Chapter 2: The Transformation of Agricuture

Chapter 2: The Transformation of Agricuture

CHAPTER 2: THE TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURE


The world was formed about 4,600 million years ago.the cukaryotic life forms appeared 3,600 million years later. the first hominid hunters and gatherers were recorded recently in comparison i,e about 4-7 million years ago.they have their oriigins in tropical east africa,present day chad ,ethiopia and kenya ,they first gathered wild fruits and hunted.later on plants and animals were domesticated.a social structure that promoted cooperation was established.this resulted in sharing knowledge on cultivation techniques and later on specialised skills related to domestication of particular plants or animals for food.

2.1 Prehistoric Era Through The Middle Ages And Domestic Of Plants And Animals 

Recorded history began about 7000 years ago in the tigris-euphrates  valley. before that period about 5000 years ago earlier human have already started farming during what  we called the pre-historic era.
Initially,grain crops such as wild rye,barley and wheat were cultivated. this was followed by cultivation of peas and beans. the sites where such activities originated were believed to be in:
a) Western Asia- includes Turkey (then Asia Minor), Iran and Iraq ( Fertile Crescent of Tigris Euphrates) Israel,Jordan,and Syria.
b) The Nile Valley
c) Europe ( Danube river valley and Macedonia)
d) Indus valley of India -Pakistan
e) Yangtze & Yellow River Valley of China
f) Tehuacan valley of Central Mexico

 Global agriculture transformation

Domestication of plants and animals was a milestone in early agriculture.full dependency did not begin until the middle Bronze Age when use of metal tools become widespread. Domestication involves deliberate husbandry and breeding of plants and animals.Breeding involves selection of desirable traits brought about by genetic changes.

Domestication animals are reared and used as working animals in the farm and also os sources of food (meat and milk),leather,and wool. these animals are hardy docile and non-territorial.
Large scale farming was started by the sumerians who were in the stage of empire building. there was similar expeansionary delevopment with the Nile valley inhabitanis. there were improvement in agriculture with the passage of time:
a) Rotating with legumes and root crops
b) Employing scientific method in agriculture research
c) Transfering crop and animal germplasms from their lands of origin
d) Using fuel powered machines to increase yield reduce labour
e) Introducing mechanisation
f) Performing rudimentary food-processing

Agriculture in the Middle Age (500-1500 A.D.)

Much of the advancement was made by the muslims during the golden era of Osmaniah. it took palce in the place in the near east,north africa and spain. revolution in agriculture was spearheaded by four key factor:
a) An advanced irrigation system that made use of machines,dams and reservoirs
b) A scientific approach to farming that adopted improved farming technique aided by published manuals that enabled raising of crops and animals away from place of organ.
c) Incentives in the form of land ownership,worker right and financial rewards commensurate with efforts.
d) Introduction of new crop and plant speceis and new cultivation techniques derived from research.

Modern Agriculture Transformation

It started in the 1950s when yield per land unit has increased many times more with tremendous improvement in agriculture practices.

The 20% century saw a rapid rise in mechanization that enabled farm activities to be performed with a speed and on scale never imagined before. this led to greater efficiency and higher quantity and quality of production. the green revolution has begun.this accurred between 1940s and 1960s.

Utilization of Human Labour,Animals,Machines, and Information and Biotechnology

This is a reiteration of the story of agriculture. as had been mentioned earlier,agriculture started with human labour (first confined to family members and later extended to hired hands) will heavy duties performed by animals.
Tools and machinery invented decreased burden and increased efficiency. however,some jobs cannot be replaced by machines such as picking fruits and vegetables,rubber tapping and harvesting iol palm fruits.
Agriculture has now moved into the fast lane. information technology enables quick dissemination of knowledge. innovative technologies such as remote sensing and precision farming help increased yields and varieties.genetic engineering creates transgenic life forms superior to their original versions. a brave new world has begun.

2.3 VALUES CUSTOMS AND TABOOS IN TRADITIONAL AND MODERN AGRICULTURE

2.3.1 Traditional Agriculture

 1. The food production = art and craft
2. Knowledge and skills are handed orally from one generation to the next
3. Food = survival for the community
4. No machinery. Human labour& animals
5. Labouris intensive
6. Control of pests and diseases is by cultural means.
7. Organic fertilizers &plant-microbsymbiosis in providing nutrients.
8. Use native varieties related to natural spirit residing in the plants.

Nomadic Agriculture

-Slash & burn
-Characteristics :
•Planting only for 2-3 seasons
•Customs & taboos
•Yield low
•Minimal fertilizer

Sedentary Agriculture:

-Cultivation on the same piece of land year in year
-Characteristics :
•Specific area by rural folks

2.3.2  Modern Agriculture

Two goals of Modern Agriculture systems
1. To obtain highest yields possible

2. To get the highest economic profit possible


Rely on findings in Biological Sciences
+ related sciences:
-chemistry (fertilizers & pesticides)
-physics(remote sensing)
-medicine and pharmacy(biotechnology)
-engineering(mechanization)
-ICT(transfer of agricultural technology
-economics(efficient farm management)
-literature(transfer of knowledge)

 1. Intensive and mass production
2. Extensive use of machinery and electronics
(land preparation => harvesting)
3. Extensive use of chemicals
(Fertilizers & pest control)
4. Widespread use of clones, hybrids and selected high yielding varieties.
5. Employment of highly knowledgeable and skilled workers.
6. Industrial approach with monocultural system and highly efficient management.
7. No tradition and taboos by professionals who manage the system.

