However, during the course of cultivation, the land was stripped of its natural vegetation where shrubs were usually processed into charcoal, and the soil disc-ploughed and seeded. Although yields were initially high, exposure of the topsoil to deflation and erosion, combined with nutrient depletion in the absence of crop rotation schemes, led to drastic declines within just a few years and rapid deforestation. The cultivators then were forced to relocate to virgin plots and the process was repeated.