Dozens of Nepali folk singer and double inertia



restores nutrients lost during cultivation and harvest (Gurung, 1999). Shifting




cultivation indicates a farming system that rotates its fields, letting most areas that




form part of the system lie idle for regeneration of nutrients (Anderson, Sophorn and




Thornberry, 2007).




A set of vernacular terms, such as lose, bhasme, dash, Khoriya kheti are also used to




refer the shifting cultivation in Nepal (Gurung, 1999). The practice of shifting




cultivation is also referred to as slash-and-burn and swidden agriculture. It is also




referred to as forest agrarian system; it has been widely practiced by hill communities




in Asia, Africa, and Latin America since the Neolithic period (130,000 to 3,000BC)




(Teegalapalli, Gopi and Prasanna, 2009).




“...shifting cultivation should not be understood as crop shifting, i.e. a different crop




is cultivated each year on the same plot. The [shifting cultivation] should neither be




taken as the settlement shifting as in the case of the nomads who keep on moving




from one place to another and finding new cultivation areas along with the way the




permanent settlers use different plots each year on rotational basis for crop




cultivation” (Dhakal, 2000:94).




In shifting cultivation, fields are cleared of forest or vegetation on a rotational basis




after which they are cultivated for one or two years. After the cropping phase, the land




is left fallow for up to twelve years and during the period the forest regenerates. Land




clearing is usually done through slashing and burning. However, this rotational agro




forestry practice should not be confused with the clearing of forest for permanent




cultivation (Aryal and Kerchoff, 2008). The slash and burn activities are not mere




clearing of the land but rather the transfer of the tropical forest to the




botanical/agricultural complex (Geertz, 1963).




The stages and features of shifting cultivation cycle vary depending upon the local




circumstances. However, most practitioners mention that the cultivation phase has six




stages: (1) site selection and land clearing, (2) drying of the slash and burning, (3)




planting and cultivation, (4) weeding, (5) harvesting, and (6) succession (Fujisaka,




Hurtad and Uribe, 1996). According to Geertz, “the characteristics of [shifting




cultivation] and [permanent cultivation] are clear and critical: On the one hand a multi




crops, highly diverse regime, a cycling of nutrients between living forms, a closed- cover architecture, and a delicate equilibrium; on the other, an open field, mono crop,
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