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Chapter 18 - Livelihoods of Rural Peoples

CHAPTER INTRODUCTION

All humans engage in some form of activity to provide food, clothing, shelter and the other amenities of life, but the varied activities of today owe their success to decisions of the past. The development of agri­culture may well be the single most important development in human history. Its success supported both rural and urban populations. With the combination of agriculture and technology lies the ability to provide food and security for all humanity. How, and if, this challenge is met will determine the future of our species.

Economic Activity

Economic activities range from simple to complex, from ancient to modem. One way to classic, these activities is to distinguish among different types of activities. For many years three basic types of economic activities were recognized: primary, the extractive sector, secondary, the production or manufacturing sector, and tertiary, the service sector. Rural life has long been dominated by primary economic activities, hunting and gather­ing (ancient means of survival), farming of all kinds, livestock herding, fishing, forestry and lumbering. Here workers and the natural environment come into direct contact and the environment sometimes suffers.

Agriculture

The deliberate tending of crops and livestock in order t9 produce food and fiber is properly called agri­culture, an activity that may be less than 12,000 years old and emerged sequentially in several regions of the world. When humans embraced agriculture they changed the world and human culture forever. Food supplies became more dependable and quantities increased. This in turn led to population increases and, eventually, permanent settlements. Agriculture changes more of the Earth’s surface than any other human activity and thus a cultural landscape that is reflective of the numbers, cultivation practices, settlement patterns, and other cultural characteristics of the population. It is the reason why huge numbers of humans can successfully occupy Earth today.

Revolutions

Agriculture actually developed in several stages, referred to as revolutions because of the changes in the way it was practiced. The First Agricultural Revolution achieved plant domestication, a gradual process that was global, often including duplicate domestication of certain plants in different parts of the world, and extending over a period of several thousand years. Humans learned about such things as plant selection, primitive methods of cultivation, and irrigation. Early agriculture was undoubtedly combined with gathering and some hunting as well as animal domestication.

The Second Agricultural Revolution, beginning in the latter part of the so-called Middle Ages, in­volved improved methods of cultivation, production, and storage. Exact points of origin are unknown but it seems certain that the process was gradual and centered in Europe. The hallmark of this revolution was improved production and organization. Without these changes, the Industrial Revolution would not have been possible and it in turn sustained the changes that were taking place in agriculture.

The Third Agriculture Revolution (still in progress and sometimes called the Green Revolution) is based on research and technology in plant genetics. It occurred at a time when the population explosion seemed to threaten the global food supply in the manner that Malthus had predicted two centuries earlier. The laboratory-developed new, higher yielding strains of grains and other crops seemed to suggest that the threat of global famine was a thing of the past. However, the race between population growth and food production is not over, and it remains to be seen whether or not the Third Agricultural Revolution can continue to overcome the challenge.

Survival

Subsistence agriculture, which produces little or no surplus and involves hundreds of millions of people in a struggle for survival, still prevails in large regions of tropical Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Here far­mers grow food only to survive. Very likely they do not even own the soil that they till. Some subsistence farmers may, in fact, practice shifting cultivation, a method of tillage where plots are farmed until the soil is depleted and then the farmers move on and clear a new field. As many as 200 million people still subsist in this manner in tropical regions of Africa, Middle America, and South America, using methods that have not changed in thousands of years.

Sedentary or shifting, subsistence farming is not only a way of life but a state of mind for those who practice it. Experience has taught these farmers and their families that times of comparative plenty will be followed by times of scarcity. It should also serve to remind us that the security of plentiful food supplies in the technically advanced, wealthier countries is not shared by many of the Earth’s population.

CHAPTER QUIZ

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1.            In which of the following economic sectors do we find the activity of farming:

a.              production

b.              marketing

c.              extractive

d.             service

2.               Farming started about ? years ago.

a.             8,000

b.            10,000

c.            12,000

d.            14,000

3.            The first tools used by humans in hunting were:

a.            made of stone

b.            simple clubs

c.            beaten into shape using copper

d.           more complex than we first realized

4.            Fishing probably started:

a.            before hunting

b.         200,000 years ago

c.            during the last ice age when men could fish through the ice

d.           when the water warmed and covered the continental shelves at the end of the last ice age

5.            The first agricultural methods probably involved the:

a.            the sowing of seeds

b.               planting of roots and cuttings

c.               transplanting whole plants

d.               importing of food plants from other regions

6.            Wild cattle may have first been domesticated for:

a.            use as draft animals

b.            their milk

c.               religious purposes

d.           their hides to build shelters

7.            The earliest animals to be domesticated in Africa were:

a.            guinea fowl

b.            cattle

c.               chickens

d.           goats

8.            Which of the following plays a big part in shifting cu!tivation.

a.               nomadic existence

b.            very fertile soil

c.            high population density

d.           control of fire

9.            The colonial powers introduce forced farming in their colonies to:

a.               improved the lifestyle and wealth of the farmers

b.            make profits for themselves

c.            help farmers diversify their crops

d.           help farmers hold their communities together

10.         Which of the following statements is 1121 true about the Second Agricultural Revolution.

a.            it allowed people to live in larger urban clusters

b.            it started quickly and spread rapidly

c.            tools and equipment were modified and improved

d.           more efficient food storage and distribution was created

TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS

1.            The United States has more farmers than most countries. (TF)

2.               Worldwide, people tend to eat more meat than vegetable products. (TF)

3.               Drought is the worst enemy of present-day hunting and gathering societies. (TF)

4.               Agriculture allowed people to have permanent settlements for the first time. (TF)

5.            The development of stone tools never became very important in helping early humankind progress. (TF)

6.            By using just fishing, hunting, and some gathering, various groups were able to establish some permanence in settlement. (TF)

7.               Agriculture first started in the Americas. (TF)

8.            It is now believed the Chinese may have been among the world’s first farmers. (TF)

9.            It is not possible to identify in which region any animal was first domesticated. (TF)

10.         In the strictest use of the word, subsistence farming means farmers who only grow enough food to supply themselves and their family. (TF)

STUDY QUESTIONS

1.            Discuss how hunting and gathering societies existed before agriculture. How did they live? What kind of tools did they devise and use? Why was the use of fire so important?

2.            How did fishing change the lives of our early ancestors? Was their live any better? What means did they use to catch fish?

3.            Using the text, identify the sources of the many domesticated plants. Does the source of food plants you recognize surprise you? How many can you recognize as being some­thing you have seen in your local grocery store?

4.            Read the section on animal domestication and diffusion. Why was this such an important develop­ment in human history? Why do you think chickens are kept by so many societies worldwide? Why do you think Africa is trying to domesticate more animals today?

5.            Discuss the ways colonial powers permanently changed farming practices when they colonized the different areas of the world.

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