Factors affecting land use: Physical Factors, Economic Factors and Human Factors.

Factors Affecting Land Use Physical Factors Economic Factors Human Factors •Relief- influences the extent to which farm machinery can be used and the rate of erosion of the soil. On very steep slopes it is difficult to use modern farm machinery, and such slopes are also very subject to erosion. Relief can also affect land use through its influence upon the climate (temperature falls with an increase in altitude). •Soils- the mineral content, the mineral texture and the depth of soil affect the land use. •Climate- the amount of rainfall(too little or too much), wind and sunshine. •Capital- this is the money needed to buy land. animals, seeds, fertilizers, tools, machinery etc. •Markets-(In this case market refers to the demand of a particular thing) Distance from markets affect land use because very perishable crops need to arrive in fresh condition. • Land Tenure-this is the rights a person has to the land. If the land is not owned by the farmer, there is no guarantee of continued land use, therefore he/she only plant short-terms crops such as corn and peas and have no incentive to improve the land and/or put up farm buildings. It is difficult to borrow money. If the land is owned by the farmer, he/she has a greater freedom of choice because the farmer can make long-term investments such as the growing of tree crops like cocoa and coconuts, the putting up of farm buildings and the making of farm roads. It is easier to borrow money for improvements. •Inheritance Practices-this is where there is not one a single continuous piece of land, and are made up of several scattered plots (known as land fragmentation). Disadvantages of Land Fragmentation are: the farmer wastes a lot of time in traveling, an unusually high proportion of land is taken up by field boundaries and therefore do not produce as much and the small size of the plots make it difficult for the farmer to use modern machinery. Tradition-farmers are accustomed to doing things as they know it and therefore they are less productive because the methods are outdated. Labour-On modern farms what now used to be done by hand are now done by machines however, on small peasant farms they use hand tools and generally there is a shortage of labour during harvest time. The Role of Government- governments can influence farmers towards the form of land use they feel are most suited to the country's needs.