Understanding Agrarian Activities and Their Impact
Agrarian Activities: These are activities that involve the production of animal or plant materials. They are classified into agriculture, livestock, and forestry.
Factors of Production: These are elements that facilitate the development of agricultural activities. There are two main groups:
- Physical Factors: Relief, ground, and climate.
- Human Factors: Technological and economic advances, population.
Production Systems: Agrarian activities use a range of crop, livestock, and forestry production systems. These vary according to water usage, as dry farming crops need less water than irrigated crops. The use of land can be extensive, involving large fields, or intensive, which requires significant economic investment and a large workforce but produces very high yields. Crop variety can be differentiated between polyculture, which involves growing different crops at the same time to satisfy the needs of the owners, and monoculture, which involves growing one or two crops using modern technology. The technology used can range from having animals to machines. The size of the farm can be a smallholding or a state farm.
Traditional Agriculture: This involves traditional production methods, requiring many workers and producing a low yield. Traditional agriculture represents a tiny percentage of global production. There are two groups:
- Subsistence Agriculture: Found in underdeveloped areas in tropical rainforests, producing very little or just enough to survive.
- Agriculture for Self-Consumption: This also aims to provide food but is more productive than subsistence agriculture and is a sedentary practice.
Modern Agriculture: This refers to farming that is highly technological or mechanized. It can be:
- Commercial: The destination of the products is national and international markets, and the production process is highly technological. It is also a highly productive process that uses chemical products.
- Ecological: This does not use chemical products and creates better quality products. This natural way of farming is becoming more popular.
Agricultural Production: This consists of cereals, coffee, tea, cocoa, vegetables, seeds, wine, tobacco, fruit, vegetable fibers, vegetable oils, and other agricultural products such as sesame.
Livestock: This refers to the breeding of animals to produce food. Traditional livestock ranges from family livestock to large herds used for extensive grazing or transhumant farming, moving herds from one location to another in search of new pasture land.
Modern Livestock: This is characterized by high production, the selection of appropriate breeds, and an industrial production system.
Forest Exploitation: This involves using forests to obtain wood, cork, resin, and firewood, as well as serving as grazing and hunting areas and harvesting types of wild fruit. Forestry refers to the conservation and use of forests and is a very ancient activity. Conifers (pine and fir) are the most common forestry species, followed by hardwood. Some tropical species reach a high market value and are known as precious woods (ebony, teak, mahogany, cedar), which are used to make furniture and carvings. Another product is natural rubber, originally from Brazil, which is now planted in South Asia.