Theory question 112
Agriculture, Fishing and Lumbering(a) Discuss the main features of rotational bush fallowing in West Africa
(b) Describe the major factors affecting the practice of bush fallowing in West Africa
(c) Explain the problems associated with this farming method.
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(a) Farmer clears and burns bush, cultivates a plot for 2-4 years, then leaves it to rest (fallow) and moves to another plot in the same area, returning later; simple tools (hoe, cutlass); mixed cropping of food crops; small farms; family labour; mainly subsistence
(b) Availability of land (low population density); communal land tenure; low soil fertility and lack of fertilisers; poverty and lack of capital; traditional knowledge; climate/vegetation regrowth
(c) Wasteful of land; low yields; fallow period shortened as population grows so soil fertility falls; bush burning destroys organic matter and causes erosion; difficult to mechanise; little surplus for sale
Bush fallowing rotates the land, not the crops.