Plantation economy
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
A plantation economy is an economy based on agricultural mass production, usually of a few staple products grown on large farms called plantations. Plantation economies rely on the export of cash crops as a source of income. Prominent plantation crops included cotton, rubber, sugar cane, tobacco, figs, rice, kapok, sisal and species in the genus Indigofera, used to produce indigo dye. The longer a crop's harvest period, the more efficient plantations become. Economies of scale are also achieved when the distance to market is long and when the crop's size is reduced. Plantation crops also differ in that they usually need processing immediately after harvesting. Sugar, tea sisal and palm oil are most suited to plantations, while coconuts, rubber and cotton are suitable to a lesser extent.
See also
- Banana republic
- History of commercial tobacco in the United States
- History of sugar
- Tropical agriculture
- Zanj Rebellion
- Plantations in the American South
