Chena Cultivation
A traditional Farming System

Chen Cultivation or Shifting Cultivation is also known as slash-and-burn cultivation where it does not involve in the permanent settlement of cultivators in one plot of land. It is a traditional way of farming and not as modern as the market gardening today.
Shifting cultivation, which long provided the subsistence requirements of a large number of people in the rural peasant population, has been shown to be an environmentally and economically unsuitable practice. Efforts have been made throughout the developing world to replace it with more productive and sustainable land‐use systems.
Experiences have been mixed. Shifting cultivation has been almost entirely replaced by sedentary agriculture in certain countries, a considerable change and moderate changes have taken place in different parts of the developing world. However, shifting cultivation is still being widely practiced in certain parts of the South Asia and Africa.

Shifting cultivation is a method of agriculture where an area of land is cleared off its vegetation and cultivated for a period of time and then abandoned (fallow) for its fertility to be naturally restored. 

Important to note is that this method is very different from crop rotation. This blog post will help you to understand what is chena cultivation and how it differ from crop rotation and finally the advantages and disadvantages of shifting cultivation.

A land in shift farming is cleared and cultivated for a very short of time. It is then left and allowed to revert to its normal and natural vegetation as the cultivator moves to another field. The cultivation period is often terminated when the soil reveals any sign of exhaustion or when the plot is overrun by weeds. The length that the plot is cultivated is however shorter compared to the period in which the land is allowed to regenerate by lying free or fallow.

Globally shift farming has been often and highly practiced by indigenous communities for many centuries. It takes place and occurs in Amazon rainforest areas, West and Central Africa, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Alongside other aspects of agriculture, slash and burn farming is under the threat of large scale forest clearance.


Chena Cultivation in Sri Lanka

Ancient Sri Lanka was a self-sufficient, thriving agricultural economy – the staple food, rice, was cultivated in extensive paddy fields, while vegetables, greens, grains and cereals were cultivated in rain-fed lands called ‘Chenas’. 

 Chena is regarded as the oldest form of cultivation in Sri Lanka, extending as far back as 5000 years in Sri Lankan history. Chena cultivation was a traditional practice and ancient Sri Lankans ensured that the environment was unharmed in the process. The techniques used to cultivate a chena depended on a range of variables including the climate, nature of soil as well as other environmental and topological factors of the area. Chena cultivation was mainly practiced by men; however, women and children also extended their aid in various ways such as protecting crops from raiding birds and animals.

Ancient, traditional Sri Lankan farmers strongly believed in many religious and spiritual rituals and practices. For instance, farmers believed that the person who begins cultivation of a Chena should be void of impurities, called ‘Kili’ in the Sinhala language. It was also customary of Chena cultivators to pray to their religious faith before they begin cultivation. A strong affinity to astrology also ensured that cultivation commenced on an auspicious day and time.

Chena was cultivated collectively; each village had one chena plot which was divided into individual shares among the villagers. The wisdom behind this collaboration was borne out of desire to protect the surrounding forest. If each villager was allowed to clear their own plot of land for cultivation, the forest would soon disappear. Thus the village would collectively select one area of land for cultivation and share the yield. 

Types of Chena

There are four types of Chena: Navadali Hena, Ath Danduwa Hena, Mukulan Hena and Hen Kanaththa.

Navadali Hena is chena land created by clearing an untouched forest area, setting it on fire and cultivating it immediately after. Navadali literally translates to ‘fresh soot’, which can be found abundantly throughout the Navadali Hena. As the area has not been tilled previously, a Navadali Hena is highly fertile and brings in a high yield of crop. However, farmers refrain from cultivating too many of this type of chena as it requires clearing new forest land thus leading to reduction in forest cover. A Navadali Hena is abandoned after it is tilled for two or three seasons (kanna).

The forest begins to re-grow in the abandoned Navadali Hena land after a few months. When the trees have reached the average length of an adult persons arm, the semi-wilderness is cleared and set on fire for cultivation. This type of chena land is called ‘Ath Danduwa Hena’, Ath Dandu meaning ‘arm length’.

A forest which consists of medium-sized trees is called a ‘Mukalana’. Thus Mukalana Hena is a type of chena cultivated by clearing the medium and small sized trees of a Mukalana forest.

Once a land becomes infertile as a result of repeated tilling, it is abandoned by the farmers. This abandoned chena is still tilled by feeble, sick or old farmers who cannot extend their support to the collaborative chena cultivation as it is a strenuous activity. Hen Kanaththa does not produce an abundant crop, but it is sufficient for the survival of these farmers.

Traditionally, ancient chena cultivators collaboratively decided on the type of chena to be cultivated, whether it should be Navadali Hena, Mukalan Hena, or Ath Danduwa Hena. Once a decision is made, they would select an appropriate land area; rocky areas were often avoided and areas with a spring were preferred. 

Setting the Chena on fire

Chena farmers usually begin cultivation of chena during the final days of the dry season. This meant that once trees and vines are cut down in preparation, the dry bark and leaves – a consequence of the harsh sun – they burn readily. It takes at least two to three days for the area to burn completely.

