Glossary: slash-and-burn agriculture

DEFINITION:
Method of cultivation whereby areas of the forest are burned and cleared for planting, the ash providing some fertilization. Area is cultivated for several years and then left fallow for a decade or longer. These practices by subsistence farmers could destroy almost half of world’s remaining 2.08 billion hectares of tropical forests, according to a study released by Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in August 1996.

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