Geography economics June notes:
Agriculture:
Pastoral farming: The raising of animals such as goats, sheep and
cattle.
Agriculture: Farming, the use of the land to grow crops and rear
animals.
Small-scale farming:
The land they farm might be as small as half a hectare
They grow flowers, strawberries, beans, chillies, and other vegetables-
all crops that can be harvested within 8-10 weeks.
Are often family-run businesses.
Advantages of small-scale farming:
1. Use less water
2. Plants grow more quickly
3. Plants are uniform size
4. Higher crop yields
5. Plants suffer less windburn and sunburn
6. Crops ripen earlier
7. Insects and diseases are more controlled
8. More than one crop per year
Disadvantages of small-scale farming:
Lack of government support
Output is usually too small to sell to supermarket chains
Need for expensive investments such as greenhouses, chemical feed
systems etc.
Large-scale farming:
They supply the country’s needs for beef, mutton and chicken.
Imports supply the rest.
Challenges faced by commercial farmers:
1. Production costs have increased
2. Government assistance and subsidies have been withdrawn
3. Some farmers are cutting back their production of low-value products
(milk, wheat) that can be imported cheaply to produce high value
products (flowers, wine, fruit)
Industrial development zones (IDZ’s)
IDZ’s are either ports or near airports.
Coega is the most successful IDZ.
Agriculture:
Pastoral farming: The raising of animals such as goats, sheep and
cattle.
Agriculture: Farming, the use of the land to grow crops and rear
animals.
Small-scale farming:
The land they farm might be as small as half a hectare
They grow flowers, strawberries, beans, chillies, and other vegetables-
all crops that can be harvested within 8-10 weeks.
Are often family-run businesses.
Advantages of small-scale farming:
1. Use less water
2. Plants grow more quickly
3. Plants are uniform size
4. Higher crop yields
5. Plants suffer less windburn and sunburn
6. Crops ripen earlier
7. Insects and diseases are more controlled
8. More than one crop per year
Disadvantages of small-scale farming:
Lack of government support
Output is usually too small to sell to supermarket chains
Need for expensive investments such as greenhouses, chemical feed
systems etc.
Large-scale farming:
They supply the country’s needs for beef, mutton and chicken.
Imports supply the rest.
Challenges faced by commercial farmers:
1. Production costs have increased
2. Government assistance and subsidies have been withdrawn
3. Some farmers are cutting back their production of low-value products
(milk, wheat) that can be imported cheaply to produce high value
products (flowers, wine, fruit)
Industrial development zones (IDZ’s)
IDZ’s are either ports or near airports.
Coega is the most successful IDZ.
