Paper 2 · Development Geography
How do subsistence and commercial farming typically interact with each other within the same agricultural economy?
ASubsistence farmers sell any surplus produce into commercial markets, supplementing household consumption with cash income.
BSubsistence farmers are legally barred from selling any of their produce, keeping the two farming systems permanently separate.
CCommercial farms grow only crops that subsistence farmers never grow, so the two systems never compete for the same land.
DCommercial farming replaces subsistence farming completely within a few years of the two systems coming into contact.
Explanation: Subsistence and commercial farming interact where subsistence farmers sell any surplus produce into commercial markets, supplementing household consumption with additional cash income; the growth of commercial farming and associated infrastructure can also draw neighbouring subsistence farmers into more market-oriented production over time, gradually blurring the distinction between the two systems.
Derived from ZIMSEC Geography Paper 2, November 2003, Q8
