FORM TWO NOTES GEOGRAPHY
GEOGRAPHY NOTES FORM TWO|NOTES FOR FORM TWO GEOGRAPHY|FORM TWO STUDYING NOTES GEOGRAPHY
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HUMAN ACTIVITIES
(I) CONCEPT OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES
An activity is something that people do in
order to achieve a certain goal.
Human activities refer to the sum of all
things that human beings do to modify the environment, as well
as the exploitation of the environment for the
resources needed to survive. Over time , human beings
have moved from basic tools to more improved
and efficient technology for this purposes.
(ii) TYPES OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES
Human activities can be categorized into two
types; social and economic activities.
The social activities
studied in geography include population and
settlement.
Economic activities studied in geography include
agriculture as referred to the cultivation of crops and
rearing of livestock. This is commonly
practiced human activities and many people take it as an income
generating activity or for the purposes of
meeting the family s food requirements.
Tourism is another economic activity which
involves traveling to interesting places for leisure, education
or business. Some of the tourists place in
Tanzania like Ngorongoro crater, Serengeti National Park,
Zanzibar and others.
Another economic activity is Energy and power
generation which includes all activities aimed at
producing and distributing power or running
machinery, lighting as well as heating.
Trade is also one of the economic activities
where it refers to the buying and selling of goods and
services. This referred as one of the oldest
human activities and is still very common today.
Transport also involves the movement of people
and goods from one place to another. Transport often
goes with communication as it refers to the
sending of messages between people. These are vital
human activities on which most of the
activities rely on.
Mining is also another economic activity as it
referred to the extraction of valuable minerals from the
ground. Some of these minerals are scarce and
therefore expensive.
To sum up, therefore economic activities
include agriculture, tourism, energy and power generation,
trade, transport and communication and mining.
IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES.
(1) They provide employment to the people.
(2) They can facilitate rapid improvement in
technology.
(3) They facilitate the improvement of
transport and communication in a particular area.
(4) They promote the living standards and
responsibility of the people. The living standard promoted
through income generation as some people are
employed in various human activities like Agriculture,
trade e.t c.
(5) It has contributed to the generation of
Government income (Government revenue).
(6) They act as the source of foreign money
exchange
TOPIC ONE: AGRICULTURE
Agriculture is the branch of science which
deals with crop cultivation and animal keeping.
Crop cultivation is called arable farming and
it is carried out on a better quality of land. Pastoral
farming is normally carried out in less
fertile land.
TYPES
OF AGRICULTURE
SMALL SCALE AGRICULTURE
It is the type of agriculture [crop
cultivation] where a farmer owns a piece of land and not more
than 5 hectares.
Small scale farming may involve growing annual
crops such as cotton, coffee, tea etc. Annual
crops are grown mostly on areas where rainfall
is scarce and perennial [permanent] crops are
planted once and remain planted, for example;
·
· Coffee
· Tea
· Rubber
· Palm oil
· Sisal
Characteristics of small farming
i) Farms are usually small in size with 1-5
hectares
ii) Ownership is at family level
iii) Farmers produce crops for subsistence
like for immediate use
iv) Farms are heritable in nature like land is
passed from father to son
v) Low levels of technology is used like the
use of local tools like hoes, pangas and slashers
vi) More than one crop may be grown in one
plantation
vii) Low capital is used to run the farm.
viii) It involve the use of unskilled
laborers.
Advantages
i) Easy to control farm work [less cost full]
ii) More than one crop can be obtained from
the farm [one plot]
iii) Provide employments to the family members
Disadvantages
Low productivity hence poor standard of living
Gender imbalance [women are not involved in
land heritage and ownership has no power on
what they produce]
Heritage of land leads to land fragmentation
and over population in a small piece of land hence
results into shortage of land
An application of machines such as tractors is
difficult because of small farming size.
Problems facing small scale Agriculture
1) Lack of enough funds
2) Poor government support
3) Climate changes
4) Low level of science and technologies
5) Low level of education among farmers.
TYPES OF SMALL SCALE AGRICULTURE
There are two types of small scale
agriculture;
a) Shifting cultivation/ non sedentary
b) Bush fallowing /rational
Shifting cultivation [non sedentary]
Is the system in which a peasant keeps on
shifting from one area to another as a result of soil
exhaustion. In this type of agriculture
peasants cultivates certain piece of land until the soil is
exhausted after 2-5 years then shifts to a new
piece of land where he cleans and cultivates.
CHARACTERISTICS
· It is the oldest method.
· Done by burning of trees
on a given area and set the area ready for cultivation
· There is no formation of
permanent settlement as the land is abandoned and fresh area is
cleared it is sometimes called flash and burn
agriculture
· The crops grown most of
them being scanty crops
· It involves slashing and
burning of bushes and grasses
· It is practiced when
there is low population for easy shifting and possession of a certain
piece of land
· Production is for
subsistence
· Simple tools are used
like hand hoes because of low technology
· The cultivators do not
have permanent settlements since they expect to leave any time ,
sites are selected in the virgin forest and
therefore tend to be fertile
Advantages
1) More than one crop can be harvested in a
plot
2) Burning involves production of ashes which
assist in soil fertility
3) Food supply is assured since the family
cultivates for self sufficient basics
4) The system does not cost since simple tools
are used for production
5) Family labour is used in the production
process
Disadvantages
1)Deforestation and soil erosion
2)The use of fire kills [destroys] the natural
habitats and wild animals
3)The system can be applied on the low
populated areas
4) Low productivity because the plots are
small and due to poor control of pests and diseases.
5) Destruction of ozone layer due to burning
of bushes and grasses.
Decline of shifting cultivation
Shifting cultivation has declined nowadays due
to the following reasons;
· Increased population
· Rapid increase of
population has resulted in the shortage of land for cultivation
· Advancement of science
and technology
· Influence of government
policy which encourages on sedentary and other farming types
which are environmental friendly
· Reaction from
environmentalists
· Engagement of people in
other economic activities
ROTATIONAL (BUSH FALLOWING)
Is the system of farming in which peasant
cultivates in a certain area until it gets exhausted and
leave it for a certain period of time to
regain its fertility.
It differs from shifting cultivation in that
farmers are settled and hence are rotating rather than
shifting to a new home.
Rotational bush fallowing is the simplest form
of sedentary farming. This system took place after
shifting cultivation failed to perform well
due to increase in population.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ROTATIONAL /BUSH FALLOWING
· Simplest tools are used
through slightly more advanced technology than shifting
cultivation
· Slashing and burning of
bushes
· The community can involve
or engage itself into other activities like fishing, hunting etc
· Farmers are settled but
the farms are the ones which are rotating.
Advantages
· Since the people are
settled they engage fully and effectively in the production process.
· Slashing and burning
involved in the farm preparation adds fertility to the land
· Fallowing gives room for
the improvement of the soil and encourages the recovery of
vegetation
· It takes places where
there is high population unlike shifting cultivation
· Farmers can involve in
other economic activities such as fishing
Disadvantages
· There is low production
because of the use of low technology and simple tools
· Slashing and burning can
lead to environmental degradation as well as loss of
biodiversity
· Poor trade among
communities
SEDENTARY FARMING
Is the farming system in which a farmer does
not move and establish a permanent settlement.
The farmer grows crops and keeps animals.
Effects of overpopulation on small scale
agriculture
What is over population?
Is the demographic situation where number of
people at a given area is greater than the available
resources. The available resources may
include; Land ,Water, Minerals etc
Over population is sometimes called population
pressure