Primary Activities Important Short and Long Questions Class 12 Geography Chapter-4 Book-Fundamentals of Human Geography

 

Question - What is economic activity?  How many types of economic activity are there?

Answer -

• The activities of a human being through which he earns income  are called economic activities.  Economic activities are mainly divided into 4 categories

 1. Primary Activities

 2. Secondary activities

 3. Tertiary activities

 4. Fourth activity

Question –  What is meant by primary activity?

Answer - 

• Primary action is directly dependent on the environment,  it includes – 

• Activities include  agriculture, hunting, food collection, animal grazing, fishing,  cutting wood from forests, mining etc.

Question:  What is called nomadic animal herding?

Answer -

• Nomadic animal husbandry has been an ancient subsistence occupation  in which the herder depended on animals for his food, clothing, shelter, tools and transportation. 

• In this, humans used to move from one place to another with their domestic animals according to the availability of water and pasture.  These pastoral groups have their own fixed pasture areas.  

Question:  What are the three main areas of nomadic animal herding?

Answer -

1) North Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Mongolia, Central China

2) Tundra regions of Europe and Asia

3) Southwest Asia and the island of Madagascar in the Southern Hemisphere

Question:  In which region of the world is food collected?

Answer -

Food is stored in two parts of the world 

1. High latitude regions - Northern Canada, Northern Eurasia and Southern Chile 

2. Low latitude areas- Amazon Basin, tropical Africa, Australia and interior regions of South East Asia

Question –  What is shifting agriculture? 

        Or

What is slash and burn agriculture?

        Or

What is Jhum farming?

Answer -

• In Jhum cultivation, the vegetation of the areas is cut and burnt. 

• The layer of burnt ash acts as a fertilizer. 

• The fields sown in this are very small  and farming is also done with old tools. 

• When the fertility of the soil ends,  then the farmer prepares agricultural land by burning the forest in the new area. 

• In the northeastern states of India it is called Jhuming agriculture.

Question –  What is meant by commercial livestock farming?

Answer -

• Commercial livestock farming is done on farms having large area in a specific location 

• It requires more capital

• In this, animals are taken care of in a scientific manner

• In this, only that particular animal is reared  for which that area is more suitable.

• It is practiced in New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, America

Question –  What is meant by Mediterranean agriculture? 

Answer -

• Mediterranean agriculture is a very specialized type of agriculture. 

• It is spread in the area adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea  

• This region is important in the supply of citrus fruits. 

• Viticulture is characteristic of the Mediterranean region. 

• Many countries in the region produce high quality wines from fine grapes.

• Raisins and raisins are made by drying low quality grapes. Figs and olives are also grown here. In winters, when there is a demand for fruits and vegetables in Europe and the United States, this region supplies them.

Question –  What is meant by dairy farming?

Answer -

• Dairy farming is the most advanced and efficient type of rearing of dairy animals. 

• It requires capital  and intensive labour.

• More capital is required for sheds for animals, storage facilities to store grass and for the use of more machinery for milk production. 

• More attention is also paid to animal health, breeding and veterinary care. 

• Labour is required throughout the year for activities like grazing animals, milking them etc. 

• Dairy farming is carried out near urban and industrial centers, as these areas are good markets for fresh milk and other dairy products 

• In present times, due to developed means of transportation and pasteurization facilities, various dairy products can be preserved for a longer time. 

• There are three main areas of commercial dairy farming, the largest region is the region of North Western Europe. The second region is Canada and the third region is New Zealand, South Eastern Australia and Tasmania.

Question –  What is the difference between cooperative farming and collective farming?

Answer -

1. Cooperative farming 

• In cooperative farming, farmers voluntarily form cooperative societies to earn more profit and do farming

• Co-operative institutions provided all kinds of assistance to farmers

• It was most successful in Denmark 

2. Collective agriculture

• In this, the ownership of the means of production is based on the entire society and collective labour

• It began in the former Soviet Union 

• In this, all the farmers used to do agriculture by combining their resources like land, livestock and labor

Question:   Tell the characteristics of vegetable farming and horticulture for the market?

Answer -

• In this type of agriculture, crops that fetch more money  such as fruits, vegetables and flowers are grown  which are in demand in urban areas. 

• In this type of agriculture the size of the farms is small and the farms are connected to the urban centres through good transport facilities. 

• It requires more labour and more capital 

• Apart from this, irrigation, fertilizers, good quality seeds, pesticides are required.

Question -  What is meant by plantation agriculture? Tell its main feature?

Answer -

• The Europeans colonised many parts of the world and introduced other forms of agriculture such as plantation agriculture,

• Plantation agriculture main objective is to earn profit   . European colonies planted tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber, cotton, sugarcane, banana and pineapple in the tropical areas under their control. 

Feature of plantation agriculture  

• The size of the agricultural area is very vast. 

• Higher capital investment, higher management and technical base 

• Use of scientific methods 

• It is a single crop agriculture - labour is available cheap  as it is concentrated on the production of a single crop 

• Transportation develops through which the gardens and markets remain well connected.

Question -  What is meant by mining? Explain the factors affecting mining   ?

Answer -

• Extracting   metals, ores and industrial and other useful minerals from the earth  is called mining . It is of two types

1) Surface mining

2) Underground mining

Factors affecting mining 

1) Physical factors-  size, category, state of occurrence of mineral deposits

2) Economic factors-  demand for minerals, technical knowledge, use of minerals,  infrastructure, capital, transportation etc.