Subsistence Agriculture - Subtypes

Subsistence Agriculture

Agriculture carried out to provide for the family

Shifting Cultivation

* Tropical Regions
* Also called slash and burn agriculture
* Deplete soil and leave fallow in order to recover
* Crops vary by country (yams, sugarcane, vegetables)

Intensive Subsistence - wet rice dominant

* small
* work done by hand
* use all land
* 4 principles ( field preparation - plowing, flooding - rainfall, irrigation, river overflow, transplanting - dry to wet, harvesting - by hand)

Intensive Subsistence - crops other than rice

* similar to wet rice but climate is too dry in the summer and harsh in the winter
* Interior of India and Northeast China
* Work done by hand with some tools and animals
* use all land
* can practice crop rotation in milder areas
* wheat is dominant
* other crops include barely, millet, corn, oats, sorghum, and soybeans
* some cash crops can be grown like cotton, flax, hemp, and tabacco

Pastoral Nomadism

* based on herding domesticated animals
* planting crops is impossible
* use of milk, skin, and hair - rarely killed
* Camels, goats, and sheep

Plantation

* Tropical and subtropical regions of Latin \n America, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia \n and Southeast Asia
* Large COMMERCIAL farm in a \n DEVELOPING country
* Growing crops to sell to DEVELOPED \n countries
* Crops include cotton, coffee, rubber, \n tobacco, sugarcane, bananas, cocoa, tea, \n coconuts, and palm oil