b)
Relief/ Topography
- this is the height and shape of the land. Altitude affects temperature and rainfall. Snow also forms on
high altitude. The growing seasons shorten with increase in altitude due to lower temperatures and
snow periods while low land areas are warmer but drier hence influences the types of crops to be grown
and animals to be reared. Steep slopes are difficult to work on so terracing has to be first done. A steep
slope also has thin soils due to rapid runoff which causes erosion while a gentle slope has deeper soils,
less runoff and erosion and are easier to work on.
c) Aspect
-it is the direction the slope faces. Slopes facing the direction of the sun are warmer hence support the
growth of crops and animals than those facing away than those facing away. Windward slopes are
wetter than leeward slopes hence more suitable for the growth of plants and animals while leeward
slopes are drier hence limited cattle ranching or irrigation farming or growing of drought tolerant crops.
d) Soil
- deep fertile soils are suitable for deep rooted like sweet potatoes, carrots crops while shallow soils are
for shallow rooted crops like leeks, garlic, onions. Thin infertile soils are not productive since they cause
retarded growth.
e) Pests and diseases
- these destroy life or cause stunted growth. For example tsetse flies cause nagana in cattle, army
worms eat green leaves of plants. Diseases like foot and mouth or anthrax weaken and kill animals.
HUMAN/ SOCIAL FACTORS
a) Labour
- labour can be skilled, semi- skilled or unskilled. All the different classes of farm workers are needed to
carry out all the necessary tasks on the farm. Some farms are labour intensive that is they need large
labour force for the jobs that cannot be done by machines e.g market gardening.
b) Knowledge/ knowhow
- farmers need farming knowledge for productive farming.
c) Land tenure system
- this refers to the system of land ownership in an area or country. For instance, nomadic pastoralism
and shifting cultivation are commonly practiced in communally owned lands while perennial cash crops
like tea, coffee of sugarcane cannot be grown on leased land.
d) Religious beliefs
- religions like the Hindus do not commercially rear cattle because to them they are sacred while Islam
do not rear pigs since they consider pigs forbidden hence do not eat pork.
ECONOMIC FACTORS
** these factors depend on how much money the farmer avails for the purchase or to do certain
activities on the farm
a) Supply and Demand
- if there is a shortage of a certain crop, demand increases and the farmer gets more profit as price rises
quickly due to ready market. Hence when prices are favorable farmers may expand acreage under
production and if unfavorable may reduce or quit certain farming activities.
b) Capital
- it is needed by the farmer for purchasing the land, erecting farm buildings, buying farm machinery,
certified seeds/ hybrid seeds, fertilizers etc. Amount of capital available will determine size of land being
utilised or types of crops to be grown or animals to be reared by a farmer.
c) Government policy/ Political influence
- Government may promote production by offering subsidies or incentives for the production of cash or
food crops such as n France or the USA. The government may also impose quota system to reduce
overproduction of certain crops or animals as well as to preserve the environment against the harm
caused by farming activities.
FARMING TYPES
-farming can be classified according to:
a) specialization = where farming can either be arable or pastoral or a combination of the two and is
termed mixed farming. Mixed farming is the growing of crops and rearing of animals on the same farm.
Arable farming is the growing of crops. Pastoral farming is the rearing of animals.
b) economic status = where farming can be commercial or subsistence.
c) intensity = this looks at the utilization of the land which can be intensive or extensive. Intensive
farming is the full utilization of a small land by putting high inputs and getting high outputs eg dairy
farming and market gardening while extensive farming is whereby a farm is big but is not fully utilised
because the farmer puts low inputs and produces low outputs per unit area eg cattle ranching.
COMMERCIAL FARMING SYSTEMS
1) PLANTATION FARMING
-is an example of commercial arable farming. This is a large scale farming type whereby a specialized
crop is mainly grown. Cash crops like rubber, coffee, tea, cocoa, sugarcane, palm oil and tobacco are
grown mainly for export market. This farming system results in monoculture. Monoculture is the
growing of the same type of crop on the same piece of land year after year. Such farms need a lot of
capital injection, are mechanized and scientifically managed to increase production. Most of these farms
in LEDCs are owned by foreign companies or the government due to large capital investment needed.
Plantations help out growers (local farmers) to grow and produce the same crop them. Out growers
benefit farm machinery, knowledge, infrastructure and market from the plantation. Most plantations
are self-sustained with most infrastructural facilities like workers’ houses, recreational facilities, clinics,
schools, and factories.
ADVANTAGES OF PLANTATIONS
-creates employment
- provide raw materials to agro processing industries
-alleviate poverty by providing local farmers with knowledge, technology and market
- ensures food security by providing food for the local people
-they promote infrastructure development in an area hence improving living standards.
