Concept:
- Pressure on land can be measured by asking a simple question: what happens to a farm when the number of people sharing it keeps rising while the land itself stays the same.
- Tracing the consequences one after another supports the statement without needing to repeat it.
Step 1: First consequence, the farm gets divided.
Land passes to the next generation under the right of inheritance, so one holding becomes several. Repeat this over two or three generations and each share becomes so small that it can no longer support a family on its own. The holding turns uneconomical.
Step 2: Second consequence, labour replaces land.
A farmer who cannot add more land adds more effort instead. Every member of the household works on the field, weeding, transplanting and harvesting by hand. This is why the system is described as labour intensive.
Step 3: Third consequence, the soil is pushed hard.
To lift output from the same plot, farmers apply high doses of biochemical inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides, and depend on irrigation rather than waiting for rain. The aim is to take more than one crop a year from the same field.
Step 4: Fourth consequence, the farmer cannot leave.
Shifting out would need another source of income, and in these regions there is none. So even an uneconomical holding continues to be cultivated at full stretch, because the alternative is no income at all.
Step 5: What the four consequences prove together.
Shrinking holdings, heavy manual labour, forced use of inputs and the absence of any escape all follow from one cause, too many people on too little land.
Final Answer: Each feature of intensive subsistence farming, from tiny holdings to heavy labour and heavy inputs, is a direct result of a large population depending on a limited area, which supports the statement fully.