Commercial farming
Topic: Land Use, Farming Systems and Cropping Seasons in India · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 4 "Agriculture"
Meaning
Commercial farming is farming mainly to sell crops in the market, not to feed the farmer's own family. It uses large amounts of modern inputs, such as high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides, to get high output. How commercial a crop is depends on the region, not on the crop itself. Plantation farming is one type of commercial farming.
Example
Rice is a commercial crop in Punjab and Haryana, where most of it is grown for sale. In Odisha, rice is mostly a subsistence crop, eaten by the farmer's own household.
Don't confuse with
- Plantation farming: a type of commercial farming in which a single crop such as tea or coffee is grown over a large area. It needs large capital and migrant labour.
- Intensive subsistence farming: also uses heavy labour and inputs, but mainly to feed the family on a small holding.