- increases government revenue through tax.
- utilizes vast land which could have been left lying idle.
DISADVANTAGES OF PLANTATIONs
-their monocultural tendencies cause severe soil erosion and exhaustion of soil nutrients
-they occupy vast lands while some local people may be landless or have very small pieces of land
-since most of the plantations are foreign owned they repatriate most of the profits to their countries of
origin
- by specializing in a certain crop(s), it promotes the spread of pests and diseases
- high use of pesticides, fertilizers of herbicides pollutes the environment.
CASE STUDY: PLANTATION AGRICULTURE IN SARAWAK, MALAYSIA (pg 158- 160)
Commercial plantation agriculture has long been a feature of the Malaysian landscape. The first Britishowned plantations were based on coffee and later on rubber. The British government provided the
money and set up the original plantations and built railway lines and ports to export the crop around the
world. The Malaysian government now runs all the major plantations and has made significant changes
since there is now more of palm oil growing with the region of Sarawak exporting around 10 % of
Malaysia’s total. The high temperature and plentiful rainfall is well suitable for palm oil. Much of the
land being used for palm oil production was once covered with rare peat swamp forests causing
environmentalist to be concerned that all the original forests will be destroyed. However, the palm oil is
bringing in lots of money for Malaysia’s economy. Most of it is exported through the main ports of
Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.
INPUTS TO MALAYSIA’S PALM OIL PLANTATION
-a hot-wet climate
-large amounts of fairly flat land to easily use machines to spray pesticides and the fertilizers to keep the
soil fertile
-machinery including mechanized harvesters
-large amounts of money to clear the forest, put irrigation system, for infrastructure development like
schools, houses, and hospitals for employees
-a local workforce of around 491 000 palm oil workers, who work for long hours but paid lowly that is
around US$225/ month
-transport facilities like roads, railways and ports to help exports
-increased demand for palm oil as it used in a wide range of foodstuffs, as an edible oil, to make soap,
cosmetics or paint as well as a source of fuel (biofuels).
2) DAIRY FARMING
-it is an example of commercial livestock farming. Dairy farming / Dairying is the keeping of cows for milk
and milk products such as cheese, yoghurt, ice cream. Ayrshire, Friesian and Jersey are examples of
breeds kept by dairy farmers.
- dairy farms are intensive in nature and labour intensive since a lot of workers are needed to feed and
milk the cows although due to modern developments milking is now mainly done by milking machines.
Most dairy farms are located close to large urban areas where there is ready market since milk is
perishable and close to the road to easily transport the milk while still fresh. However, nowadays dairy
farms can be located anywhere due to the introduction of faster modes of transport, cold rooms and
refridgerated trucks. This farming system is common in cool wet areas since dairy cows are sensitive to
heat and such areas have rich pasture for the cows. Supplementary feeds like molasses and cattle cake
are also used to increase milk yield.
SUBSISTENCE FARMING SYSTEMS
1) Shifting Cultivation
-in northern Zambia, Amazon and Congo rainforests some tribes carry out shifting cultivation. A central
village is built and crops are grown in nearby cleared fields. This farming system is also known as slash
and burn. It involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodlands to create fields, crops are
grown for about 3- 5 years and are abandoned when yield start to decrease and a new area is cleared
for cultivation. Food crops like cassava, yams, millet, sweet potatoes and other fruits are grown. Very
few inputs are needed apart from the natural environment and large areas of land. Farmers usually use
seeds from previous harvest. The cleared vegetation is allowed to dry and is then burnt to produce ash
which is spread in the field to improve soil fertility. Farmers use rudimentary tools like digging sticks,
axes, machetes, sickles etc. Farmers do intercropping to reduce over reliance on one crop for food.
Manual family labour is mainly used and homes are temporary since farmers are ever moving.
ADVANTAGES OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION
-burning destroys the life cycle of pests and diseases
-by leaving the land fallow it allows the soil to naturally regain soil fertility
-intercropping assures the farmer of a harvest and protects the soil against erosion
-is a cheaper method of farming since mostly simple tools or ash are used.
DISADVANTAGES OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION
-causes deforestation which increases soil erosion
-burning pollutes the air and destroys micro organisms
-only practical in sparsely populated areas
- there is a lot of labour clearing the forest, burning and spreading the ash
-land is wasted by abandoning it when yield starts to decrease.
2) Sedentary Subsistence Farming.
-Sedentary means settled hence this is a farming system whereby farmers are permanently settled in
one place. They have permanent fields with known boundaries and permanent homes. It is done in
many rural areas of Africa, Central America and S.E Asia. Farmers allow the land to regain natural
fertility by leaving some field fallow for a certain period of time (fallow) and also do crop rotation.
