WORLD ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
WORLD AGRICULTURAL TYPES :-
We use the'term 'Agriculture' to describe all of man's activities that are dependent upon the soil. It includes growing of crops and the raising of livestock. It is the chief occupation of man, for nearly two-thirds of the labour force the world today is directly engaged in it. Production of industrial crops such as cotton, flax, rubber and raising of animals for meat, wool and hides is also important. The main geographical factors that influence agriculture are Climate, Soil, Relief or Topography.
Climate: (heat, sunshine and moisture) is the most important factor in determining the type of agriculture. There is little that man has ever been able to do against the vagaries of weather, such as unexpected drought, unseasonal frosts and excessive rainfall. Of course, to a limited extent man does modify'most of these factors, as for example, when he carries water by irrigation to places where moisture is deficient or supplies fertilizers where the soil is different.
Soil: Different crops have different soil requirements.
Topography: Plains, river valleys and deltas are more suitable for cultivation than hilly areas Well-drained hill-slopes may be suitable for some crops (tea, coffee) while other crops (rice may require marshy lands.
Other factors such as market for the commodity, transport, capital, labour, government policy also influence agriculture.
TYPES OF CROPS :-
Broadly we can classify crops as :
- Food Crops, such as wheat, rice, maize, millet's, oats, barley, rye, spices and fruits.
- Commercial crops, such as cotton, jute flax, tobacco, rubber, oilseeds, tea, coffee and cocoa. Crops like sugarcane may also be known as commercial crops although they may be used as food.
AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES :
Agricultural activities may be divided into two broad categories: [] Subsistence farming and [] Commercial farming.
- If the agricultural occupation is carried on to supply local wants and needs, it is called subsistence farming.
- If it is carried on to furnish that which other people desire, it is called commercial farming.
Subsistence farming : The term "subsistence" is a relative one and varies in significance with time and from place to place.
Again, subsistence agriculture may be of various types. It may be primitive, such as is found in some parts of the equatorial and tropical forests, where people use simple tools or implements and produce food for their own immediate needs.
In shifting cultivation, a patch of ground is, cleared, very often with fire (hence this types of cultivation is sometimes called "slash and burn") and the ground cultivated for a few years until the soil is exhausted. The cultivators keep on shifting from one part to another where they clear new patches of ground.
Subsistence agriculture elsewhere: In densely populated areas, as in India and China, farmers may consume directly nearly all the grain which they produce and only a small surplus may be left for exchange against other goods. 'These farmers work hard in order to obtain maximum yield from their lands. They use manures like animal dung, household waste, fertilizers and night soil and may also make use of irrigation water. This is an example of intensive subsistence type of agriculture .
Commercial farming: In this type of farming, the farmer produces crops for sale usually for world markets. Commercial farming may be extensive or intensive.
Extensive Commercial farming: It implies employment of greater area of land in proportion to capital and labour. Land may be left fallow for a year or two to enable it to region its fertility.
If this is the case, farming operations may be highly mechanised and farming concerned with one principal commercial crop. This commercial grain farming in the United States, Canada, Argentina and Australia are examples of extensive commercial farming.
Intensive commercial farming: There is also intensive commercial farming such as is practiced in the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. Fruits like grapes, oranges and lemons, olives and figs are produced on a commercial scale. Cooperatives are generally found useful in collecting, processing and marketing the farm produce.
Intensive commercial farming is practiced where farm land is of high value. Population pressure reduces the size of individual holdings, as is the case in the delta regions of the great rivers of Asia. In other places, such as the irrigated areas (in Egypt) or reclaimed areas (in Denmark and Netherlands), land is available for cultivation only'with great expense and energy. There is much capital or labour or skill (or all three) applied for a small area. No land is left fallow and fertilizers are much used. This type of farming has, therefore, developed mainly in the densely populated countries with limited arable land.
Mixed Farming: In this type there is cultivation of arable crops and the rearing of livestock on the same farms. Farming techniques are highly advanced. Modern machinery, selected seeds and great use of chemical fertilizers are common. The farmers also practice crop rotation, growing root crops like potatoes, beets, turnips and legumes like beans and peas. This maintains the fertility of soil. In addition to dairy animals, he may also keep pigs and poultry. This is one of the most important forms of agriculture found in highly developed parts of the world, particularly in the cool, moist regions such as N.W. Europe, S.E. Canada, the "hay and dairy belt" of N.E. United States, in large parts of the Soviet Union and to some extent in South Africa.
Market Gardening: There is intensive cultivation of vegetables, flowers and fruits for nearby urban areas. Farms are generally small and located where there are good communications with the urban areas. It is usually very labour intensive, the work being done by hand labour, though some machinery may be used. Soil fertility is maintained by application of manures or fertilizers.
The American farm, known as truck farming, operates on a large scale and is more specialised, as in California and Florida.
Plantation Farming: This type of farm organisation has developed within the tropics and subtropics. It was developed in the early days of colonization when the industrial nations of western Europe wanted tropical and subtropical products for their manufactures.
The British initiated tea gardens in India and Sri Lanka and rubber estates in Malaysia. The French established cocoa and coffee plantations in the Cameron and Ivory coast. The Spaniards and Americana set up coconut and abaca (manila hemp) and sugar plantations in the Philippines. The Dutch had also set up sugar plantations in Java.
Plantations vary from area to area and with different crops, but their general characteristics are similar. It involves clearing of forest, preparing ground, laying roads, power supplies, rouses, schools, hospital and other amenities for the workers. It requires efficient and scientific methods of cultivation, special types of implements, skilled but relatively cheap local labour and world-wide marketing facilities. A plantation is thus a large unit producing a single-crop on a scale that resembles factory production.
The important plantation crops are rubber, coffee, cotton, tea, bananas, coconut, caco, sisal, oil palm, pineapples and cinchona. A great proportion of these products enter international trade.
Plantation farming requires large capital investment. In most cass it takes several years before the first crop is ready for harvesting. Hence it is undertaken by companies backed by large capital resources and with proper managerial skills.
The development of plantation system has given the world' a large supply of tropical products at lower prices for the consumer and a more uniform and better quality of product.
Most of the plantations of the world are situated in tropical zone (Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, East and West Africa, West Indies, India).
Dry Farming: It involves special methods of cultivating land in places where there is water shortage (e.g. in arid and semi-arid regions) and where irrigation water is not available.
One method is to crop the land in alternate years, leaving it fallow in every other year. There is constant harrowing to prevent ground water from moving to the surface by capillarity. The land is also protected by spreading vegetable matter, such as straw, over the surface; this reduces surface evaporation. Wheat is widely grown under this method. Other crops are oats, barley, rye and cotton.
Collective Farming: This development began after the Communist Revolution in the Soviet Union in 1917 and now prevails in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (Poland, Rumania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc.). Farming is organised by the state, using labourers.
In Israel, most of the agricultural land is organised into settlements such as the Kibbutz. Each kibbutz has several hundred members who work without formal payment but get all their requirements of housing, clothing, education of the young and medical care, with some extra money.
Co-operative Farming: This type of farming is based on the principles of cooperation. The owner and the tenant farmers pool their resources together. In this way some of the advantages 'or large-scale financial and technical organisation can be achieved without individuals surrendering their independence. Cheaper seed, fertilizers, implements and better prices for products can be obtained as a result of collective buying and selling.
Dairies, bacon factories egg and fruit grading, marketing and warehousing are in many cases owned collectively. It plays a very important role in such countries as Denmark, Belgium and Netherlands. In Denmark, the prosperity of the farmer is due mainly to the co-operative movement. Almost every farmer is a member of the co-operative societies. Co-operative farming has been introduced in many states of the Indian Union.
DAIRY FARMING :-
Keeping animals for the purpose of producing milk as food is called dairy farming. It is an advanced type of farming, involving use of scientific methods at every step. In dairy farming there is also income from sale of calves, poultry, eggs and pigs.
Improvements in transportation and refrigeration have gradually changed dairy farming from a "backyard" activity to a specialized industry.
Commercial dairy farming: Dairy farming is practiced in its intensive form in many parts of the world. The three largest areas in the world are Western Europe, the northeastern regions of North America, Australia and New Zealand.
1. Western Europe: The best known dairy produces are Denmark and Netherlands. Farmers in these countries feed their cattle on salty hay grown on the polders and also on supplementary foodstuffs such as barley, com, cultivated pastures of clover and imported concentrates.
In the mountainous areas of Scandinavia and Switzerland, translucence is practiced. In summer. the animals graze on mountain pastures and dairy men move with their herds and manufacture cheese on the spot. In winter, the animals are led to the valleys where they are fed in their stalls.
France and Italy are also noted for the excellence of their dairy products. The development of co-operatives, and promotion of scientific methods, coupled with quality control by the government and the nearness to urban markets have made dairy farming more prosperous than agriculture.
2. The North-Eastern Regions of North America: Dairying is common to practically all farming areas in Canada but more particularly in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. In the United States, the most favorable conditions are found in the Hay and Dairy Belt which stretches from Minnesota through Michigan to Maine.
3. Australia and New Zealand: Dairy farming in these countries has developed in recent years. The most important regions are in south-eastern part of Australia (humid, coastal districts of Victoria, New South Wales and South-eastern Queensland) and the North Island (Taranaki, Wanganui lowlands) of New Zealand.
Plenty of grass is available nearly all the year round and cattle can be kept outdoors all the time. This fact, together with extremely effective farm management and the use of labour-saving devices enable these two countries to reduce production costs. Co-operative societies are a special feature in New Zealand and her dairymen are probably the most efficient producers of milk in the world. The development of refrigeration has given a great filip to their dairy industry as it enables them to find markets in far-away lands of Europe.
GRAZING :-
Man has used natural pastures for domesticated animals since the earliest times. Large areas are required for grazing animals whereas the number of people required to look after them is very small. Many kinds of animals : cattle, sheep, goats, horses. camels, yak, reindeer and the like, are reared for their meat, milk and wool or hair.
Nomadic herding: Nomadic herding is confined to sparsely populated parts of the world, mainly in Africa and Asia. The rainfall in these regions is low and seasonal, so that vegetation thrives at certain times of the year. This makes it necessary to drive the animals from pasture to pasture (e.g. Tuareg's of Sahara, the Fulani of West African Savannas, the Masai of East Africa, the Bantu and Hottentots in Southern Africa).
Improved farming techniques, including irrigation facilities, have reduced the areas for nomadic herding, for example, in large areas of the grasslands of Central Asia, nomadism is being displaced by state farming,system.
Commercial Grazing: Commercial grazing'from nomadic herding in many respects. There is no migration from one pasture to another. The ranchers live in permanent farms (or ranches or "estancias") from which they can reach all parts of their ranches.
The estates or ranches are very large, some covering as much as 10,000 or more sq km and are run on most modem and scientific lines. This kind. of grazing occurs in the drier lands and where population density is very low. The largest of these areas are in North America, southern parts of South America, Australia, southern parts of South Africa and the Steppe region of the Soviet Union.