Definitions for slash-and-burn
slash-and-burn

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1. Slash-and-burn

   Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegetation, or "slash", is then left to dry, usually right before the rainiest part of the year. Then, the biomass is burned, resulting in a nutrient-rich layer of ash which makes the soil fertile, as well as temporarily eliminating weed and pest species. After about three to five years, the plot's productivity decreases due to depletion of nutrients along with weed and pest invasion, causing the farmers to abandon the field and move to a new area. The time it takes for a swidden to recover depends on the location and can be as little as five years to more than twenty years, after which the plot can be slashed and burned again, repeating the cycle. In Bangladesh and India, the practice is known as jhum or jhoom.Slash-and-burn is a type of shifting cultivation, an agricultural system in which farmers routinely move from one cultivable area to another. A rough estimate is that 200 million to 500 million people worldwide use slash-and-burn. Slash-and-burn causes temporary deforestation. Ashes from the burnt trees help farmers by providing nutrients for the soil. In low density of human population this approach is very sustainable but the technique is not scalable for large human populations. A similar term is assarting, which is the clearing of forests, usually (but not always) for the purpose of agriculture. Assarting does not include burning.

WikidataRate this definition:2.5 / 2 votes

1. Slash-and-burn

   Slash-and-burn is an agricultural technique which involves cutting and burning of forests or woodlands to create fields. It is subsistence agriculture that typically uses little technology or other tools. It is typically part of shifting cultivation agriculture, and of transhumance livestock herding. Older English terms for slash-and-burn include assarting, swidden, and fire-fallow cultivation. Today the term "slash-and-burn" is mainly associated with tropical rain forests. Slash-and-burn techniques are used by between 200 and 500 million people worldwide. In 2004 it was estimated that, in Brazil alone, 500,000 small farmers were each clearing an average of one hectare of forest per year. The technique is not sustainable beyond a certain population density because, without the trees, the soil quality soon becomes too poor to support crops. The farmers have to move on to a virgin forest and repeat the process. Methods such as Inga alley farming have been proposed as an alternative to this ecological destruction.

How to pronounce slash-and-burn?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

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   Tessa

   South African

How to say slash-and-burn in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of slash-and-burn in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of slash-and-burn in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of slash-and-burn in a Sentence

1. Nikki Haley:

   I don't believe in the slash-and-burn approach. You know, as a governor you could never do that. That's not effective, i do think there are times where you can withhold dues. I don't think you should slash and cut across-the-board because I don't think that will accomplish the goal.

2. Finance Minister Joe Ceci:

   The first option is to slash and burn vital programs that Alberta families count on, and that's the wrong path, instead we will carefully maintain spending, ensuring we are spending every tax dollar wisely while helping Albertans weather this storm.

3. Martin Cheek:

   We very much appreciated the support Leo gave us in campaigning to protect Ebo last year so it seemed fitting to honour him in this way, naming a species unique only to Ebo Forest, after him, had the logging concession gone ahead, we would have likely lost this species to timber extraction and slash and burn agriculture that usually follows logging concessions.

References

1. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash-and-burn
2. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=slash-and-burn