with low population pressure, where large areas are available for fallow land and the natural regrowth helps restore soil fertility.

Other farming patterns don’t fit this description: sedentary farming keeps fields in one place and crops them year after year; flood-water (or floodplain) farming relies on controlled flooding to deposit nutrients; and systems that depend on human inputs use external fertilizers or irrigation rather than long fallow periods.