Page 164 - SST Class 08
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Shifting cultivation, though destructive, is still Intensive Farming
practised in many parts of the world. It is known In intensive farming, the farmer tries to get the
by different local names in different parts of the maximum possible output from a small plot of
world. It is called jhum in north-east India, lading land. The farmer uses simple tools and abundant
in Malay Peninsula, chengin in Philippines, milpa human labour. This type of farming is mostly
in central America, konuk in Venezuela, roka in practised in the densely populated countries of
Brazil and masole in the Congo basin of Africa. the monsoon region. Due to a long growing
Nomadic herding season and fertile soil the farmer is able to grow
Nomadic herding is practised in the semi-arid two or three crops annually on the same land.
and arid regions of Sahara, Central Asia and Rice is the most important crop grown. Other
some parts of India, like Rajasthan and Jammu crops cultivated are wheat, maize, sugarcane,
and Kashmir. In this type of farming, herdsmen pulses and oilseeds.
move from place to place with their animals for Commercial Farming
fodder and water, along defined routes. This type This type of farming is done with sale as the
of movement arises in response to climatic main purpose. In this case, a very large area is
constraints and terrain. Sheep, camel, yak and cultivated and large amount of capital is utilised.
goats are most commonly reared. They provide Heavy machineries are used with less emphasis
milk, meat, wool, hides and other products to the on manual labour. Commercial farming includes
herders and their families. commercial grain farming, mixed farming and
plantation.
The temperate grasslands of North America,
Europe and Asia are the major areas where
commercial grain farming is done. Severe winters
in these areas restrict the growing season and
only a single crop can be grown in a year. Tea,
coffee, sugarcane, cashew, rubber, banana and
cotton are grown in plantations. The produce of
plantation may be processed on the farm itself or
in nearby factories. A good transport network is
Nomadic Herders with Their Camels essential for commercial plantation. Rubber is
Sedentary Farming mainly grown in Malaysia, coffee in Brazil and
In early times, people used to move from one tea is grown in India and Sri Lanka.
place to another as food gatherer, hunter, herder Extensive Farming
or shifting cultivator. When the farmer learnt to Extensive farming is mostly practised in the
maintain soil fertility, he settled down at one sparsely populated areas, where abundant land is
place. He adopted technique like crop rotation to available which is suitable for farming. The
conserve soil fertility. He also developed simple landholdings are usually large and the farm work
tools for cultivation and started rearing cattle. In is done by machines. One or two commercial
his free time, he developed some cottage indus- crops are generally grown. The most important
tries based on local raw materials. These activi- crops grown are wheat and maize. The total
ties supplemented his income as a settled farmer. output is high, but the yield per hectare is low.
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