Which one of the following is the example of subsistence farming?

🔑 Key Points
Subsistence agriculture/farming:
→ It is when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families only with little or no surplus production.
→ Shifting cultivation is an agricultural practice in which a piece of land (forest or abandoned) is cleared for agricultural purposes and once the land becomes inadequate/infertile for crop production, it is abandoned to be reclaimed by natural vegetation. Hence, Option 1 is correct.
→ Shifting cultivation is practiced in the thickly forested areas of the Amazon basin, tropical Africa, parts of Southeast Asia, and Northeast India.
→ These are the areas of heavy rainfall and quick regeneration of vegetation.
→ A plot of land is cleared by felling the trees and burning them.
→ The ashes are then mixed with the soil and crops like maize, yam, potatoes, and cassava are grown.
→ After the soil loses its fertility, the land is abandoned and the cultivator moves to a new plot. Shifting cultivation is also known as ‘slash and burn agriculture.
→ Subsistence farming is self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers grow enough food to feed themselves and their families.
→ It is mostly practiced in developing countries.
→ Shifting cultivation is a type/example of subsistence farming in which the farmers clear a patch of forest land by cutting and burning trees and then crops are grown.
→ This type of farming is practiced to meet the needs of the farmer’s family. Traditionally, low levels of technology and household labor are used to produce small output.
→ Subsistence farming can be further classified as intensive subsistence and primitive subsistence farming.

🛑 Additional Information
→ Extensive and intensive farming:
🌱 Intensive subsistence agriculture – The farmer cultivates a small plot of land using simple tools and more labor.
🌱 Climate with a large number of days with sunshine and fertile soils permit the growing of more than one crop annually on the same plot.
🌱 Rice is the main crop. Other crops include wheat, maize, pulses, and oilseeds.
🌱 Intensive subsistence agriculture is prevalent in the thickly populated areas of the monsoon regions of the south, southeast, and east Asia.
🌱 Primitive subsistence agriculture – Includes shifting cultivation and nomadic herding.

→ Commercial Farming:
🌾 In commercial farming, crops are grown and animals are reared for sale in the market.
🌾 The area cultivated and the amount of capital used are large.
🌾 Most of the work is done by machines. Commercial farming includes commercial grain farming, mixed farming, and plantation agriculture.
🌾 In commercial grain farming, crops are grown for commercial purposes. Wheat and maize are common commercially grown grains.
🌾 Major areas where commercial grain farming is practiced are temperate grasslands of North America, Europe, and Asia.
🌾 These areas are sparsely populated with large farms spreading over hundreds of hectares.
🌾 Severe winters restrict the growing season and only a single crop can be grown.
🌾 In mixed farming, the land is used for growing food and fodder crops and rearing livestock.
🌾 It is practiced in Europe, the eastern USA, Argentina, southeast Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

→ Organic farming:
🌱 It is an agricultural system that originated early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly changing farming practices.
🌱 Certified organic agriculture accounts for 70 million hectares globally, with over half of that total in Australia.