Hoe-farming is a term introduced (as ; as opposed to ''Ackerbau'') by Eduard Hahn in 1910 to collectively refer to primitive forms of

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, defined by the absence of the

plough A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden ...

Tillage Tillage is the agriculture, agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical wikt:agitation#Noun, agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of manual labour, human-powered tilling methods using hand tools inc ...

in hoe-farming cultures is done by simple manual tools such as digging sticks or hoes. Hoe-farming is the earliest form of agriculture practiced in the

Neolithic Revolution The Neolithic Revolution, also known as the First Agricultural Revolution, was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period in Afro-Eurasia from a lifestyle of hunter-gatherer, hunting and gathering to one of a ...

. Early forms of the plough ('' ard'') were introduced throughout the Near East ( Naqada II) and Europe ( Linear Pottery culture) by the 5th to 4th millennium BC. The invention spread throughout Greater Persia and parts of

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

, reaching

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

in the 2nd millennium BC ( Chinese Bronze Age). The parts of the world where agriculture was introduced but not the plough (in the case of the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

up to the introduction of plough-farming with European colonization) were named the hoe-cultivation belt () by Hahn (1914), followed by Werth (1954). The hoe-cultivation belt is mostly located in tropical latitudes, including

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

(but not the Horn of Africa, where the plough appears to have been introduced via Egypt),

Maritime Southeast Asia Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the Southeast Asian countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor. The terms Island Southeast Asia and Insular Southeast Asia are sometimes given the same meaning as ...

, and the pre-Columbian Americas. Hoe-farming often coincides with long fallow systems and shifting cultivation. Split hoes (also known as prong hoes, tined hoes or bent forks) are hoes that have two or more tines at right angles to the shaft. Their use is typically to loosen the soil, prior to planting or sowing. It provides the ability to cultivate effectively at small row distances. Split hoeing is contrasted to permanent plough-based cultivation systems and the intensification of agriculture. Hoe-farming may contain slash and burn clearance techniques, but they are not strictly necessary. Kienzle 2003 (se
online
It is usually embedded in the logic of

subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occu ...

References

* Eduard Hahn ''Niederer Ackerbau oder Hackbau?'' Globus 97, 1910, S. 202–204. * Eduard Hahn ''Von der Hacke zum Pflug''. Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig, 1914. * Eduard Hahn ''Die Haustiere und ihre Beziehungen zur Wirtschaft des Menschen'' (Leipzig, 1896). * Eduard Hahn: "Ackerbau". In: '' Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde'' (ed. Johannes Hoops, Straßburg 1911–1919), vol. 1, 17. * Eduard Hahn: "Hackbau". In: ''Reallexikon der Vorgeschichte'' (ed. Max Ebert, Berlin, 1924–1932) vol. 5, 12-13. * Emil Werth: ''Grabstock, Hacke und Pflug''. Ludwigsburg, 1954. * {{cite book , last=Ziller , first=Reinhart , title=Der Pflug. Geschichtliche Entwicklung und praktische Anwendung he plough. Historical development and practical application", location=Stuttgart , year=1974 , language=German , url=http://www.schulgarten.ch/texte/Pflug.pdf , ref=Zil74 , access-date=2008-07-11 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929125642/http://schulgarten.ch/texte/Pflug.pdf , archive-date=2007-09-29 , url-status=dead " History of agriculture Prehistoric agriculture Neolithic Agricultural revolutions Tropical agriculture

See also

References