Currently, the activities carried out in the rural area are no longer necessarily livestock and agriculture, some activities have changed the configuration of economic production relations in the countryside. In the rural area, some types of establishments have grown, such as: farm hotels, spas, rest clinics, fishing clubs, ecotourism etc.
Agrosystems
Consolidate in the types of cultivation or creation that will be produced the species of plants and/or breeds of animals, as well as the techniques involved in agricultural or livestock production, in addition to analyzing the size of rural properties and the technological level.
Classification of Agrosystems
Rural properties are classified according to the technological level applied to livestock and agriculture, thus the Agrosystems can be:
Traditional Livestock: Cattle breeding without concern for genetics, animal health, pasture quality, the animals are raised free in large areas without receiving greater care and with low productivity.
Modern Livestock
traditional agriculture: It is the cultivation of a particular crop without the use of pesticides, the seeds are not selected, there is no soil correction, the techniques practiced are rudimentary, such as an animal-drawn plow, with low production due to the lack of modernization.
modern agriculture: It is intensive cultivation, that is, high productivity on less cultivated land, this is because production is structured on the most modern techniques and machines. In this type of production, soil correction is carried out first, the weather forecasts are observed to carry out the planting, the seeds are selected, immune to pests and they are also adapted to the climate, application of fertilizers, in addition to monitoring by an agronomist, the planting and harvesting work is carried out by modern tractors and harvesters, ensuring high productivity.
Agrosystems are also analyzed based on the size of rural properties, which can be: latifundium (large rural properties with more than 200 hectares), small farms (they are small and medium properties rural areas).
Plantations
They are large monoculture rural properties, that is, they cultivate a single crop with production destined for export. The plantations are heritages from the colonial period of several countries in the Americas, Africa and Asia, as in the colonial period they were responsible for the production of tropical products that were highly appreciated in Europe. On the plantations the labor was slave, exploiting blacks brought from Africa.
Itinerant Agriculture
This type of agriculture consists of planting swiddens, where the cultivated area is burned or the vegetation is removed, the means of production are rudimentary, the soils are generally poor; when the cultivated area runs out, another area is sought.
The production of shifting agriculture is aimed at supplying the local market, but the main intention is subsistence.
Gardening Agriculture
Mainly practiced in rice cultivation (rice planting), this practice has occurred for several centuries in Asia.
The cultivated areas are small farms and the work is manual and very meticulous (hence the name gardening), the production is commercialized with the population.
nomadic herding
It consists of the extensive production of livestock, the animals are taken to walk along paths in search of air that offers water and pastures, this movement is constant. The production, usually very low, is intended for the maintenance of families (subsistence) and the rest is sold on the market.
green revolution
The Green Revolution was a technological evolution that took place in rural areas from the 60s onwards, made possible by the technological increase that favored large-scale production. The primary intention in increasing the food supply was to fight hunger, it was thought that if food production offered a large surplus, it would be possible to alleviate the problem of hunger.
The Green Revolution consisted of developing biotechnology to generate a greater variety of cereals, during this period also began the use of fertilizers for a better yield of the vegetable.
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The Green Revolution failed to eliminate the hunger problem, despite having lessened the problem in Asian countries.
The total elimination of hunger through just the increase in the food supply is impossible, because what is the use of having an offer and ample stock, if most hungry people have a very low income, moreover the food is sold, not offered free.
The Green Revolution favored an increase in production, but on the other hand it caused an acceleration of land inequality, the large rural properties had the financial resources to to modernize and keep up with new techniques and technologies, small properties were already excluded from the modernization process, due to the lack of financial support and technician.
Expropriation often occurs with these small owners, the producer finds himself in debt, so to remedy his debts is forced to sell their property, sometimes it is the landowners who make the purchase, further increasing their latifundium.
From an environmental point of view, the development of agriculture over the last decades has caused profound changes in the environment, such as the impoverishment and loss of tons of soil, pollution, emergence of erosion, pollution of water sources caused by pesticides, creation of new cultivation areas with clearing of the natural vegetation cover and a series of serious ecological problems arising from the practice of agriculture Modern.
agribusiness
Agribusiness (from English, agricultural business), which in practice means "Agribusiness", is the term used to describe the merger of primary production of Agriculture and livestock with the industry, where the processing or industrialization of products from the Agriculture. Examples of Agroindustry (Agribusiness): dairy, slaughterhouse, textile industry, among others.
Alternative Agrosystems
It represents an ecologically correct form of production to alleviate social and environmental problems. In this system, the aim is to eliminate pesticides, which are called organic production, currently the organic product has achieved a higher value, the higher price is due to the quality of the products, as they are healthier, there is no addition of chemical substances, as the combating pests and fertilizers are made with biological control, that is, agents that are not harmful to the body and the nature.
Alternative production practices polyculture (cultivation of several cultures), never monoculture (cultivation of a single culture). The goals are healthy food and environmental balance, reducing rural exodus and unemployment.
Despite the growth of organic production, modern agriculture will probably not be surpassed, as organic production offers healthy products, but the result is low and if we think about the world population, which totals 6 billion people in the world, it will not be possible to restrict production organic.
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*Image credits: AFNR / http://www.shutterstock.com/
By Eduardo de Freitas
Graduated in Geography
Brazil School Team
General geography - geography - Brazil School