Farmers would make sure to look for and chase away hidden animals before the area is set on fire. 

Tilling the Chena

The burnt trees, vines and sprigs are removed from the land before cultivation. Some of the burnt branches are used to build a sturdy wooden fence (Dandu vata) around the Chena to prevent animals from raiding the crop. Providing seeds for cultivation is a requisite that every farmer must fulfill. All farmers usually have seeds in their possession to offer for cultivation as it is customary for them to preserve seeds from previous harvests in their ‘Dum Atuwa’ (a seed store). 

Safeguarding the Chena

Various measures are taken to protect crop from birds and animals. Farmers would take temporary lodge in ‘Pela’ or watch huts to watch over and chase away birds and animals during the day and night. A Dandu Vata is built around the chena to keep away larger raiding animals. A Pambaya (scarecrow) and Takeya (a bell-type metal object) are installed to scare away birds and small animals.

Advantages and disadvantages of shifting cultivation

Advantages of shifting cultivation

• It helps used land to get back all lost nutrients and as long as no damage occurs therefore, this form of agriculture is one of the most sustainable methods
• The land can be easily recycled or regenerated thus; it receives seeds and nutrients from the nearing vegetation or environment
• Shift farming saves a wide range of resources and provides nutrients because a small area is usually cleared and the burned vegetation offers many nutrients
• It helps to ensure more productivity and sustainability of agriculture
• In shift farming, it is easy to grow crops after the process of slash and burn. This is why shifting agriculture is also popularly known as slash-and-burn  farming.
• It is an environmentally friendly mode of farming as it is organic
• Shift cultivation is a mode or form of weed control
• It also plays a crucial role in pest control
• Soil bone diseases is also reduced significantly through shifting mode of farming
• It also reduces the rate of environmental degradation

Shifting cultivation is a one lands clearing mode of farming or a slash and burn strategy. It leaves only stump and large trees in the farming area after the standing vegetation has been cut down and burned. The ashes enrich soil. Cultivation on earth after clearing of the land is often accomplished by a hoe or not necessarily by plough.

Disadvantages of shifting cultivation

It can easily lead to deforestation because when soil fertility is exhausted, farmers move on and clear another small area of the forest
Shift farming can easily cause soil erosion and desertification
It destroys water sheds
Shift farming is uneconomical
It easily leads to loss of biodiversity
Water pollution in coastal areas easily occur because of raw sewage and oil residue
Shifting mode of farming restricts the intensity of land use

Therefore, shifting cultivation has been under a lot of attack based on the principle that it degrades soil fertility and general fertility of forest lands in tropical areas. Nonetheless, this mode of farming is highly an adaptation to tropical soil conditions in areas where continued and long term cultivation has been practiced on the same soil without advanced soil conservation methods and use of fertilizers. This is because it would be highly detrimental to the fertility of the land.
In such areas, it can be highly preferable to cultivate land for a shorter period of time and abandon it before the soil fully exhausts its nutrients. The most attractive feature is that these disadvantages can be managed through

• Quality education to help the farmers understand the consequences of shift cultivation
• Agro-forestry which involves growing crops and trees at the same time thus enabling farmers to shelter canopy of trees hence, preventing soil erosion. crops also benefit from dead organic matter
• Selective logging can also be practiced
• Forest reserves by protecting certain areas from cultivation
• Afforestation where cut trees are replaced to maintain the health of canopy and
• Close monitoring by use of advanced technology as well as photography to check any activities that take place hence, ensuring sustainability.

What is the difference between crop rotation and shifting cultivation?

Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar / different types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons.

Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned and allowed to revert to their natural vegetation while the cultivator moves on to another plot. 

What is the difference between crop rotation and shifting cultivation?

Crop Rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar/different types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons. Crop rotation gives various benefits to the soil. A traditional element of crop rotation is the replenishment of nitrogen through the use of green manure in sequence with cereals and other crops. Crop rotation also mitigates the build-up of pathogens and pests that often occurs when one species is continuously cropped, and can also improve soil structure and fertility by alternating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted plants. Crop rotation is one component of polyculture.



Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned and allowed to revert to their natural vegetation while the cultivator moves on to another plot. The period of cultivation is usually terminated when the soil shows signs of exhaustion or, more commonly, when the field is overrun by weeds. The length of time that a field is cultivated is usually shorter than the period over which the land is allowed to regenerate by lying fallow.

Of these cultivators, many use a practice of slash-and-burn as one element of their farming cycle. Others employ land clearing without any burning, and some cultivators are purely migratory and do not use any cyclical method on a given plot. Sometimes no slashing at all is needed where regrowth is purely of grasses, an outcome not uncommon when soils are near exhaustion and need to lie fallow.

One land-clearing system of shifting agriculture is the slash-and-burn method, which leaves only stumps and large trees in the field after the standing vegetation has been cut down and burned, its ashes enriching the soil. Cultivation of the earth after clearing is usually accomplished by hoe or digging stick and not by plough.