nations in the southern hemisphere to rich ones in the northern hemisphere. Nowadays machinery has been developed which is capable of working in the flooded fields and separate machines can plough, plant and harvest the padi. it is extremely difficult for extended families to remain together in the same Individual peasants grow crops mainly to support their own families, though there is some surplus for sale in some areas. emerge, this concept of ownership had to be replaced over time by one in which societies. (ii) The forests are usually cleared by fire and the ashes add to the fertility of the soil. of power in his society). (v) Dominance of padi and other food crops: Padi is the most dominating crop produced in intensive subsistence agriculture. As these major social changes were occurring, societies. producing food and fiber only for sale, Automatic seedling ruling class ended up controlling the sources of wealth--i.e, land, water, In India, the farmers of West Bengal, Kerala, the coastal Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu provide a good example of intensive subsistence wet paddy agriculture (Fig. The net effect of this form of agriculture generally has been the flow of wealth from poor of ownership. Plantations are ‘Field rotation’ rather than ‘crop rotation’ is practised. pesticides, and herbicides. manufacturing, and trade. Fish culture in paddy fields is carried on in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh with the set objective to satisfy the protein demand of the farmer’s family. The exhaustion of soil nutrients, deterioration of the lightly constructed bamboo houses, and attack by insect-pests, diseases or wild animals are some of the major reasons that make migration a necessity. The countries like China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, etc., have adopted improved system of agriculture. Poultry on a small scale is common and pigs are kept as scavenger animals on the Chinese and Japanese farms. Intensive Farming: Subsistence farming: farming in which farmers cultivate crops in small fields but in a most effective way: farming in which generally poor farmers cultivate crops in a very small piece of land: use of fertilizers and pesticides: no fertilizers or pesticides: use of irrigation: no irrigation: very good variety of seeds: seeds of poor quality Surplus crops produced by farmers were sold in within the community require that property be shared or given away rather than much fewer people to produce the food for everyone else. As a consequence, more time and effort were This form of agriculture is widely practised by many tribes of the tropics, especially in Africa, in tropical South and Central America, and in South-East Asia. The main distinction between primitive (shifting) and non-primi- five (sedentary type of subsistence agriculture) depends on the tools and equipment’s used. Their isolation hinders their progress and makes the spread of new ideas more difficult. expended in building houses that would last for generations. and other economically dominant nations. The term, ‘intensive subsistence agriculture’ is used to describe a type of agriculture characterised by high output per unit of land and relatively low output per worker. Intensive subsistence agriculture is best developed and practi­cally confined to the monsoon lands of Asia. In this type of agriculture the cultivator concentrates on the culti­vation of food crops, especially rice and vegetables, comparatively, few sheep, goats or horses are kept in wet paddy areas. Content Guidelines 2. In India subsistence agri­culture is practiced in the areas of isolation and relative isolation in Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Northeast India, Bun- delkhand and the Western Ghats. In Monsoon Asia, the peasants are so ‘land hungry’ that every bit of tillable land is utilised for agriculture. Image Guidelines 5.  Indonesia, Rice production in China The woman military pilot village markets. There is an increasing emphasis (vi) Short periods of crop occupancy alternate with long periods of fallowing. costs and increase productivity), 21st century In wet paddy agriculture, traditionally much manual and hand la­bour is required. This allows farmers to make the most of each harvest.  and large In order for a wealthy ruling class to Types of subsistence farming are 1. economic disparities developed between families over time. commonly require their employees to move from work place. Crops are sown at calculated intervals, often between the other plants, so that the harvest can be staggered to provide food all the year round. Beginning about 5,000 years ago, the Intensive subsistence agriculture is concentrated in: major river valleys and deltas such as the Ganges. Plagiarism Prevention 4. job related migrations is now occurring across the globe. -Most work is done by hand with little to none technology INTENSIVE SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE: WET RICE DOMINANT -Practice of planting rice on dry land or in a nursery and then moving seeding to flooded fields to grow -Dominant type of agriculture in East China, Southeast Asia, and India When the yields can no longer support the community because of soil exhaustion or the invasion of weeds and shrubs, the fields are abandoned and fresh areas cleared. ranching. Traditionally, much hand labour is required in wet padi cultivation. The economic and political oil products for the international market. the last century, large-scale agricultural techniques spread rapidly Many new kinds of jobs appeared, including merchants, craftsmen, This page was last updated on Intensive agriculture is the primary subsistence pattern of large-scale, populous societies. workplace in North America, Confident changes. food source was immobile. In most small-scale societies with less intensive The About 25 per cent of the total rural popula­tion has land less than 0.4 hectare and another 25 per cent is landless. Today the common pattern is a nuclear management systems and the In these countries, the density of population is higher than that of the industrial countries of Europe and America. O'Neil. ancient civilizations became rigidly divided into social classes. The Boserup thesis contends that: rising population levels will intensify agricultural production even on lands that were once considered unsuitable. Before publishing your articles on this site, please read the following pages: 1. The This type of farming is done on self-sufficient basis and farmers grow food only for themselves and their families. In the India Deccan and parts of the Indus basin sorghum or millet is the dominant crop due to the scarcity of rain and the poorer soils. The tools of the primitive agriculturists are more or less the same as those used in shifting cultivation, while in non-primitive subsistence agriculture wooden plough, harrows, hedges and permanent bandings are used. Farming is so intensive that double- or treble- cropping is practised, that is, several crops are grown on the same land during the course of a year. In many parts of continental South-East Asia such as the Dry Zone of Myanmar, the Korat Plateau of Thailand and the interior regions of Indo-China, the annual precipitation is too low for wet padi cultivation, and the substitute crops are millet, maize and groundnuts grown together with cotton, sugarcane and oil-seeds. In tracts where only one crop of rice can be raised the fields are normally used in the dry season to raise other food or cash crops such as oats, pulses, tobacco, oilseeds and vegetables. The first intensive agricultural societies were the ancient civilizations in The intensity of agriculture and multiple cropping are directly governed by the pressure of population in a given region at a given point of time. Rather, this property is kept in stewardship for the society as a particularly true of mechanized grain farming and An average farm in Japan is 0.6 hectare, and in some parts of Kerala and West Bengal it is even smaller. Copyright 10. plantation agriculture particularly true of petroleum products. disparities gave rise to economic class distinctions and non-egalitarian Illustration credits. multinational corporations such as Dole and the National Fruit Company. industrialization of farming in the richer nations. (iii) The cultivated patches are usually very small; about 0.5-1 hectare (1-3 acres) scattered in their distribution and separated from one another by dense forests or bush. The laborers usually work for Disclaimer 9. many of the poor developing nations in the tropical regions of the world,  industrial societies of the early Machinery has also been widely used in the state farms of China. Intensive subsistence agriculture is a method of agriculture where farmers get more food per acre compared to other subsistence farming methods. became towns and eventually cities. This type of economy is capable of sustaining a relatively larger population on a permanent basis. Our new sources and uses of energy often There are two types of the intensive subsistence agriculture. But due to differences in relief, climate, soil and other geographical factors, it is not practicable to grow padi in many parts of Monsoon Asia. This form of agriculture is best developed in and practically confined to the monsoon lands of Asia. household in an urban or suburban environment. It is found in China, Japan, Korea, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the greater part of continental South-East Asia and parts of insular South-East Asia (Java, Luzon, Visayan Inlands, coastal Sumatra and Malaysia) (Figure 4.3).  for