Final answer:
Slash-and-burn agriculture enriches the soil with nutrients from ash following the burning of felled forest vegetation, temporarily increasing soil fertility. This practice is caloric efficient but unsustainable in the long term due to potential desertification and high population pressures.
Step-by-step explanation:
Slash-and-burn Agriculture
Slash-and-burn agriculture is a method used by farmers to add nutrients to the soil, particularly in rainforest areas where the soil is nutrient-poor due to heavy rainfall. This technique involves cutting down areas of forest and burning the vegetation. The ashes, which are rich in nutrients, serve as fertilizer when they are worked into the soil. This process temporarily increases soil fertility until the nutrients are once again washed away by rain.
In this type of agriculture, farmers rotate the fields they burn and cultivate, allowing previously used tracts of land to regenerate their forest cover during fallow periods. This method of farming uses land rotation instead of crop rotation and is considered to be caloric efficient due to its low labor requirements. However, this practice can lead to desertification if practiced too frequently without sufficient fallow periods.
Soil enrichment from slash-and-burn agriculture is not a sustainable practice in the long term, especially with increasing population pressures. Methods such as Inga Alley Cropping suggest alternative approaches that aim to maintain the viability of the rainforest ecosystems while supporting agricultural needs.