Question

“There is high population pressure on the land in intensive subsistence farming.” Support the statement with appropriate arguments.

Hint:

Build the answer from the effects of too many people on too little land, the dividing of holdings by inheritance, the heavy use of labour and inputs, and the absence of any other source of income.

Answer 1

Concept:

• Intensive subsistence farming is practised in areas where a very large number of people depend on a small amount of cultivable land.
• Because the land cannot be increased, the pressure shows itself in the size of holdings, in the effort put into each field and in the output demanded from it.

Step 1: The number of people on the land is very high.
This type of farming is practised in areas of high population pressure on land. With so many families depending on farming and no other work available, the same small area has to feed far more people than it comfortably can.

Step 2: Holdings have become very small.
The right of inheritance divides the land among successive generations. A field split among sons, and then again among their sons, shrinks with every generation, and the size of land holding becomes uneconomical.

Step 3: Farming becomes labour intensive.
Since the plot is small, the farmer makes up for the shortage of land by putting in more labour. It is a labour intensive type of farming, where family members work on the field by hand rather than depending on machines.

Step 4: Heavy inputs are used to force up the yield.
High doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation are used to obtain higher production from the same piece of land. Fertilisers, better seeds and assured water are the only way to raise output when the area cannot be enlarged.

Step 5: The farmer has no alternative.
Even though the holding is too small to be profitable, the farmer continues to take the maximum output from the limited land, because there is no alternative source of livelihood. This dependence is the clearest proof of the pressure on land.

Final Answer: The statement is correct because a large population depends on a small area, inheritance keeps dividing holdings until they become uneconomical, farming turns labour intensive, heavy inputs are used to squeeze out more yield, and the farmer stays on the land for want of any other work.