The form of commercial farming where crops are grown for profit is known as plantation agriculture. Large land areas are much needed for this sort of agriculture farming. In our country it was introduced by the Europeans in colonies situated in the tropics. Roughly, the important plantation crops are sugarcane, bananas, coffee, tea, cocoa, oil palm, rubber, cotton, and pineapples. The important features of this type of farming are a large capital investment, cheap labour, scientific methods of cultivation, large estates or plantations, managerial and technical support, single crop specialisation, and a good system of transportation. This links the estates to the factories and markets for the export of the products.
The French established cocoa and coffee plantations in West Africa. Britishers set up rubber estates in Malaysia, large tea gardens in India and Sri Lanka, and sugarcane and banana plantations in West Indies. Extensive Commercial Grain Cultivation in crops like coconut and sugar cane plantations in the Philippines are mainly invested by Spanish and Americans. It is a method of commercial farming where the main purpose is to earn profit through crops. One required big land areas for this type of agriculture. The tropical climate is the important thing in this type of farming, therefore countries that have plantation agriculture usually experience high annual temperatures and obtain heavy downpour. Plantation agriculture has its roots in the past. A number of plantations were set up by westerners and their companies at the early stages of the 18th and 19th centuries. They employed either local or foreign workers who were willing to work for a small wage. Like for e.g., many workers from India are employed in the rubber plantations set up by the British in Malaysia. These days, the majority of the plantations are possessed by the local governments or multinationals.