Primitive subsistence farming
Topic: Land Use, Farming Systems and Cropping Seasons in India · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 4 "Agriculture"
Meaning
Primitive subsistence farming is the oldest and simplest type of farming in India. Farmers work small patches of land with simple tools such as the hoe, the dao (a broad knife) and digging sticks. The family or the whole community does the work. "Subsistence" means the crop is grown mainly to feed the family, not to sell.
This type of farming depends on the monsoon and on the natural fertility of the soil. Farmers use no fertilisers or other modern inputs, so yields are low. Its main form is shifting cultivation, also called "slash and burn". Farmers clear and burn a forest patch and grow crops there until the soil wears out. Then they move to a fresh patch and leave the old one for nature to restore.
Example
At Rinjha, near Diphu in Assam, hill farmers carry spring water to their fields through bamboo canals. Jhumming in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland is the best-known Indian form. Its cycle has shrunk from 15-20 years to 3-5 years, which now causes erosion, landslides and loss of forest.
Don't confuse with
- Intensive subsistence farming: this also feeds the family, but it uses a lot of labour, heavy inputs and irrigation on crowded land such as the Ganga plain.