Class 12 Geography Short Questions with Answers - Primary Activities

Q1: Explain ‘slash and burn agriculture’.
Ans:  Slash and burn refers to the agricultural practice of clearing a forest by cutting down trees and burning them. The ash is mixed with the soil to make it fertile. The land is cultivated for a few years and is thereafter abandoned to allow the forest to regenerate and the land to recover its nutrients. It is also known as shifting cultivation. 

Q2: What is nomadic herding?
Ans: Nomadic herding or pastoral nomadism is a primitive subsistence activity in which the herders rely on animals for food, clothing, shelter, tools and transport.

Nomadic HerdingQ3: What do you mean by Transhumance?
Ans: The process of migration from plain areas to pastures or mountains during summers and again from mountain pastures to plain areas during winters is known as transhumance.

Q4: Name the areas where commercial livestock rearing is practised.
Ans: The areas are: New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay and United States of America. 

Q5: Why products of gathering cannot compete in the world market?
Ans: Products of gathering (an activity) cannot compete in the world market as synthetic products are of better quality and available in large quantities and are priced lower.

Q6: Name the two activities on which the earliest human beings were dependent for their sustenance.
Ans: Gathering and hunting are two activities on which earliest human beings were dependent for their sustenance.

Q7: Write any two primary activities.
Ans: A few of the primary activities: Hunting, agriculture, fishing and mining.

Q8: Describe the way of life of nomadic herders.
Ans: Way of life of nomadic herders :

• They depend on the primitive subsistence activity.
• Herders rely on animals for food, clothing, shelter, tools and transport.
• They move from one place to another with their livestock.
• They follow well-defined territory.
• A wide variety of animals is kept in different regions.

Q9: Define ‘dairy farming’.
Ans: Dairy Farming is the most advanced and efficient type of rearing of milch animals. It is highly capital and labour intensive.

Dairy FarmingQ10: Differentiate between Nomadic Herding and Commercial Livestock Rearing.

Ans:Q11: Explain the term market gardening.
Ans: Market gardening specializes in the cultivation of high value crops such as vegetables, fruits and flowers, solely for the urban markets. Farms are small and are located where there are good transportation links with the urban centre where high income group of consumers is located.

Q12: “Agri-business farm are mechanized and large in size”. Examine the statement.
Ans: Agri business farms are large estates or commercial in nature, therefore, they are mechanized and use scientific methods of cultivation. The farm size is also very large  and big machines are used to cultivate plough and harvest the crops. Example: tea estate, coffee estate.

Q13: Mention an area of extensive commercial grain farming in Africa.
Ans: The Velds of South Africa is where extensive commercial grain farming is done in Africa.

Q14: Future of shifting cultivation is bleak. Discuss.
Ans: 

• These days the biggest problem being faced by the shifting cultivators is of shortening cycles of jhum, which makes the entire practice unsustainable. 
• Also there are several restrictions imposed by governments through forest acts etc., which hinder the free movement of tribes and practice of shifting cultivation.
• Shifting cultivation is sustainable (only for self -consumption) in nature, hence it is unable to meet with the market demand and therefore there is no scope for it in the increasing globalized markets.
• With the infiltration of non tribals in the tribal areas, tribals are adopting to modem agricultural practices which are more productive and environmentally sustainable.
• To support a small population, a huge land resource base is required, ultimately it leads to soil erosion and land degradation.

Q15: Large scale dairy farming is the result of the development of transportation and refrigeration.
Ans:  

• Dairy products are highly perishable in nature. They have a small shelf life. For their supply to distant markets and overseas, adequate storage facilities with temperature control and storage conditions is a must. 
• Initially, supply of dairy products was limited to nearby markets but  development of storage, transportation and preservation facilities have widened their coverage.
• Modern transportation such as refrigerated trucks, ships with special cargoes, and faster means of transportation like airways, provide adequate facilities which allow transportation of dairy products to far off markets without spoilage. 
• Refrigeration prevents dairy products from getting spoiled. It increases their durability.
  Refrigerated Truck

Q16: What is truck farming? Mention any two features of truck farming.
Ans: Truck farming is a type of farming which is practiced in the peripheral areas of Metropolitan cities where, vegetables and milk are brought daily to the cities by trucks by traveling overnight.
Features:

• Farmers are engaged in growing of vegetables, fruits and flowers etc. 
• They use HYV seeds, Chemicals and fertilizers. 
• This farming requires a well-developed network of roads connected with fields.

Q17: Why Mediterranean agriculture is considered as one of the best and profitable type of agriculture?
Ans: Mediterranean agriculture is considered as one of the best and profitable type of agriculture because:

• It is highly specialised commercial agriculture.
• Viticulture is highly specialised commercial agriculture.
• Best quality wines in the world with distinctive flavours are produced from high quality grapes. Inferior grapes are dried into raisins.
• Olives and figs are produced in this region.
• More valuable crops such as fruits and vegetables are grown in winters when there is great demand in European and North American markets.

Q18: What is subsistence agriculture? Mention any four characteristic of primitive subsistence agriculture.
Ans: Subsistence agriculture is one in which the farming areas consume all , or nearly so, of the products locally grown.
Four Characteristics of Primitive Subsistence Agriculture are :
(i) The cultivated patches are very small and cultivation is done with very primitive tools, such as sticks.
(ii) After 3 to 5 years the soil looses its fertility and the farmer shifts to another part and cleans another patch of the forest for cultivation.
(iii) The farmer may return to the earlier patch after sometime.
(iv) One of the features of this cultivation is that the cycle of Jhum becomes less and less due to loss of fertility in different parts.

Q19: What is the meaning of ‘open-cast mining’?
Ans:  

• It's for minerals discovered near the surface of the earth.  
• This approach is utilized when commercially valuable minerals are found near the surface. 
• It is easiest and cheapest.

Open Cast MiningQ20: What are the two types of mining? Write two characteristics of each.
Ans: The two types of mining are : underground mining and surface mining.
Underground mining :

• They are more expensive.
• They are often used to reach deeper deposits.

Surface mining or open cast mining:

• They are typically used for more shallow and less valuable deposits.
• It is easier way of mining.