Which term describes a form of subsistence agriculture requiring a relatively large amount of effort to maximize yield on a patch of land?

• A. Intensive agriculture
• B. Extensive agriculture
• C. Shifting cultivation
• D. Nomadic herding

Answer: (A)

Intensive agriculture focuses a lot of labor and inputs on a small plot to maximize yield per unit area. When land is scarce or population pressure is high, farmers invest more in irrigation, fertilizers, careful labor, and often multiple cropping to squeeze as much food as possible from a limited patch. That high level of effort per area is the defining feature here, making intensive agriculture the best description for maximizing yield on a small piece of land.

Shifting cultivation uses clearing and burning of forest followed by planting for a few years before moving to new land, so it doesn’t maximize output from a single patch. Extensive agriculture spreads farming over large areas with relatively little input per unit area, yielding less per hectare. Nomadic herding centers on moving with livestock rather than farming a fixed plot of land.