Crop farming, livestock and fishing

Farming depends strongly on climate, so crops differ by region; capital, machinery and population traditions also matter. In developing countries agriculture’s share of GDP is large (up to half in some least developed African states), while in rich countries it is very small. Commercial agriculture is aimed at the market, first of all the foreign market, and is mechanised and intensive; traditional subsistence farming uses simple tools, gives low yields and is extensive. Cereals cover about half of the world’s cropland, with wheat, rice and maize the main ones. Wheat grows on mid-latitude steppes (China, India, Russia, the USA, Canada, France, Ukraine, Australia); rice grows in the monsoon zone, in labour-rich Asia (China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam); in maize the USA, China, Brazil and Argentina lead. Oil crops: soybean (Brazil, USA, Argentina), sunflower (Ukraine, Russia), olive (Mediterranean). Sugar comes from sugar cane (Brazil, India) and sugar beet. Stimulant crops: tea (China, India, Kenya), coffee (Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia), cocoa (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana). Among industrial crops, cotton is grown mostly by India, China, the USA, Brazil and Uzbekistan, and natural rubber by Thailand and Indonesia.