write 5 minutes topic on plantation agriculture
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The term ‘plantation agriculture’ was originally applied specifically to the British settlements in America and then to any large estate in North America, West Indies and Southeast Asia which was cultivated mainly by Negro or other coloured labour, living on the estate under the control of the proprietors or managers. It represents the development of agricultural resources of tropical countries in accordance with the methods of secondary occupations or western industrialism.
It is a large scale enterprise in agriculture. Plantation involves the existence of a regular force under the control of a more or less elaborate management and frequently a considerable capital outlay, although some of the plantation crops, except tea and rubber are also grown in small holdings.
The plantation agriculture is practiced mainly in the tropical areas to grow cash crops. It is a specialized commercial cultivation of cash crops on estates or plantations. Some of the important plantation crops are rubber, oil-palm, cotton and copra, beverages like tea, coffee and cocoa, fruits like pineapple, banana, sugarcane, hemp and jute.
The farming in plantation is executed with specialized skill and, wherever, possible with the application of machinery, fertilizers, Weedicides, insecticides and pesticides. It aims at high yields, high quality production and a large output, most of which is exported.
The final products, whether sheet rubber, palm-oil or tea, have to be carefully processed and standardized to meet the world demand and specifications. The competition in such production is very keen. Large estates are; therefore, better able to meet these demands than individual, small holders and farmers.
In the tropics and subtropics where plantation agriculture is practiced, the use of white labour was known impossible during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for climatic and health reasons. All parts of the tropical climate are, however, not equally well suited to the development of plantation agriculture. Some areas have very heavy and continuous rainfall, others have very little precipitation.
The excessive amount of water in the soil alters various chemical and biological processes, limiting the amount of oxygen and increasing the formation compounds that are toxic to plant roots. On the other hand, drought and scanty rainfall results into withering of crops if moisture to the crop is not supplied artificially.
Again, temperature conditions are not always adapted to the growing of the desired products nor are they favourable for man. Further, climatic hazards, strong winds, topography, drainage, soil, vegetation conditions often handicap or may even prevent the development and establishment of plantation estates.
Accessibility and connectivity, availability of labour, difficulties of clearing vegetation, prevalence of disease and insects, pests, weeds, rapid deterioration of the tropical soil and soil erosion are some of the main problems of plantation agriculture. Owing to these physico-socioeconomic constraints plantations agriculture is confined in relatively narrow areas of the tropics along the sea coasts and in those tracts which are well served by roads, railways and navigable rivers.
The plantation farms are generally large and are found mainly in the thinly populated areas. The size of farm varies from 40 hectares in Malaya and India to 60000 hectares in Liberia. In these estates a large disciplined but unskilled labour force is necessary. Because plantations have usually been established in the sparsely populated areas, labour has to be imported and provided with housing, food, education, postal and medical facilities.
In the past slavery was a solution of the problem, and later indentured labourers, particularly Indians, went to sugarcane plantations in various parts of the British Empire. Indians also provided much of the labour to the rubber estates of Malaysia, tea gardens of Sri Lanka and the sugarcane farms of West Indies.
The technical and managerial staff has invariably been European on the plantations. Nearly all the plantation crops have to be processed before leaving the estate. There are a number of reasons for this processing. First, the yield of many crops decline quickly after harvesting; secondly, the processing gives a product of a higher value per unit weight that can be transported over long distances; and thirdly, many crops are perishable in their unprocessed forms.
The need for processing plantation crops differs from crop to crop but as a matter of fact the more complex the process the more likely the crop is to be produced on plantations rather than on small holdings. The annual crops are less suited for plantation than perennial trees, plants or bush crops.
It is a large scale enterprise in agriculture. Plantation involves the existence of a regular force under the control of a more or less elaborate management and frequently a considerable capital outlay, although some of the plantation crops, except tea and rubber are also grown in small holdings.
The plantation agriculture is practiced mainly in the tropical areas to grow cash crops. It is a specialized commercial cultivation of cash crops on estates or plantations. Some of the important plantation crops are rubber, oil-palm, cotton and copra, beverages like tea, coffee and cocoa, fruits like pineapple, banana, sugarcane, hemp and jute.
The farming in plantation is executed with specialized skill and, wherever, possible with the application of machinery, fertilizers, Weedicides, insecticides and pesticides. It aims at high yields, high quality production and a large output, most of which is exported.
The final products, whether sheet rubber, palm-oil or tea, have to be carefully processed and standardized to meet the world demand and specifications. The competition in such production is very keen. Large estates are; therefore, better able to meet these demands than individual, small holders and farmers.
In the tropics and subtropics where plantation agriculture is practiced, the use of white labour was known impossible during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for climatic and health reasons. All parts of the tropical climate are, however, not equally well suited to the development of plantation agriculture. Some areas have very heavy and continuous rainfall, others have very little precipitation.
The excessive amount of water in the soil alters various chemical and biological processes, limiting the amount of oxygen and increasing the formation compounds that are toxic to plant roots. On the other hand, drought and scanty rainfall results into withering of crops if moisture to the crop is not supplied artificially.
Again, temperature conditions are not always adapted to the growing of the desired products nor are they favourable for man. Further, climatic hazards, strong winds, topography, drainage, soil, vegetation conditions often handicap or may even prevent the development and establishment of plantation estates.
Accessibility and connectivity, availability of labour, difficulties of clearing vegetation, prevalence of disease and insects, pests, weeds, rapid deterioration of the tropical soil and soil erosion are some of the main problems of plantation agriculture. Owing to these physico-socioeconomic constraints plantations agriculture is confined in relatively narrow areas of the tropics along the sea coasts and in those tracts which are well served by roads, railways and navigable rivers.
The plantation farms are generally large and are found mainly in the thinly populated areas. The size of farm varies from 40 hectares in Malaya and India to 60000 hectares in Liberia. In these estates a large disciplined but unskilled labour force is necessary. Because plantations have usually been established in the sparsely populated areas, labour has to be imported and provided with housing, food, education, postal and medical facilities.
In the past slavery was a solution of the problem, and later indentured labourers, particularly Indians, went to sugarcane plantations in various parts of the British Empire. Indians also provided much of the labour to the rubber estates of Malaysia, tea gardens of Sri Lanka and the sugarcane farms of West Indies.
The technical and managerial staff has invariably been European on the plantations. Nearly all the plantation crops have to be processed before leaving the estate. There are a number of reasons for this processing. First, the yield of many crops decline quickly after harvesting; secondly, the processing gives a product of a higher value per unit weight that can be transported over long distances; and thirdly, many crops are perishable in their unprocessed forms.
The need for processing plantation crops differs from crop to crop but as a matter of fact the more complex the process the more likely the crop is to be produced on plantations rather than on small holdings. The annual crops are less suited for plantation than perennial trees, plants or bush crops.
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