I) Characterise of agriculture contrasting production methods

A) Intensive or conventional production system

Intensive agriculture is one that provides high yields regardless of the area farmed. It is characterised
by :

• Mechanization
• Monoculture
• Polyculture
• The use of phytosanitary products and fertilizers
• Selection of high yielding plants
• The anbundance of capital required for all stages, which means production or marketing
• The exploitation of a qualified and diversified workforce

Some types of intensive crops in Africa :

➢ Vegetable production
➢ Conservation agriculture (as under deer and soilless, cash crops like rice cultivation, coffee,
cereal farming)

This agriculture system is more used in developed countries in general. Also it is the most used
production systems.

B) The extensive system

Extensive agriculture is that which is applied over large areas and whose yields are generally low.
That is to say, agriculture removes from the soil only a small production per unit area. It is
characterized by :

• Rudimentary or archaic tools

• The mainly family workforce
• Very low or absent use of chemical and natural fertilizers
• The predominance of polyculture

The production techniques of extensive agriculture where crops such :

➢ Zai, stony, stone, mulching, the ancestral practice of hay loops

➢ slash and burn shifting agriculture and fallow land
➢ sustainable and reasoned agriculture agriculture
➢ agroecology for the preservation of biodiversity and development of peasant production
➢ Organic farming that is free or fertilizers and pesticides
➢ Integrated production from where Songhai in Benin created the ZERI CONCEPT which means
zero waste to say that : ^^nothing ist lost, nothing is created, but everything is
transformed^^

In fact extensive agriculture is the privilege of tropical and underdeveloped countries.