shifting cultivation

British  

noun

1. a land-use system, esp in tropical Africa, in which a tract of land is cultivated until its fertility diminishes, when it is abandoned until this is restored naturally

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Example Sentences

This marks a break from the traditional practice of shifting cultivation, which involves clearing a new patch of forest each year -- fuelling conflicts in a region facing rapid population growth.

From Barron's • Feb. 26, 2026

These Adivasi communities lived by shifting cultivation of millets and other subsistence crops, as well as rice cultivation, in forested mountains of eastern India.

From Scientific American • Jan. 5, 2023

According to the FAO’s Yon Fernandez de Larrinoa, the organization is now reconsidering whether shifting cultivation is really as backward as it used to think.

From National Geographic • Mar. 8, 2016

Far from aggravating climate change, shifting cultivation could help indigenous peoples and the rest of humankind adapt to it.

From National Geographic • Mar. 8, 2016

In this manner the habit of shifting cultivation is accorded divine sanction.

From The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II by Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane)