what is subsistence farming?
Hello Alena Ann,
I hope that my answer can be of some help to you..
A self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families only is termed as Subsistence agriculture.
These farming includes a range of crops and animals needed by the family to feed and clothe themselves during the year.
Subsistence agriculture is of three types:
(I) Shifting agriculture: In this type of agriculture, a patch of forest land is cleared by a combination of felling and burning, and crops are grown. After 2-3 years the fertility of the soil begins to decline, the land is abandoned and the farmer moves to clear a fresh piece of land elsewhere in the forest as the process continues. While the land is left fallow the forest regrows in the cleared area and soil fertility and biomass is restored. After a decade or more, the farmer may return to the first piece of land.
(II) Nomadic herding: In this type of farming people migrate along with their animals from one place to another in search of fodder for their animals. Generally they rear cattle, sheep, goats, camels and/or yaks for milk, skin, meat and wool.
(III) Intensive subsistence farming: In very densely populated countries like India and China, farmers use their small land holdings to produce enough for their own consumption, while remaining produce is used for exchange against other goods, this kind of farming is said to be Intensive subsistence farming. :)
I hope that my answer can be of some help to you..
A self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families only is termed as Subsistence agriculture.
These farming includes a range of crops and animals needed by the family to feed and clothe themselves during the year.
Subsistence agriculture is of three types:
(I) Shifting agriculture: In this type of agriculture, a patch of forest land is cleared by a combination of felling and burning, and crops are grown. After 2-3 years the fertility of the soil begins to decline, the land is abandoned and the farmer moves to clear a fresh piece of land elsewhere in the forest as the process continues. While the land is left fallow the forest regrows in the cleared area and soil fertility and biomass is restored. After a decade or more, the farmer may return to the first piece of land.
(II) Nomadic herding: In this type of farming people migrate along with their animals from one place to another in search of fodder for their animals. Generally they rear cattle, sheep, goats, camels and/or yaks for milk, skin, meat and wool.
(III) Intensive subsistence farming: In very densely populated countries like India and China, farmers use their small land holdings to produce enough for their own consumption, while remaining produce is used for exchange against other goods, this kind of farming is said to be Intensive subsistence farming. :)