Shifting cultivation or slash-and-burn cultivation is a type of farming activity which involves
clearing a plot of land by felling trees, burning the felled trees, mixing the ashes with soil, and
then growing crops like maize, yam, potatoes and cassava on the cleared land. After the soil
loses its fertility, the land is abandoned and the cultivator moves on to a new plot.
This type of farming has the following disadvantages.
→ Deforestation
→ After some time the land loses its fertility.
→ Soil erosion.
→ Small patches of cultivation which is insufficient for feeding a large population.