Question:

"Market gardening is labour- and capital-intensive." Support the statement with examples.

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Remember: Market Gardening focuses on high-value, perishable goods (flowers, fresh veg) that need delicate handling (labour) and expensive setups (capital).
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
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Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Concept
Specialized commercial agriculture intended for urban markets.

Step 2: Meaning

Market gardening involves the specialized cultivation of high-value crops like vegetables, fruits, and flowers, requiring massive inputs to maximize yield on small plots of land.

Step 3: Analysis


Labour-Intensive: Growing delicate crops requires constant manual care. Tasks such as planting, weeding, pruning, harvesting, and carefully packing fruits and flowers require heavy human labour rather than bulk machinery.
Capital-Intensive: Farms are usually small but located near expensive urban areas. Farmers must invest heavily in high-quality seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, greenhouses, artificial heating/cooling, and rapid transportation networks (like refrigerated trucks) to prevent spoilage.
Examples: The massive cultivation of tulips in the Netherlands is a prime example of high-capital, high-labour market gardening. Similarly, farms located on the outskirts of major European and North American cities supplying daily fresh produce are highly intensive.

Step 4: Conclusion

The necessity to produce high-quality, perishable goods rapidly for demanding urban markets makes market gardening highly dependent on both skilled labour and high financial investment.
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