This question was popularly attempted by the candidates and their performance was good in the (a) aspect of the question. However, they did not perform so well in the    ( b) and (c) aspects of the question. The advantages of subsistence agriculture include:
-     low cost of land preparation
-     cheap family labour
-     ease of practice because of small farm size
-     mixed cropping ensures food security
-     mixed cropping checks erosion/leaching
-     burning adds ash to enrich the soil
-     land regains fertility after period of fallow
-     non-application of artificial fertilizers
-     non-application of pesticides
-     crops are normally natural and non-genetically modified
-     little capital is needed
-     folder for livestock
The disadvantages of subsistence agriculture are:

• burning  destroys soil organisms
• burning alters soil structure
• farm sizes are small and may not support large families/communities
• requires much human energy to practice
• easy spread of diseases
• unreliable family labour
• easy spread of pests
• burning results in deforestation and environmental degradation
• low yield
• cannot be practiced in highly populated areas