Subsistence agriculture is closely linked to a low level of economic development. We find it both in today's less developed countries and in the early stages of industrialised countries. Typically, subsistence agriculture is characterized by a low-external input level and low productivity (per land and/or per labour). In these situations agriculture is generally the dominant economic activity, thus allowing subsistence and agriculture to appear identical. The term "subsistence agriculture" is used synonymously with such concepts as traditional, small scale, peasant, low income, and resource poor, low-input or low technology farming. Many of these concepts are also used in non-economic disciplines with very different meanings