Jhum Cultivation - History

History

Historically, slash-and-burn cultivation was practiced throughout much of the world, in grasslands as well as woodlands.

During the Neolithic Revolution, which included agricultural advancements, groups of hunter-gatherers domesticated various plants and animals, permitting them to settle down and practice agriculture which provides more nutrition per hectare than hunting and gathering. This happened in the river valleys of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Due to this decrease in food from hunting as human populations increased, agriculture became more important. Some groups could easily plant their seeds in open fields along river valleys, but others had forests blocking their farming land. In this context, humans used slash-and-burn agriculture to clear more land, and make it suitable for their plants and animals. Thus, since Neolithic times, slash-and-burn techniques have been widely used for converting forests into crop fields and pasture. Fire was used before the Neolithic as well, and by hunter-gatherers up to present times. Clearings created by fire were made for many reasons, such as to draw game animals and to promote certain kinds of edible plants such as berries. Slash-and-burn fields will typically be used and "owned" by a family until the soil is exhausted. At this point the "ownership" rights are abandoned, and the family will clear a new field, and the forest is permitted to grow on the old 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, and land is not bought and sold in the open market. Such rights are "traditional."In slash-and-burn agriculture, forest will typically be 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, and the burned field is then planted at the beginning of the next rainy season with crop such as upland rice, maize, cassava, or other staple crop. Most of this work is typically done by hand, using machetes, axes, hoes, and other such basic tools.