Read the given passage carefully and answer following questions:

Agriculture is practised under multiple combinations of physical and socioeconomic conditions, which gives rise to different types of agricultural system.

Based on methods of farming, different types of crops are grown and livestock raised. Subsistence agriculture is one in which the farming areas consume all, or nearly so, of the products locally grown. It can be grouped it two categories - Primitive Subsistence Agriculture and Intensive Subsistence Agriculture. Primitive subsistence agriculture or shifting cultivation is widely practised by many tribes in the tropics, especially in Africa, south and central America and South east Asia. The vegetation is usually cleared by fire and the ashes add to the fertility of the soil. Shifting cultivation is thus, also called slash and burn agriculture. The cultivated patches are very small and cultivation is done with very primitive tools such as sticks and hoes. After sometime (3 to 5 years) the soil looses its fertility and the farmer shifts to another parts and clears other patch of the forest for cultivation. The farmer may return to the earlier patch after sometime. One of the major problems of shifting cultivation is that the cycle of jhum becomes less and less due to loss of fertility in different parcels. It is prevalent in tropical region in different names i.e Jhuming in North eastern states of India, Milpa in Central America and Mexico and Ladang in Indonesia and Malaysia. Plantation agriculture was introduced by the Europeans in colonies situated in the tropics. Some of the important plantation crops are tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber, cotton, oil palm, sugarcane, bananas and pineapples.

The characteristic features of this type of farming are large estates or plantations, large capital investment, managerial and technical support, scientific methods and technical support, scientific methods of cultivation, single crop specialisation, cheap labour, and a good system of transportation which links the estates to the factories and markets for the export of the products.

Which one of the following is NOT a characteristic of Slash and Burn agriculture?

Large areal coverage

The correct answer is Option (1) → Large areal coverage

1. Large areal coverage: Slash and Burn agriculture typically involves small-scale, localized cultivation where small patches of land are cleared, burned, and cultivated. It is not known for large areal coverage; in fact, it often relies on rotating between small plots of land to allow them to naturally regenerate. Hence, this statement is incorrect.

2. Use primitive tools: Slash and Burn agriculture is associated with the use of basic and traditional farming tools, such as machetes, sticks, hoes, and similar simple implements.

3. Produce consumed locally: The primary purpose of Slash and Burn agriculture is to meet the subsistence needs of the local farming community. Therefore, the produce grown through this method is typically consumed locally.

4. Parcel of cultivated land changes after some years: In Slash and Burn agriculture, a key feature is the rotation of cultivated land parcels. After a few years (usually 3 to 5 years), the cultivated land's fertility diminishes due to nutrient depletion. As a result, the farmer abandons that plot and moves to a new section of the forest or vegetation to clear and cultivate. This rotation is essential to allow the previously used land to naturally regenerate.

So, option 1 is not a characteristic of Slash and Burn agriculture.