UNIT 3: VOCABULARY

AGRARIAN SPACES: location of activities related to the primary sector.

DEFORESTATION: disappearance of forests caused by overexploitation, conversion to farming use and forest fires.

DESERTIFICATION: loss of soil fertility due to erosion.

EXTENSIVE MECHANISED MONOCULTURE: large plots, few farmers operating as a business, specialisation in a single crop and overproduction.

FARMING SYSTEMS: polyculture or monoculture; intensive or extensive; dryland or irrigated.

INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE: system of food and livestock production characterised by large farms, use of chemicals, mechanisation, specialisation, high production and capital investment.

LIVESTOCK FARMING SYSTEMS: intensive or extensive; nomadic, seasonal migratory or sedentary; confined, unconfined or semi-confined.

PLANTATION AGRICULTURE: plantations specialised in one product grown for export, employing a lot of low-paid local labour.

RURAL LANDSCAPES: a combination of abiotic, man-made and biotic landscapes found in the countryside.

TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE: labour-intensive system of food production characterised by rudimentary techniques, polyculture, small plots and self-consumption.