(a) Describe any five distinguishing features of plantation agriculture in East Africa (b) Identify five factors which have favoured the practice of plantat...

Answer Details

(a) Five distinguishing features of plantation agriculture in East Africa

1. Large-scale, single-crop (monoculture) cultivation: vast estates are devoted to one cash crop such as tea, coffee, sisal, sugar-cane or pyrethrum.
2. Production for export/market: the crops are grown mainly for sale and export, not for subsistence.
3. Heavy capital investment: plantations require large capital for land, machinery, processing plants and infrastructure, and are often owned by companies or foreign investors.
4. Large, permanent labour force: they employ many hired workers and use scientific methods, fertilizers, pest control and irrigation.
5. On-site processing: the crop is usually partly processed on the estate (tea factories, sisal decorticators, sugar mills) before marketing, and estates are well organised with their own settlements and roads.

(b) Five factors that have favoured plantation agriculture in East Africa

1. Favourable climate: the highland areas have moderate temperatures and reliable rainfall suited to tea and coffee, while lowlands suit sisal and sugar.
2. Fertile volcanic soils in the highlands of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
3. Suitable relief: gently sloping, well-drained highlands and plains ease large-scale cultivation.
4. Availability of cheap, abundant labour from the dense local population.
5. Capital, foreign investment and colonial/company involvement, together with transport links (railways and roads) and access to export ports such as Mombasa.

(Also: ready overseas market demand and government/estate support.)