Chapter 3: Agro-Ecological System

3.1 CLIMATE .WATER,SOIL AND HUMAN RESOURCES

Agricultural food production (crops,livestock and aquaculture) is strongly dependent on fertile soil and adequate water. it also requires suitable climatic conditions particulary temperature which is important for optimum production.without these conditions,farming activities are made difficult or
productivity is affected or may even become impossible.

Tropics
This region lies between the tropic of Capricorn in the south of the hemisphere. Between the two,lies the equator.
based on the amount of rainfall and temperature,the tropics can be further subdivided into super humid,humid and dry zoness. the humid and super humid zones are characterized by very high average daily ambient temperature and heavy rainfall that makes this region typically hot and humid throughout the year. the therefore favours abundant growth of vegetation (plants) throughout the year, the drier tropical zone may have lesser rainfall,but still favours growth of vegetation throughout the year.
Many agriculture activities are made possible with readily available water and suitable temperature. crops grown in large scales in the humid tropics include rubber,oil palm,cocoa,coconut and sugarcane.

Temperate
This climate is neither too warm nor too cold and wet not too dry. the weather,although not extreme is very changeable. four seasons can be identfied,a warm summer,a cool winter,and mild spring and autumn in between.
Typically,crops are usually planted in spring and harvested in summer like maize and wheat. however,with the advancement of science and technology in agriculture,many types of vegetable and flowers are grown continuously even during the cold winter season under controlled environment such as under shelter (glass-houses) making the vegetables and flowers available for consumers throughout the year.
in livestock farming the temperature and humidity in the tropical countries easily stress these animals. large cattle reared for milk and beef performed best in the temperature region.

Tundra
Tundra region is characterized by very low temperature and short growing season with little water and sunshine, there are three types of tundra,namely arctic,antartic and alpine.
The dominant vegetation is grasses,mosses and lichens. crops can hardly be grown. farming of crops and livestock are however possible,but in restricted enclosures with adequate water supply.

Deserts
These are landscape forms taht receive very little precipitation of less than 250 mm annually. the usually have an extreme diurnal temperature range very high in the day and extremely low at the night. vegetation is exceedingly scarce and the plants are xerophytic type. agriculture is made possible with sufficient irrigation for the supply of water.

WATER

Agriculture activity needs regular supply of clean water,either rain fed ( rain water) or irrigated. water is required for need germination,root development and subsequent growth.

it must be noted taht the earliest civiliszation started along the river banks like the Nile valley in Egypt and Tigris-Euphrates in Mesopotamia (present day iraq).Malaysia ,agro-ecological zones are partially based on the availability of water taht actually dictates the crops type suitably grown in the area. for example,southern penisular Malaysia has an average annual rainfall n excess of 3000 mm which makes the region most suitable for oil palm cultivation.in conttrast the kedah-perlis region receives < 2000 mm which makes it less suitable for oil palm but more suitable for rubber and mangoes.

SOIL

Soil is an important agriculture resource.from soil,plants obtain water and nutrients which ultimately are returned to the soil as indicated diagrammaticaly and briefly in the nutrient cycle.

Rain water falls to the ground is soaked up by the soil.nutrient elements which are diddolved in the water are taken up by plants.water moves from the roots the distributed throughout the plants.and is then lost through the process of evapotranspiration.as the plants grows some parts like the leaves become senescent and drop to the ground and become part of the soil as humus and organic matter. as these part decompose,nutrients are released back into the soil to be available again thus completing the nutrient cycle.

HUMAN RESOURCE

Agricultural production requires human resources with knowlegde and skills at different levels. this is particularly true in today's agriculture where there is strong science and technology based knowledge being applied in the farming practices.

Agriculture needs many scientists who conduct research from production level o processing and marketing. we also need teaching institutions of agriculture to produce graduates in numerous fields of specialization such as those associated with the environment,soils,plants,and animals. we also need supporting specialists such as extension specailist to pass the knowlwdgw to the operators in the fields,marketing specialists and the economists.

ENVIRONMENT

Global Agro-Ecological Zones

it is common knowledge that not all agricultural commodities can be produced in all regions in the world;

a) tundra (very cold climate,low biotic diversity,simple vegetation of mosses grasess,dwarf trees)

b) grasslands (the Amercan Prairies,Russian Steppes,African Savannah and Argentinian Pampas,low fertile land,mild climate,field crops such as soybeans,wheat,maize,and livestock.

c) deserts (very little precipitation,extreme diurnal temperature,barren land plants are xerophhytic,examples of the deserts are sahara (africa),kalahari (africa).,gobi (china) and arabia 

d)tropics (rain and sunshine all year round,rainforest,rubber,oil palm,cocoa,coconut and breadfruit)

IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGES

IMPACT OF POLLUTION