Question

Another name for shifting agriculture in north-eastern states like Assam is ___________
A. Jhumming cultivation
B. Commercial farming
C. Plantation agriculture
D. Pisciculture

Answer 1

Hint:
- Shifting farming is referred to as 'agriculture cut and burn'.
- The area covered with plants is cut down and burned during the 'slash and burn' process.
- In this process, the farmers pass into the cultivable land in the course of changing agriculture.

Complete answer:
- Jhumming cultivation- The farmers move and clear a fresh patch of land for farming as the soil productivity declines. This method of shifting helps nature, through natural cycles, to replenish the fertility of the soil. In north-eastern states such as Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, it is denoted as jhumming.

- Commercial farming- A type of commercial farming is plantation farming. It requires cultivation to increase production and income on vast fields of land. This kind of agriculture requires tremendous resources and needs intensive labor. Rubber, coffee, rice, sugarcane, etc. are some crops cultivated on plantations.
- Plantation agriculture- A plantation is a large-scale estate intended for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually based on a plantation house. Cotton, coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar cane, hemp, sisal, oil seeds, oil palms, fruits, rubber trees, and forest trees are among the crops grown.
- Pisciculture- Pisciculture, i.e. fish farming, is the term assigned to the breeding, rearing and transplantation of fish by artificial means. It is the main type of aquaculture, while mariculture can be the focus of other methods. It includes commercially raising fish in tanks or enclosures, typically for food.
Hence, the correct answer is option A.

Note:
- Ladang in Indonesia, Caingin in the Philippines, and Milpa in Central America & Mexico are regarded as Shifting Agriculture.
- Shifting agriculture is one of the oldest types of subsistence farming and is still being practiced in the tropics by millions of poor people.
- Key aspects in farm rotation are the use of fire to clear the ground, the regeneration of the land for a period of years, the use of human labour as the primary input, the non-employment of draught animals.