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 of the following is NOT applicable to plantation agriculture?

Multiple cropping

The correct answer is Option (4) → Multiple cropping

1. Scientific method of cultivation: Plantation agriculture often involves the use of advanced and scientific methods of cultivation to maximize the yield and quality of specific cash crops, such as tea, coffee, rubber, or sugarcane.

2. Large capital investment: Plantation agriculture requires significant capital investment due to the establishment and maintenance of large estates or plantations, purchase of machinery, infrastructure development, and managerial expertise.

3. Requirement of cheap labor: Plantation agriculture typically relies on a labor-intensive workforce. While the labor is essential, it is often employed at low wages, making it cost-effective for plantation owners.

4. Single crop specialization: Plantation agriculture usually focuses on the cultivation of a single crop, often a cash crop that can be economically valuable in national or international markets.

Multiple cropping, on the other hand, involves the cultivation of two or more different crops in the same field during a single growing season. So, option 4 is NOT correct.