Glossary

Definitions of terms used throughout CountryReports.

This glossary contains 1,144 terms used throughout CountryReports — political, economic, cultural, historical, and geographic terminology referenced in country profiles and articles. Terms are drawn from authoritative sources including the Library of Congress.

paddy: Threshed, unmilled rice, which is the basis of the subsistence economy of much of South and Southeast Asia. It is grown on flooded or heavily irrigated flatland.
Sahel: The subarid climatological zone located south of the Sahara Desert that stretches from east to west across Africa. In Chad the Sahel, also called the sahelian zone, forms roughly the central third of the country and supports subsistence farming and livestock raising.
slash-and-burn agriculture: 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.; Source: Library of Congress