Human activities which generate income are | Class 12 Geography Notes

Agriculture

Agriculture is the practice of cultivating crops and raising livestock under various physical and socio-economic conditions, resulting in diverse agricultural systems. It is broadly classified into subsistence and commercial agriculture. Subsistence agriculture is mainly for local consumption and includes primitive subsistence agriculture and intensive subsistence agriculture. Primitive subsistence agriculture, also called shifting cultivation or slash and burn agriculture, is practiced by many tribes in tropical regions like Africa, South and Central America, and Southeast Asia. Vegetation is cleared by fire, and the ash enriches the soil. Cultivated patches are small and worked with primitive tools. After 3 to 5 years, soil fertility declines, prompting farmers to shift to new patches. The cycle of shifting cultivation is shortening due to soil degradation. Local names include Jhuming in Northeast India, Milpa in Central America, and Ladang in Indonesia and Malaysia. Intensive subsistence agriculture is found in densely populated monsoon Asia and has two types: (i) dominated by wet paddy cultivation with small landholdings, family labor, manual work, and high yield per unit area but low labor productivity; (ii) dominated by crops other than paddy like wheat, barley, soyabean, and millets, often using irrigation. European colonists introduced plantation agriculture, a large-scale, profit-oriented system growing crops like tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber, cotton, oil palm, sugarcane, bananas, and pineapples. Plantations require large capital, managerial expertise, scientific methods, cheap labor, and good transport for export. Ownership has largely shifted to governments or nationals of the countries concerned.

📊 Diagram: Figure 4.7 shows areas of primitive subsistence agriculture in tropical regions. Figure 4.10 depicts tea plantations on hill slopes. Figure 4.6 maps areas of commercial livestock rearing, linking to agricultural practices.

🧪 Activity: Find out other areas and local names where shifting cultivation is practiced.

🔗 Connection: This section leads to detailed discussions on various types of commercial agriculture such as extensive grain cultivation, mixed farming, dairy farming, and Mediterranean agriculture.