I started by looking up the word in my local language and it turned out to be a word we used so often to describe places: "Ekpene Ikot". Traditionally, my people don't apply fertilisers to improve fertility, they only believe in the ash that results from bush burning at the beginning of a planting season. To help boost crop production, the village community opens up a vast area of land to be cultivated for 4 years while all land in the other section are left unused during that time.

The spirit of the ancestors will farm in the abandoned farm lands while the villagers start farming across the stream.

_{^{The efik/ibibio word for fallow in a dictionary}}

The word appears in the names of places like Ekpene Ukim, Ikot Ekpene and Ekpene Ibia.

◉ What is Bush Fallowing

Putting it simply, it is the cultural practice of allowing a farmed land to go for some years without being cultivated, such that it regains its fertility.
And this is my explanation. Each time a land is farmed, the crops planted on the land extract nutrients from the land, and if that is done continuously, it is only reasonable to expect that at some point, the nutrients in the soil will be depleted. Fallowing gives such a land an opportunity to naturally regain the nutrients that were depleted by farming.

◉ What are the advantages of Bush Fallowing

Let me start with soil fertility restoration which takes place when the land is allowed to lie fallow. Locally, we plant a lot of cassava, and it must have some nutrients it takes away from the soil, but when the soil is left unused for some time, it grows plants that will help replenish the lost nutrients, improving fertility and structure.
The fallowed land quickly becomes a bush, housing different plants and animals, and a place for hunting is also created; even the plants that grow there help prevent erosion.
When cultivation resume, the land is rejuvenated resulting in higher crop yields. The pest that hung around and eat the crops often die off after waiting for the cassava for many years. This practice, in this case, is acting as a pest control mechanism.
Because the farmers are now farming in this new environment together and all the former lands are allowed to fallow, it provides collective security for crops and farmers.

_{^{After growing wild like this, it becomes very fertile}}

◉What are the Disadvantages of Bush Fallowing

Imagine leaving your farm for four or more years and when you are to farm there when the cycle comes round and the other community have trespass, resulting in conflicts.
And you need to have a lot of lands to practice good fallowing practices. Locally, you will have to acquire land at different farming locations so that when the community earmarks an area to be farmed, you know you have land in that area. Poor families could not follow the rotation roster.
Our grandparents had to build huts in the farm. This means building huts in the new farming area each time it's time to rotate, and you will also have to move farmers and house them at the new location.

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◉Conclusion and Invitation

Bush fallowing has the resemblance of crop rotation, but in this case it is a form of "land rotation". It needs many farmlands to practice it. Let's take a minimum of two. But we had to cut down trees and thick bush each time we had to make a land switch and start farming at the start of the year.

I am inviting @bossj23, @onyii03, @emerson-25, @axgustine, @goodnews2020 and @mayjay to have a say on this topic.

Did you know that the word Ekpene means Fallowing in the Efik and Ibibio languages? How do you say bush fallowing in your local dilect, and do you culturally practice bush fallowing as part of your agricultural practices?

Media Credit

Composer	@manuelhooks
Pictures	Galaxy-A15
Entry type	Contest participation
Contest Link	Link
Organizer	hive-118902
Community	Steem-agro community
Date	Tuesday 15th Oct
	(@) 2025