Describe in detail any four types of farming. Give exaample
Answers
Answer:
The different types of farming systems are practiced as a matter of necessity. Major factors that influence to follow different farming systems are the availability of labor, capital, water, land, climate, and landscape.
Irrigation Farming
Irrigation Farming system is done in the places where the irrigation system is set up. Most of the farming is done using water from rivers, reservoirs, wells.
But now the water scarcity is more, so people are using drip irrigation to reduce the overuse of water. Even though this setup is good, it’s expensive for small-scale farmers to set up. The government is providing subsidies to reduce the costs. Places where water is too scarce, rain is the only option for irrigation.
Water is very critical for plant growth. Older Irrigation systems are not the right choice going forward. If we need to mimic nature, we should start increasing humus content in the soil. Humus will retain water for longer periods and also absorbs moisture from the atmosphere.
Shifting Farming
Shifting Farming was greatly followed by the nomadic tribe. Farming where part of the forest is cleared out to make a plot of land. Go ahead with cultivation for a few years until the crop yield declines.
The crop yield declines due to the same crop being rotated or any pest infestation. Once the yield is declined, the land is deserted and moved to a new patch of land. The tribe will return back to old land maybe after a few years, once the land is again grown like a forest. A similar process is followed.
The shifting Farming system is stopped long back due to its adverse effects. The decline of the forest region is a major drawback, and also native animal species have vanished.
Plantation Farming
Plantation Farming is the cultivation of single commercial crops on a large scale. This requires a lot of machinery, more investment in chemical fertilizers/pesticides. Since this being mono-crop farming system pest infestation will be on at large scale, so a lot of pesticides to be used.
Some of the plantations are coffee, tea, Coconut, palm. The estates will be huge sometime 1000 acres of lands are cleared to do plantation. In India, during British rule, lots of forests on the hill slopes are cleared to create coffee and tea plantation estate. Most of these farms have their own processing units in them. Even the labors stay inside the estate. The estate will be mini-village, with all the amenities to the workers.
Terrace farming
Terrace farming systems can be seen mostly in the Philippines. The rice terraces of the Philippines is a world heritage site. Terrace farming consists of different steps that are done on the slopes of hills.
Terrace creation is done to prevent soil erosion in the hill slopes also conserves nutrients in the soil. Hillside farming is a risk as it may get washed away due to heavy rains. The terrace will act like breaks for the rainwater.