PRINCIPLES GOVERNING PRODUCTION,
DISTRIBUTION AND CONSUMPTION
IN COMMUNITIES SUBSISTING ON
DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ECONOMY
HUNTING AND GATHERING ECONOMY
Distribution:
• About 0.003 percent of world population are in hunting gathering level of
economy. They live in frozen arctic tundra, deserts and dense tropical forests.
Examples:
• In Africa, the pygmies and bushmen tribes, In India the Paliyan, the
Irula, the Chenchus of south India; the Onge, the Jarawa and Sentinelese
of Andaman islands.
• In Australia, the Arunta, In North America, the Shoshone, the Miwok, the
Ojibwe and the Winnebago red Indians of United States and the central Eskimo
of Canada are the food gathering tribes.
Characteristics:
1. Nomadism and semi-nomadism.
2. lowest population density.
• simple economic resources like Digging stick and collection basket for
food, special baskets for honey. Bows, arrows, spears for hunting, spear thrower
and missiles, throwing stick called boomerang are used in hunting.
• Division of labour is between sexes. While men engage in hunting, women
go in parties to gather roots, tubers with digging sticks.
• Collecting areas and hunting zones of different local groups within a tribal
society are marked.
• Capital is simple tools used for nomadic and semi-nomadic life.
• Hunters and gatherers share tools in exchange for the products of their use.
• Characterized by plenty of food and rarely of food shortage.
• Wild fruits, roots, tubers, mushrooms, honey are eagerly sought by them.
Ostrich eggs, turtle eggs and lizards are also collected. They have special
techniques for preserving wild foods and meat.
• No or adequate surplus. Surplus after satisfying the needs could be used
for barter, exchange or trade.
• Food gathering economy favours informal political leadership and will be
mostly democratic.
FISHING ECONOMY
Distribution: Historically, hunthing-fishing economy is probably the second
oldest type of economy. It is limited to societies which are located near sea coast,
lake areas, and riverine environments.
Examples:
• The tribes living in the north-pacific coast of North America like blackfoot,
bella coola, haida, nootka etc
• Copper eskimo of northern Canada,
• Red Indian tribes of lowland South America, the alaculuf, the chono and
the
yaligan
• Red Indians living on the coastline of Chile obtain much of their protein
from available fish resources.
Characteristics:
• It is characterized by sedentary life.
• plentiful and stable food supply than hunting and gathering.
• higher population density. They are of large self sufficient local groups
• Technology: The eskimos have canoes, kayaks, igloos, dogsledges,
harpoons, spear throwers and some nets for hunting as well as fishing.
• The red Indians living in north America use canoes, harpoons, spears, nets,
hooks and traps.
Division of labour:
• it is based on age, sex and specailisation. Often the fishing activities are
performed by men, they may also go for hunting wild animals.
• Women often go for gathering vegetable products, turtle eggs, crabs and some
marine animals washed ashore.
• Men and women work together in processing, curing and storing the fish.
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• Men specialise in woodworking, canoe building and basket making. All
manufacturing is carried out by handicraft without the aid of machines.
• A variety of smaller fish including candlefish, herring, along the shores;
mussels, sea urchins, crabs and other offshore forms; sea seals, sea otters and
other deep water marine animals make up a large part of the diet of fishing
societies characterised by plenty of food and protein
• This economy is characterized by surplus production and trade. Fish are
easily stored when dried or smoked.
• This economy favours formal political leadership. First, the organisation
of the work parties is not democratic, it is under a leader. Second the distribution
is not equal; the leader gets a major share and the chief gets the tributes. Third,
these politico economic inequalities have built up a hierarchy of formal leaders
for maintaining the village and tribal solidarity.
SWIDDENING / SHIFT CULTIVATING ECONOMY
Shifting Cultivation refers to the form of cultivation where a large area is
cultivated for few years and then abandoned for some time until the fertility of
the land is restored naturally.
Process: By the time of the sowing season the earth is covered with a layer of
ashes. Then seeds are scattered, and rarely sown in these ashes. After some time
the seeds take root and grow, nourished by an occasional shower of rain. The
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crops are scare and of inferior quality. In a few years’ time the spoil becomes
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impoverished in the absence of ploughing and manuring, and a new stretch of the
forest is brought under the axe. PP
In tribal India shifting cultivation is widely prevalent, though it is known by
different names.
• The Naga call it Jhum Cultivation;
• The Bhuiya distinguish two forms of it, dahi and koman;
• The Maria of Bastar calls it penda;
• The Gond refer to it as podu;
• And the Baiga call it bewar.
• Among the Kharias it is known as ‘Jara-Kata cahas’.
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Shifting axe-cultivation consists of felling trees on a hill-side a little before the
sowing season and setting them on fire.
If all the trees are cut down, then the Bhuiya call it ‘dahi’ if only bushes and
shrubs are placed round the trees and then burnt, they call it koman.
Disadvantages: Shifting cultivation has come under severe criticism from nearly
all imaginable quarters.
• It has been characterized as inefficient, uneconomic and wasteful.
• It has caused deforestation and as a consequence thereof, erosion and floods.
• Valuable timber has been wastefully lost.
Mythological Explanation: The tribal folk have, of course, their own
explanations, very often only mythological in nature, to give for this practice.
Thus the Baiga report than Bhagwan (God) told their ancestor Nanga Baiga not
to plough land as the Hindus and the Gond do; doing so would have meant tearing
the bosom of mother Earth. It may be of interest to note that Manu laid down an
injunction against Brahmans engaging in cultivation in views of the fact that
many under-death dwelling living beings (jivas) get killed in the process of
ploughing, transplanting seeds, etc.
