In shifting cultivation, the ash of the burnt vegetation serves mainly as
- A.A pesticide
- B.A manure that supplies nutrients to the soil
- C.A weedicide that kills the forest roots
- D.A means of levelling the slope
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, a manure that supplies nutrients to the soil. In slash-and-burn farming the felled trees and undergrowth are dried and burnt on the spot, and the ash left behind is rich in potash and other mineral nutrients, which the cultivator depends on because no chemical fertiliser or farmyard manure is used. A is wrong because burning is not done to control insects, although it does clear pests and weed seeds incidentally. C is wrong because the stumps and roots of the forest are usually left in the ground to sprout again when the plot is abandoned, and the ash is not a weedicide. D is wrong because the slope is not levelled at all in jhum; terracing, which does level a slope into steps, is the settled alternative recommended in place of jhum.
Read the full article: Types of Farming and Shifting Cultivation: GK Notes
Practice Questions
View allThe branch of horticulture which deals with the production, storage, processing and marketing of vegetables is called ______.
- A.olericulture
- B.agronomy
- C.pomology
- D.apiculture
Show answer
Olericulture is the branch of horticulture that deals with vegetables, covering their production in the field, their storage, their processing and their marketing, and it is the branch on which market gardening and truck farming rest.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following comes in the category of plantation crop?
- A.Potato
- B.Cucumber
- C.Coffee
- D.Millet
Show answer
A plantation crop is a single cash crop grown on a large estate with heavy capital, hired labour and processing of the produce on or near the estate, and coffee, grown in the hills of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, is a classic example along with tea, rubber and sugarcane.
Read the full explanation →Shifting cultivation is known as 'Milpa' in which of the following regions?
- A.Indonesia and Malaysia
- B.Mexico and Central America
- C.Brazil
- D.Sri Lanka
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Milpa is the local name given to the slash-and-burn system of the Mexican and Central American forests, where maize, beans and squash are grown together on a burnt forest clearing for a few seasons.
Read the full explanation →Jhum cultivation is practised mainly in which part of India?
- A.The north-eastern states
- B.The Punjab plains
- C.The Thar desert
- D.The Deccan lava plateau
Show answer
Jhum, also written jhoom, is the local name of shifting cultivation in Assam and the hill states of the north-east, where a forest patch on a slope is cleared, burnt and cropped for two or three years before being left fallow.
Read the full explanation →'Podu' is the local name of shifting cultivation in which states?
- A.Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
- B.Andhra Pradesh and Odisha
- C.Kerala and Karnataka
- D.Jharkhand and Bihar
Show answer
The correct answer is B, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, where the hill communities of the Eastern Ghats call shifting cultivation podu.
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