Geography · Ch 4 — Primary Activities
Subsistence Agriculture
Subsistence Agriculture
Subsistence agriculture is a system where the farming household consumes nearly all of what it produces. Very little, if anything, is left over for sale or trade. The goal is survival and self-sufficiency, not profit. The textbook divides this into two broad categories: Primitive Subsistence Agriculture and Intensive Subsistence Agriculture.
Primitive Subsistence Agriculture (Shifting Cultivation)
This is the older, more traditional form, also widely known as shifting cultivation or slash and burn agriculture. It is practised by many tribal communities in the tropics — notably in Africa, South and Central America, and Southeast Asia.
The method works like this: a patch of forest is cleared by cutting down vegetation and burning it. The ash from the fire adds nutrients to the otherwise poor tropical soil, providing a temporary boost in fertility. The farmer then cultivates this small patch using very basic tools — sticks and hoes. The plots are tiny, and the work is entirely manual.
After a few years (typically 3 to 5 years), the soil loses its fertility. Weeds and pests also become a problem. At this point, the farmer abandons the plot and moves to a new patch of forest, clearing and burning it to start the cycle again. The farmer may return to the original patch after many years, once the forest has regrown and the soil has recovered.
A major problem with shifting cultivation is that the cycle (or jhum cycle) becomes shorter and shorter. As population pressure increases, farmers are forced to return to a plot before it has fully recovered. This leads to a permanent loss of soil fertility and deforestation.
This practice is known by different names in different regions:
- Jhuming in the northeastern states of India
- Milpa in Central America and Mexico
- Ladang in Indonesia and Malaysia
Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
This type of farming is found in the densely populated regions of monsoon Asia — areas with high rainfall and large rural populations. The key feature is the intensive use of land to produce as much food as possible from very small plots.
The textbook identifies two main subtypes:
1. Intensive subsistence agriculture dominated by wet paddy (rice) cultivation
This is the most common form. Rice is the dominant crop because it thrives in the wet, monsoon climate. Key characteristics include:
- Very small land holdings due to extremely high population density.
- Family labour is the primary workforce. The entire family works on the farm.
- Limited use of machinery; most operations are done by hand.
- Farmyard manure is used to maintain soil fertility (chemical fertilisers are less common).
- High yield per unit area — the land is made to produce a lot of food.
- Low productivity per labourer — because so many people work on a small plot, each individual's output is low.
2. Intensive subsistence agriculture dominated by crops other than paddy …