Question
Why did European foresters regard shifting cultivation as harmful for the forest?
Solution
European foresters regarded shifting cultivation as harmful for the forests for the following reasons:
(i) They felt that land which was used for cultivation every few years could not grow trees for railway timber.
(ii) When a forest was burnt, there was the added danger of the flames spreading and burning valuable timber.
(iii) Shifting cultivation also made it harder for the government to calculate taxes. Therefore, the government decided to ban shifting cultivation.
