Shifting cultivation
Shifting cultivation is a type of subsistence farming where a plot of land is cultivated for a few years until the crop yield declines due to soil exhaustion and the effects of pests and weeds. Once crop yield has stagnated, the plot of land is deserted and the ground is cleared by slash and burn methods, allowing the land to replenish. Crops like yarn cassava, maize, potatoes are mostly grown This type of cultivation is predominant in the eastern and north-eastern regions on hill slopes and in forest areas such as Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh. Crops such as rain-fed rice, corn, buck wheat, small millets, root crops, and vegetables are grown in this system. Eighty-five percent of the total cultivation in northeast India is by shifting cultivation. Due to the increasing requirement for cultivation of land, the cycle of cultivation followed by leaving land fallow has reduced from 25–30 years to 2–3 years. This significant drop in uncultivated land does not give the land enough time to return to its natural condition. Because of this, the resilience of the ecosystem has broken down and the land is increasingly deteriorating.