SUBSISTENCE AND COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE

1.) SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE: Subsistence agriculture is defined as the type of agriculture which is concerned with the production of food by a farmer to feed himself and his family.

2) COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE: Commercial agriculture is defined as the type of agriculture which is concerned with the production of food, rearing of animals and cash crops in large quantities for sale.

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SN	Subsistence Agriculture	Commercial Agriculture
1	A small areas of land is cultivated	A large area of land is cultivated and mechanized
2	Produce is mainly for family consumption	Produce is mainly for sale
3	Crude tools and implements are used	Complex and modern tools and implements are used
4	Family / manual labour is usually employed	Paid / skilled labour is usually employed
5	Yield or returns are low	Yield or returns are high
6	Pest and diseases are not controlled	Pest and diseases are usually controlled
7	Mostly practised by peasant farmers	Mostly practised by very rich farmers / companies

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ADVANTAGES OF SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE

1. Provision of basic needs of the family like food and clothing

2. Small plot of land can be used to cultivate such as the backyard garden.

3. Little or low capital is required to carry out subsistence farming.

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DISADVANTAGES OR PROBLEMS OF SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE

1. Family labour supply is unreliable because they are not paid for job done.

2. Crude tools are used such as cutlass, hoe and rake.

3. Fragmentation or small farmland is available because lands are owned communally and usually shared among family members regardless of whether they are interested in farming or not.

4. No surplus for sale to earn income. All produce are consumed by the family.

5. Pest and diseases are not controlled.

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ADVANTAGES OF COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE

1. It increases yield and economies of large production is enjoyed.

2. Specialization of labour is practiced because large area of farmland needs to be cultivated.

3. There is always encouragement of research work such as pest control and use of new seedlings.

4. Provision of cheap products because enough supplies are sent to the market for sale.

5. Provision of quality products. This is so because adequate investment are invested into the mechanized farming.

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PROBLEMS OR DISADVANTAGES OF COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE

1. Problem of acquisition of large hectares of farmland arising from the fact that lands are held communally as against when it is held by one individuals who can decide to dispose of it at anytime.

2. It is very expensive. Commercial farming is capital intensive because modern machineries like tractors are employed in cultivation.

3. Harvesting / marketing is tedious. Harvesting in a commercial farm is a dungeon task because a large portion of farmland is involved. So it is difficult to market such large quantity of output.

4. Problem of storage. In developing countries, there is absence of adequate storage facilities like cold room, silos etc to store the large quantity of output.

5. Outbreak of pests and diseases. It is difficult to control pests and diseases because science is relatively under developed in developing countries, therefore pests and diseases reduces farm produce.