What is substinence farming?
What is substinence farming?
Answer:
The type of farming is practised to meet the needs of the farmer’s family. Subsistence farming isclassified as intensive subsistence and primitive subsistence farming.
Intensive subsistence agriculture
The farmer cultivates a small plot of land using simple tools and more labour. Climate with a large number of days with sunshine and fertile soils permit the growing of more than one crop annually on the same plot.
- The main crop in this type of agriculture is rice
- The other crop in this type of agriculture wheat, maize, pulses and oilseeds
- Areas, where intensive subsistence agriculture is carried, are prevalent in the thickly populated areas of the monsoon regions of the south, southeast and east Asia.
Primitive subsistence agriculture
It includes shifting cultivation and nomadic herding.
- Shifting Cultivation
a plot of land is cleared by felling the trees and burning them. The ashes are then mixed with the soil and crops are grown. After the soil loses its fertility, the land is abandoned and the cultivator moves to a new plot. Shifting cultivation is also known as ‘slash and burn agriculture.
Crops – maize, yam, potatoes and cassava
Areas – Practised in the thickly forested areas of the Amazon basin, tropical Africa, parts of Southeast Asia and Northeast India.
- Nomadic Herding
Herdsmen move from place to place with their animals for fodder and water, along with defined routes. This type of movement arises in response to climatic constraints and terrain.
Crops – Sheep, camel, yak and goats are most commonly reared. They provide milk, meat, wool, hides and other products to the herders and their families.
Areas – Practised in the semi-arid and arid regions of Sahara, Central Asia and some parts of India, like Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.
Answer:
The type of farming is practised to meet the needs of the farmer’s family. Subsistence farming isclassified as intensive subsistence and primitive subsistence farming.
Intensive subsistence agriculture
The farmer cultivates a small plot of land using simple tools and more labour. Climate with a large number of days with sunshine and fertile soils permit the growing of more than one crop annually on the same plot.
- The main crop in this type of agriculture is rice
- The other crop in this type of agriculture wheat, maize, pulses and oilseeds
- Areas, where intensive subsistence agriculture is carried, are prevalent in the thickly populated areas of the monsoon regions of the south, southeast and east Asia.
Primitive subsistence agriculture
It includes shifting cultivation and nomadic herding.
- Shifting Cultivation
a plot of land is cleared by felling the trees and burning them. The ashes are then mixed with the soil and crops are grown. After the soil loses its fertility, the land is abandoned and the cultivator moves to a new plot. Shifting cultivation is also known as ‘slash and burn agriculture.
Crops – maize, yam, potatoes and cassava
Areas – Practised in the thickly forested areas of the Amazon basin, tropical Africa, parts of Southeast Asia and Northeast India.
- Nomadic Herding
Herdsmen move from place to place with their animals for fodder and water, along with defined routes. This type of movement arises in response to climatic constraints and terrain.
Crops – Sheep, camel, yak and goats are most commonly reared. They provide milk, meat, wool, hides and other products to the herders and their families.
Areas – Practised in the semi-arid and arid regions of Sahara, Central Asia and some parts of India, like Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.
