The disadvantages of commercial farming

THE DISADVANTAGES OF COMMERCIAL FARMING

Definition

Commercial farming can be defined as a system of farming where crops are grown for sale and or for exports to make profit. For instance, cocoa and coffee farming is a commercial venture because it is cultivated for sale to make gains.

DISADVANTAGES

Destruction to natural rain forest

One of the disadvantages of commercial farming is that is leads to the destruction of natural rain forests of a country. This is because large acreage of forest land have to be cleared and turned into farmlands to cultivate cash crops. Once this happens and no conscious effort is made toward reforestation, the negative effects of deforestation sets in.

Non availability of land

Another disadvantage of commercial farming is that the land available for cropping is becoming smaller and smaller by the years. Existing commercial farmers are desirous of increasing their acreage under cultivation and there are new farmers who want to enter commercial farming. The result is that there are fewer lands available to cater for the needs of the farmers.

Difficult for new entrants

The increased demand for more land to buy, coupled with the size of land available for farming has resulted in the hiking of the price of the lands. This is making it difficult for other people, especially young farmers to acquire cheap farm lands to enter commercial farming.

Some farm crops are perishable

Another difficulty of the commercial farmer is that some of the crops cultivated are perishable. Some farmers cultivate fruits and vegetables and because these crops are perishable, they have to spend more to preserve them if they are not sold in time.

Threat to the environment

Commercial farmers use chemicals a lot to control pests and other diseases in their farms. Some of these chemicals have certain components that are harmful to the environment. The operations of commercial farmers therefore pose a huge threat to the environment and subsequently to the human race.

Lack of adequate government support

In West Africa, commercial farmers do not get the necessary financial and other types of support that they need from their governments. The governments of English speaking West Africa especially have not been able to re-engineer the land tenure system to allow for easy acquisition of land for commercial purposes.

SAMPLE QUESTION(S)

1. Explain six reasons why some farmers do not venture into commercial agriculture.

2. Highlight six disadvantages of commercial farming.

3. a. What is commercial farming?

    b. Discuss five disadvantages of commercial farming.

ALSO READ:
The advantages of commercial farming
The advantages of subsistence farming
The disadvantages of subsistence farming

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