This was a traditional agricultural practice in many parts of Asia, ** and South America. In shifting cultivation, parts of the forest are cut and burnt in rotation. Seeds are sown in the ashes after the first monsoon rains, and the crop is harvested by October-November. Such plots are cultivated for a couple of years and then left fallow for 12 to 18 years for the forest to grow back. A mixture of crops is grown on these plots. In central India and ** it could be millets, in Brazil manioc, and in other parts of ***** America maize and beans.
