Chapter 2 Basic concepts - ROOT of content

- Technology employed (e.g. implements and machinery, fertilizers,livestock breeds, farm transport, methods of timber felling)- Infrastructure requirements (e.g. sawmills, tea factories,agricultural advisory services)- Size and configuration of land holdings, including whetherconsolidated or fragmented- Land tenure, the legal or customary manner in which rightsto land are held, by individuals or groups- Income levels, expressed per capita, per unit of production(e.g. farm) or per unit area.Management practices on different areas within one land utilization typeare not necessarily the same. For example, the land utilization type may consistof mixed farming, with part of the land under arable use and part allocated tograzing. Such differences may arise from variation in the land, from the requirementsof the management system, or both.Some examples of land utilization types are:i.ii.iii.iv .V.vi.Rainfed annual cropping based on groundnuts with subsistence maize,by smallholders with low capital resources, using cattle-drawn farmimplements, with high labour intensity, on freehold farms of 5-10 ha.Farming similar to (i) in respect of production, capital, labour, powerand technology, but farms of 200-500 ha operated on a communal basis.Commercial wheat production on large freehold farms, with high capitaland low labour intensity, and a high level of mechanization and inputs.Extensive cattle ranching, with medium levels of capital and labourintensity, with land held and central services operated by a governmentalagency.Softwood plantations operated by a government Department of Forestry,with high capital intensity, low labour intensity, and advancedtechnology.A national park for recreation and tourism.Some descriptions of land utilization types are given in Chapter 5.IWhere it is wished to relate agricultural land utilization types to ageneral classification, the Typology of World Agriculture of the InternationalGeographical Union may be considered (Kostrowicki, 1974). The role of landutilization types in land evaluation is discussed further in Beek (1975).13