Un bancal, también llamado andén en los Andes y parata en el sur de España, es aquella superficie horizontal en terrenos con declives, producto de la obra humana que se sostiene por una pared o talud (llamada balate en el sur de España) y que se utiliza para labores agrícolas. Se preparan en terrenos de fuertes pendientes, de más del 30%, donde no es factible la excavación horizontal. El desarrollo de este tipo de construcciones aterrazadas escalonadas tiene relación directa con la falta de terrenos de cultivos llanos, estando íntimamente ligado a periodos con una alta densidad demográfica que obliga a poner en producción nuevos terrazgos en otros tiempos desechados. La creación y el uso de bancales requiere movilizar una gran cantidad de mano de obra para su construcción y mantenimiento, los cuales terminan por abandonarse una vez se reduce el crecimiento demográfico y ya no se requiere ponerlos en producción. Asimismo hay que tener en cuenta que el abancalado tiene unos límites económicos. La pendiente no ha de superar el 45% dado que la anchura de los bancales se reduce mucho y la superficie de los muros que soportan el terreno incrementa el gasto de construcción.

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In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming . This type of landscaping, therefore, is called terracing. Graduated terrace steps are commonly used to farm on hilly or mountainous terrain. Terraced fields decrease both erosion and surface runoff, and may be used to support growing crops that require irrigation, such as rice. The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the significance of this technique. Terraced paddy fields are used widely in rice, wheat and barley farming in east, south, and southeast Asia, as well as other places. Drier-climate terrace farming is common throughout the Mediterranean Basin, e.g., in Cadaqués, Catalonia, where they were used for vineyards, olive trees, cork oak, etc., on Mallorca, and in Cinque Terre, Italy. In the South American Andes, farmers have used terraces, known as andenes, for over a thousand years to farm potatoes, maize, and other native crops. Terraced farming was developed by the Wari' and other peoples of the south-central Andes before 1000 AD, centuries before they were used by the Inca, who adopted them. The terraces were built to make the most efficient use of shallow soil and to enable irrigation of crops. The Inca built on these, developing a system of canals, aqueducts, and puquios to direct water through dry land and increase fertility levels and growth. These terraced farms are found wherever mountain villages have existed in the Andes. They provided the food necessary to support the populations of great Inca cities and religious centres such as Machu Picchu. Terracing is also used for sloping terrain; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon may have been built on an artificial mountain with stepped terraces, such as those on a ziggurat. At the seaside Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, the villa gardens of Julius Caesar's father-in-law were designed in terraces to give pleasant and varied views of the Bay of Naples. Terraced fields are common in islands with steep slopes. The Canary Islands present a complex system of terraces covering the landscape from the coastal irrigated plantations to the dry fields in the highlands. These terraces, which are named cadenas (chains), are built with stone walls of skillful design, which include attached stairs and channels. In Old English, a terrace was also called a "lynch" (lynchet). An example of an ancient Lynch Mill is in Lyme Regis. The water is directed from a river by a duct along a terrace. This set-up was used in steep hilly areas in the UK.

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