ABSTRACT
Commercial and state-directed systems are so dominant that agriculture is producing primarily for sale in all but the most backward and remote areas. In seeking a definition of subsistence agriculture, it seems more profitable to have regard to actual disposal of crops rather than to intention, and to consider cash sales relative to subsistence consumption, taking one year with another. One possibility might be the restriction of the term 'subsistence farmer' to one whose contribution to commerce is so small as to be barely measurable. The Zande scheme illustrates the risks inherent in interference with a system of agriculture which has grown up as part of a complete culture and a set of values quite different from those of a commercial and industrial society, however well-meant the scheme devised. Prior to the colonial era the culture of the Malays was based on rice supported by fruits, coconuts, vegetables and spices.
