{"id":236,"date":"2022-01-19T16:41:13","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T16:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/?p=236"},"modified":"2022-01-19T17:02:45","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T17:02:45","slug":"slash-and-burn-a-hot-topic-for-food-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/2022\/01\/19\/slash-and-burn-a-hot-topic-for-food-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Slash and burn: A hot topic for food security"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jasmine Thompson –\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Food security is increasingly being put under stress due to the rising population set to reach 9.8 billion by 2050 [1], with 2.37 billion people not having adequate access to food in 2020[2] this problem is certainly not going away. This leads to more land being converted into permanent field [3] and many farming practices either being changed or intensified to meet the rise in demand, like the increased use of slash and burn, which 7% of the global population now use [4]. Are et al., (2009) investigated to see the \u201ceffects of slash and burn on soil physical properties\u201d [5].<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Slash and burn in Madagascar. Image: Leonora Enking, CC BY-SA 2.0 Via Wikimedia commons<\/p><\/div>\n

Slash and burn is a land clearing technique, where small scale farmers clear forests to establish pastures, to produce food and provide for their families [6]. Slash and Burn clears bush debris and helps to reduce weed infestation, which would normally \u2018compete with crops for sunlight water and nutrients\u2019 [5], which would reduce crop efficiency [5,6]. However, it can also leave the soil exposed to rainfall, causing nutrient loss, deforestation and soil erosion as the soil pores get clogged leading to more surface run off [5,4].<\/span><\/p>\n

Slash and burn is used by 90% of farmers in South West Nigeria [5]. \u00a0Nigeria is a rapidly growing country with a population of over 150 million which is expected to double by 2050 [7]. Are et al., (2009) investigated the effects of slash and burn on soil properties at 0-0.05m and 0.05\u20130.10 m in Southwest Nigeria [5]. They did this by slashing the bush vegetation on 2 sites using cutlasses and axes and left it to dry for 3 weeks before calculating the biomass weight and taking preburn soil and worm cast samples. They burned the area, and within 2 weeks took post burn samples and used soil cores to calculate water retention [5].<\/span><\/p>\n

They found that the texture of the soil and worm casts where not affected but the macropores at 0.05 \u2013 0.1m decreased by 17% and there was a decrease in infiltration due to ash deposits blocking the pores [5]. Soil erosion can alter soil nutrients affecting agricultural productivity and food security, as crop yields dramatically drop when erosion occurs at 0.1m-0.15m [8]. They also found using slash and burn as part of traditional farming practices with long fallow periods had little effect on crops sustainability as lost minerals were quickly replenished [5].<\/span><\/p>\n

To conclude, if demographic pressures continue to put a strain on these farming practices, production may have to be intensified making it unsustainable due to effects on tillage and the soil may not be able to rejuvenate once degraded [5]. \u00a0Therefore, to maintain crop efficiency and increase food security, slash and burn must not be intensified due to it having the potential to cause excess soil degradation [5].<\/span><\/p>\n

References and further reading:<\/u><\/p>\n

1 United Nations (2017) World population projected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100. <\/em>https:\/\/www.un.org\/development\/desa\/en\/news\/population\/world-population-prospects-2017.html<\/a> [26.11.21]<\/p>\n

2 Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations (2021) The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World. <\/em>https:\/\/www.fao.org\/3\/cb4474en\/cb4474en.pdf<\/a> [26.11.21]<\/p>\n

3 van Vilet, N., Adams, C., Vieira, I.C.G. and Mertz, O. (2013) \u201cSlash and Burn\u201d and \u201cShifting\u201d Cultivation Systems in Forest Agriculture Frontiers from the Brazilian Amazon. Society & Nature resources <\/em>26, 1454-1467.<\/p>\n

4 Stief, C. (2019) Slash and Burn Agriculture Explained. <\/em>https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/slash-and-burn-agriculture-p2-1435798<\/a> [29.11.21]<\/p>\n

5 Are, K., Oluwatosin, G., Adeyolanu, O. and Oke, A. (2009) Slash and burn effect on soil quality of an Alfisol: Soil physical properties. \u00a0Soil & Tillage research<\/em>, 103, 4-10.<\/p>\n

6 Palm, C., Vost, S. and Sanchez, P. (2005) Slash-and-Burn Agriculture The Search for Alternatives. <\/em>New York: Columbia University Press<\/p>\n

7 Pate, M. and Schoppin, J. (2012) Africa\u2019s Growing Giant \u2013 Population Dynamics in Nigeria. In: Growth, H. and Sousa-Poza, A. (eds.) Population Dynamics in Muslim Countries, <\/em>Berlin: Springer, pp.211-224.<\/p>\n

8 Zhang, L., Huang, Y., Rong, L., Duan, X., Zhang, R., Li, Y. and Guan, J. (2021) Effect of soil erosion depth on crop yield based on topsoil removal method: a meta\u2011analysis. Agronomy for sustainable development<\/em> 41, 1-13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jasmine Thompson –\u00a0 Food security is increasingly being put under stress due to the rising population set to reach 9.8 billion by 2050 [1], with 2.37 billion people not having adequate access to food in 2020[2] this problem is certainly not going away. This leads to more land being converted into permanent field [3]…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1374,"featured_media":227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,14,52],"tags":[19,45,16,55],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deforestation","category-food-security","category-soil-health","tag-agriculture","tag-deforestation","tag-food-security","tag-soil-health"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/files\/2022\/01\/SlashBurn.png?fit=960%2C642&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1374"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}