3) Intensive Subsistence Farming
-the most widespread form of subsistence farming is intensive rice cultivation. Rice is very high yielding
and grows so fast that up to three crops can be harvested each year. It also has high nutritional value
and is the main food crop for much of the population of S and SE Asia. Wet rice is grown on the fertile
soils of the floodplains and dry rice is grown on terraced fields cut into the valley sided of the rivers.
Despite this, there is little surplus because of large number of people the rice has to support eg almost 3
billion people in China and India. This farming involves maximum utilization of small land sizes, yield per
area per farmer is very high. It is commonly carried out in areas with high population pressure like China,
Sri-Lanka, Pakistan etc. Plots are very small due to several years of fragmentation. Most of the work is
done by hand or use simple tools like hoes, ploughs etc.
CASE STUDY: Rice Farming In Bangladesh
-this country has one of highest population densities in the world and about half of its 161million people
work in agriculture, with rice being by far the most important crop.
Inputs Of The Rice Farming System
-climate with plenty of rain and high temperatures ideal for plants to grow all year round
-fertile soils from the silt deposited by the flooding river Ganges
-large population giving a high labour input for building and maintaining fields and irrigation channels,
planting weeding, harvesting etc
-small farms which continue to be fragmented as land is handed down to the next generation. Farm size
has been reduced to around 0.61 hectares over the last 50 years.
-little capital available for machinery hence much of the work is done by hand.
Outputs
-rice is the major output although farmers may from vegetables on small their small plots, pick fruits
from trees surrounding their villages. Fish is another output since they have been encouraged to do fish
farming on flooded padi fields.
Challenges facing rice farmer
-natural disasters like flood which wipes out crops
-unstable world rice prices
*****despite the above challenges, production has continued to rise due to hard work by rural people.
There has also been considerable government investment in new irrigation schemes to enhance all year
round rice growing in drier areas of the country with 80% of the irrigation water being pumped from
ground water stores.
FOOD SHORTAGES
-from a total world population of over 7,5 billion, about 800 million in the LICs do not get enough food
to eat and face hunger. The problem is mainly concentrated in the African countries and parts of South
America and Asia. Natural and human factors are the chief causes of food shortages.
Natural Causes
-drought and unreliable rainfall such as in Kenya, Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia
-tropical storms
-floods
-pests and diseases
-natural disasters like earthquakes affect food distribution by destroying or damaging roads or other
transport links
-outbreaks of diseases like cholera, malaria and HIV/AIDS make farmers too weak to work on farms
Human Causes
-soil erosion and loss of soil fertility= caused by deforestation, over cultivation or overgrazing
-civil wars eg in Sudan and Sierra Leone
-overpopulation
-poverty
-fluctuating global food prices
Impacts Of Food Shortages
-hunger and starvation
-people suffer from malnutritional diseases like kwashiorkor, marasmus, rickets and scurvy
-increase in death rate
-reduced productivity as people will be too weak to work
-loss of family income.
-civil wars eg in Sudan.
Solutions To Food Shortages
a) Green Revolution- it is research and development and use of new technologies between 1930s and
the late 1960s, which increased agricultural production worldwide. It resulted from the development of
High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of five world’s major cereal crops ie rice, wheat, maize, sorghum and
millet. These new hybrid varieties except for rice were resistant to drought, higher yielding often by two
to four times than the traditional varieties and had shorter growing season allowing more crops to be
grown in a year in some areas.
- The latest technological advances have been in GENETICALLY MODIFIED crops GM crops. This is
whereby the genes of crops are altered scientifically to enable them to withstand pests and disease and
to help them stand drought or saline conditions common in some LEDCs.
Benefits Of Green Revolution
-food production increased, so more people can be fed
-higher yields means lower prices, so people can afford more food
-crops are more resistant diseases, so harvests are more reliable
-crops grow faster. So more harvests can be gathered each year
-farmers are better off and can now afford agro- chemicals and farm machinery and can employ locals
- business expansion in sectors related to farming
Problems Of Green Revolution
-the poor have become poorer because it is not every farmer who could afford the machinery and new
crop varieties
-the poor who failed to compete have sold their land and moved to the city
-some of the farmers have borrowed money to pay for crops and are now in debt
-mechanisation has caused rural unemployment
-chemicals have polluted the environment
-irrigation has caused over abstraction of water
-some of the varieties of rice are not palatable.
2) Blue Revolution -is whereby communities have been encouraged to breed fish especially in
mangrove swamps, padi fields, lakes and near the coast in order to provide more protein
3) food aid
4) Food for Work Programme
5) improved food storage
6) irrigation farming.
7) urban farming