Answer 1

Shifting cultivation or slash-and-burn cultivation is a type of farming activity which involves clearing a plot of land by felling trees, burning the felled trees, mixing the ashes with soil, and then growing crops like maize, yam, potatoes and cassava on the cleared land. After the soil loses its fertility, the land is abandoned and the cultivator moves on to a new plot. This type of farming has the following disadvantages.

(a) Leads to deforestation

(b) Soil becomes susceptible to erosion due to deforestation

(c) Soil loses its fertility due to the erosion of the top soil