Essay Example on Human Subsistence Patterns: A Combination of Life and Habits

Introduction

Notably, human subsistent patterns are a combination of three words, humans which literally mean mankind, subsistence which is the act of maintaining /propagating one's life and patterns meaning habitual designs. Human subsistence pattern is, therefore, the methods or means used by a community to fulfill their survival needs (Scaggs, 2018). Human lives revolve around the satisfaction of their basic needs most of which are essential for survival, humanity thus spends most of its time in an attempt to satisfy these needs and propagate their lives. Example of the human basic need includes shelter, water, and food, in an attempt to help satisfy these needs, different communities and societies come up with a number of ways which eventually becomes their way of life. (Bungla, 2013). The article, therefore, attempts to investigate the human subsistent patterns emphasizing on foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, agriculture, and industrial food production.

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Foraging

It is a human subsistence pattern in which the community/society obtained their basic needs such as food from the wild. It is the oldest subsistence pattern which human beings depend on up until 10,000 years ago (Bungla, 2013). Those who practiced this pattern were also known as hunters and gatherers and they obtained their food by fishing, hunting in the forest, picking wild fruits in the forest as well as picking and eating plant leaves and insects. The society of hunters and gatherers was small and most of them never had a specific place called home as they often moved from place to place in search of food and shelter which were mostly cages (Kamil, Krebs, & Pulliam, 2012). The hunters and gatherers' lifestyle made them tough and adaptable to any environmental conditions. It also resulted in the creation of new generations that were tougher than the older ones due to evolution making them more adaptable to the harsh life of the wild.

Horticulture

It is the second oldest subsistence pattern that came with the advent of primitive tools of cultivation (Scaggs, 2018). Those involved used primitive tools to cultivate and plant foodstuff on small pieces of less developed land. Unlike foraging, horticulture introduced bigger societies as they could now settle on one land and practice horticultural activities. The people practicing this means of livelihood mainly used slash and burn cultivation methods which involved identification of large pieces of land, cutting and burning of plants to create biochar which was used for crop plantation (Gangaiah, 2012).The societies that practiced horticulture rarely used foraging nor did they migrated from one place to another in search of food as they planted most of their food on their farms.

Pastoralism

It is a type of animal rearing technique in which nomadic communities moved with animals from one place to another in search of animal food (Van Heukelom, 2011). It is a type of subsistent pattern in which communities obtained their basic needs such as food by rearing domestic animals such as cows, camels, sheep, goat among others, pastoralists survived by eating meat, drinking milk and blood and used skin from their animals to sew clothes and make shelters (Sharma & Sharma, 2015).

Agriculture

Agriculture is a type of subsistent farming which involves cultivation and maintenance of land with the aim of producing food for human beings as well as animals (Van Heukelom, 2011). Unlike horticulture, agricultural activities are characterized by the use of more complex tools and machinery for the production of foodstuff, it is more expensive and makes use of current technology to ensure large scale production (Scaggs, 2018). Agricultural activities involve using plowers such as tractors, it makes use of fertilizers to help boost soil fertility as well as the use of vehicles and robot-like machines to obtain their produce from large pieces of land (Altieri, 2018).

Animal rearing also forms part of agricultural activities, however, the use of modern technologies is often employed and one does not need to move from one region to another in search of animal food (Scaggs, 2018). The development of technology has resulted in the manufacture of cheaper and more nutritious animal feeds which can be bought to supplement the grass which is the main source of food (Altieri, 2018). Societies practicing agricultural activities are often larger and more compact than those practicing the above means of subsistence. The availability of large farms and soil improvement techniques makes farming not only an easy activity but also gives it the ability to sustain large groups of people.

Agricultural products are grouped into (1) Food, which includes, meat, milk, cereals, fruits, eggs, fungi, vegetables, oils, grains among others. (2) Fuels, mainly the biofuels which are not only friendly o the environment but also affordable (Altieri, 2018). (3) Fibers, which are mainly used to produce clothes among other things, as well as raw materials. Today, agricultural sectors employ more than one-third of the world's workforce and are the leading source of food in the world feeding 99% of the world's population (Altieri, 2018).

Industrial food production

Involves industrial manufacture packaging and selling food products. The sector mainly processes agricultural foodstuffs by increasing their shelf lives, making them more nutritious and appealing to the customers as well as improving the general quality of food (Scaggs, 2018). The industry makes use of the current chemical biological and mechanical technology to do mass production of food, some of the food products produced by the industry are biologically manipulated foodstuff, which is neither obtained from the farms nor animals but created in labs (Zannini Waters Coffey & Arendt, 2016).

The industry mainly feeds the highly populated urban centers where agricultural activities cannot be conducted, they spend millions of dollars in packaging and transportation of the food products to these regions a well s in controlling pathogens that may damage or spoil the foodstuff. The ability to mass-produce agricultural products in industries makes it easier to feed the ever-growing population of the world as well as make it a form of employment which enables those employed to put food on their tables thus propagating life (Altieri, 2018). The availability of food through the introduction of complex and high throughput subsistent activities like agriculture and industrial food production has resulted in the increased economic development of many countries in the world as they have the capacity to feed their citizens.

In conclusion, human subsistence patterns have grown from primitive such as horticulture and foraging to more complex such as agriculture and industrial production of food. The development has seen more people accessing food as well as increased population. The patterns have resulted in increased survival rates among many societies that implement more subsistence activities to ensure that they are well fed and that life continues to be propagated from one generation to another.

References

Altieri, M. A. (2018). Agroecology: the science of sustainable agriculture. CRC Press.

Bungla, P. S. (2013). Agri diversity patterns and local food systems along the altitudinal gradient in floor watershed Kumaun Himalaya.Gangaiah, C. (2012). Production and profitability of horticulture crops. International Research Journal of Agricultural Economics and Statistics, 3(2), 368-372.

Irlbacher-Fox, S. (2010). Biocultural Diversity and Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Human Ecology in the Arctic (by Karim Aly-Kassam). Northern Review, (32).

Kamil, A. C., Krebs, J. R., & Pulliam, H. R. (Eds.). (2012). Foraging behavior. Springer Science & Business Media.

Scaggs, S. A. (2018). Subsistence Harvest Diversity in Alaskan Food Sharing Networks.

Sharma, P., & Sharma, P. K. (2015). Tribal Entrepreneurship: A Socio-Anthropological Interpretation of Nomadic Community Raikas. Madhya Pradesh Journal of Social Sciences, 54.

van Heukelom, T. S. (2011). Food Security and the Human Security Paradigm: The Implications of 'Land Grabs' on Human Food Security. Access to Resources, 185.

Zannini, E., Waters, D. M., Coffey, A., & Arendt, E. K. (2016). Production, properties, and industrial food application of lactic acid bacteria-derived exopolysaccharides. Applied microbiology and biotechnology, 100(3), 1121-1135.