Identify from the following, the correct statements with reference to the characteristics of intensive subsistence agriculture dominated by wet paddy cultivation.
(A) Land holdings are very small due to the high density of population.
(B) Farmers work with the help of family labour leading to intensive use of land.
(C) Farm yard manure is used to maintain the fertility of the soil.
(D) The yield per unit area is low, but productivity per labour is high.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → (A), (B) and (C) only
Intensive subsistence agriculture is farming in crowded parts of monsoon Asia, where a family grows food mainly for its own use. Where wet paddy (rice) is the main crop, many people share very little land, so each small field is worked very hard by hand.
(A) Land holdings are very small due to the high density of population. — Correct. Too many people live on too little land. When land is divided among so many families, each family gets only a small plot.
(B) Farmers work with the help of family labour leading to intensive use of land. — Correct. Machines are few, so the whole family works on the field. Every bit of the small plot is used again and again. This is what “intensive” means.
(C) Farm yard manure is used to maintain the fertility of the soil. — Correct. The same land is farmed year after year. Farmers keep it fertile with farm yard manure, which they make from their own animals and farm waste.
(D) The yield per unit area is low, but productivity per labour is high. — Incorrect. It is the other way round. So much hand labour goes into each small field that the yield per unit area is high. But many people share the work of one field, so each worker produces little: productivity per labour is low. NTA swapped “high” and “low”, and a true line became false. Read every word before you mark.
NCERT (2026-27): “Intensive Subsistence Agriculture … (i) Intensive subsistence agriculture dominated by wet paddy cultivation: This type of agriculture is characterised by dominance of the rice crop. Land holdings are very small due to the high density of population. Farmers work with the help of family labour leading to intensive use of land. Use of machinery is limited and most of the agricultural operations are done by manual labour. Farm yard manure is used to maintain the fertility of the soil. In this type of agriculture, the yield per unit area is high but per labour productivity is low.” |