Which term describes a large estate-based farming system designed to produce a cash crop for export?

Which term describes a large estate-based farming system designed to produce a cash crop for export?

• A. Plantation agriculture
• B. Market gardening
• C. Rural settlement pattern
• D. Shifting cultivation

Answer: (A)

Plantation agriculture describes a large estate devoted to cultivating a single cash crop for export. These systems are built around monoculture, often located in tropical or subtropical regions, and tied to markets abroad. They emerged within colonial and global trade frameworks, designed to produce crops like sugar, coffee, tea, or cotton for overseas buyers. Plantations typically involve a sizable tract of land with specialized labor and infrastructure to process and ship the harvest, relying on labor sourced from local workers under arrangements aimed at high output. This set of features distinguishes it from market gardening, which is smaller-scale, near urban markets, and grows a variety of perishables for local or regional sale; and from shifting cultivation, which uses forest plots for limited periods and moves to new plots as soils degrade.

Plantation agriculture describes a large estate devoted to cultivating a single cash crop for export. These systems are built around monoculture, often located in tropical or subtropical regions, and tied to markets abroad. They emerged within colonial and global trade frameworks, designed to produce crops like sugar, coffee, tea, or cotton for overseas buyers. Plantations typically involve a sizable tract of land with specialized labor and infrastructure to process and ship the harvest, relying on labor sourced from local workers under arrangements aimed at high output. This set of features distinguishes it from market gardening, which is smaller-scale, near urban markets, and grows a variety of perishables for local or regional sale; and from shifting cultivation, which uses forest plots for limited periods and moves to new plots as soils degrade.