Conclusion: It has been pointed out that if shifting cultivation is not stopped, it
will tie down the tribes practicing it to an undeveloped and low socio-economic
level. However, it must be recognized that a change-over from shifting to
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permanent plough cultivation cannot take place suddenly as the economic life of
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a people is woven inextricably with all the other aspects of their life.
One must not jump to the conclusion that all the Indian tribes who engage in
agriculture practice shifting axe-cultivation. Some sections of the Naga people,
like the Rengma Naga, are experts in terrace cultivation which is easily possible
on a hill slope. Elsewhere in India, among the Bhil, the Gond, The Munda, the
Santhal, The Khasi and other tribes plough-cultivation, similar to that practiced
in the non-tribal villages of India, is practiced.
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PASTORAL ECONOMY
Historically, this economy came into existence simultaneously when
horticultural and agricultural economies came into existence.
• Pastoral economy is characterized by nomadism, semi-nomadism as they
move from place to place frequently or seasonally in response to their animal
needs.
• This economy has the characteristic of supporting a low population density of
small size communities.
• Technology includes milking tools, pouches of skin, saddles made of skin and
leather and variety of knives for trimming for shearing the wool and cutting
the meat are also used.
• Division of labour is based on age, sex and specialisation. Man herds the
animals, milk them, sometimes tap blood from them and do numerous other
activities.
• Women attend to the preparation of curd, butter, cheese and yogurt.
• This economy is characterised by plenty of food and frequent food shortages.
• In the form of meat and diary products, wool, hides, woollen blankets, pastoral
economy yields only a limited surplus of food supply. They exchange these
items for cereals, millets, weapons, containers etc from wider society.
• Trade is usually necessary for pastoral groups because large proportion of their
food may actually come from trade with agricultural groups.
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• It favours part time and full time political leadership. Raiding and welfare
s
are frequent activities.
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Bakarwal Jammu and Kashmir
Bharwad Gujarat
Bhotia Uttarakhand
Bhutia North district of Sikkim
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HORTICULTURAL ECONOMY
Distribution:
10,000 years ago inhabitants of middle east discovered that plants grow from
seeds. This discovery was made by women. Thus women laid a foundation for a
significantly new kind of societies, one that could produce it’s own food or the
major part of it.
Examples:
• The hopi and zuni red Indians in North America; the apinaye, the
tarahumara, the Kamayura, and the jivaro red indians in South America.
• The azande, the bemba, the chaga, hehe, the tiv, the tallensi, and several
other tribal societies in Africa.
• The arapesh, the trobrianders and many others of pacific islands.
Characteristics:
• Horticultural economy is characterized by more sedentary nature, they move
only when they are forced to, by the exhaustion of soil.
• It has the characteristic of supporting low to moderate population density with
self sufficient economic units usually villages of people ranging from 100-
2000.
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• Horticultural economy is characterized by simple to moderate economic
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• Technology includes simple hand tools and simple methods of farming. Small
amounts of lands are worked at one time mostly with hand tools namely
digging stick, hoe or spade.
• Division of labour is based on age, sex and some specialization. Women’s
contribution to subsistence activities is greater than that of men.
• This economy is characterized by plenty of food and infrequent food
shortages. Horticulture yields maize, finger millet, pearl millet and manioc in
Africa. Corn, sweet potato and potato in America. Yam, coconut, and
sugarcane in Oceania and some root crops in Asia. These are supplemented
by meat and fish. Food shortages are very rare because of dependable yields
of the crops.
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• This economy favours some part time political leadership. Some persons may
be part time craft men or part time political officials and certain members of a
kin group such as lineage heads, tribal chiefs, shamans and priests may have
more status than other individuals in the society.
AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY
Distribution:
Almost 8000 years ago there were many important advances in farming. Scores
of new plants were brought under cultivation. Principles of irrigation, fertilizing
and weeding were discovered. Cultivation with animal drawn plough exists in
north Africa, Europe and Asia including Indonesia.
Examples:
The Baiga, the Bhil, the Bhujiya, the Ho, then Lepcha, the Oraons, and the
santhals in India, the kachin of Burma and the 16th century aztecs of meso
America
Characteristics:
• Agricultural economy is characterised by sedentarism. They have mostly
sedentary communities because people have attachment to lands used for
continuous cultivation for generations.
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• It has the characteristic of supporting the highest population density,
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sometimes 1000 per square mile, with permanent rural and urban
communities. It supports large villages towns and cities.
• Agricultural economy is characterized by complex economic resources
• Technology includes complex agricultural and several methods of cultivation.
The equipment consists of animal drawn ploughs, harness, levelers, knives,
spades, sticks and others.
• Agricultural operations include preparation of soils, sowing, caring for the
crops and harvesting. Irrigation and weeding comprise essential parts of caring
the crops
• Division of labour is based on age, sex and high degree of specialization exists.
• Women contribute less to subsistence. Cooperative work groups are found
everywhere, but they are not always voluntary.
• Craft specialisation is present to a high degree.
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• The pattern of work involved in the production of agricultural goods follow
the seasons.
• Land ownership includes a set of complex rules relating to allocation. In many
societies individual ownership of land is rare and all individuals have complex
rights of access to land. Ownership by a lineage, a clan or even a phratry is
common.
• Capital includes money, draught animals, ploughs, levelers, spades and others.
• This economy is characterized by frequent shortages and very important trade.
They rely on their own cultivation for a considerable part of their food supplies
but supplement their farming with produce purchased in the market.
• The agriculture practiced in non-tropical areas where rainfall is unreliable is
more vulnerable to drought and destroy the entire food supply.
• Further food shortage is faced because of often selling a part of their produce
for purchasing other food requirements.
• Agricultural economy is cahracterised by the presence of wide individual
differences in wealth.Economy favours the existence of many full time
political officials because economies and polities are always tightly
intertwined in agrarian tribal societies.
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