Discuss the different types of subsistence agriculture practiced around the world

Question

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Answer 1

Answer: Subsistence agriculture is agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and the farmer's family. It is generally practiced in developing countries. It is generally characterized by small farms, a high percentage of farmers, and because the people are typically poor, very few machines. There are three types of subsistence agriculture practiced in developing countries. These are shifting cultivation, intensive subsistence and pastoral nomadism.

Shifting cultivation, sometimes called slash and burn, is practiced in much of the world's Humid Low-Latitude regions, which have relatively high temperatures and abundant rainfall. Each year, in an area surrounding the village that is designated for planting, villagers remove the dense vegetation using axes and machetes. The debris is burned before planting is done. The fresh ashes provide the soil with much needed nutrients. The newly cleared area, called a swidden, can support crops only briefly, usually 3 years or less, before soil nutrients are depleted. After the soil is depleted, villagers identify a new plot for cultivation, leaving the previous one to fallow for many years.

Intensive subsistence is practiced primarily in densely populated East, South, and Southeast Asia. Because the agricultural density is so high in these regions, families must produce enough food for their survival from a very small area of land. Most of the work is done by hand or with animals rather than with machines, in part due to abundant labor, but largely from lack of funds to buy equipment.

In dry climates, where planting crops is impossible, pastoral nomadism has evolved as the predominant form of subsistence agriculture. It is based on the herding of domesticated animals. Pastoral nomads live primarily in the large belt of arid and semiarid land that includes North Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Central Asia. The Bedouins of Saudi Arabia and North Africa and the Masai of East Africa are examples of nomadic groups. Pastoral nomads depend primarily on animals rather than crops for survival. The animals provide milk, and their skins and hair are used for clothing and tents.