ASE 101: INTRODUCTORY AGRICULTURE 3 CREDIT UNITS

1. The Agricultural systems of the world

2. Problems of generating agricultural typologies: arable land, cash crops,
permanent crops, etc
3. Factors that affect agriculture and environment
4. Meteorological studies and instrument used.
5. Solar, Chemical, physical and mechanical energies required in plant food
production
6. Food, farms,and factories technology in agriculture
7. Optional use of plants, plant parts, animals, animal parts and animal
products, forest resources, wild life, wood pulp, paper products, building and
wood furniture.
8. Forestation and erosion control. Fish, fisheries, fish breeding.
9. Rabbits, kind of fish and fish products.
10. Trends and problems in agricultural developments, possible solutions.

CLASSIFICATION OF WORLD AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM BY Whittlesey

Introduction:
Agriculture is the most fundamental from of human activity. An area or region
with similar functional attributes is termed as agricultural system as a widen term which
emphasize on the functional attributes. An agricultural system may be single farm or group
of interrelated farms having similarities of agricultural attributes.

Definition of Agriculture:
“Agriculture is defined as the purposeful tending of crops & livestock.”
--M. Carty & Limberg
Definition of Region:
“Region is that place on the earth surface which has some homogenous critea.”
--D. E. Jong
Definition of Agricultural Region:
“Agricultural Region is an uninterrupted area having some kind of homogeneity with
specifically defined outer limit.” ---Whittlesey (1936)
Whittlesey World Agricultural Systems/Region:
An area with similar functional attributes is as an agricultural region. The
demarcation of agricultural region is also seriously constrained by the none availability of
reliable data on the various aspects of agricultural patterns. The first scientific attempt for
the Whittlesey in his proper. Major agricultural regions of the Earth published in 1936
in the annals of Association of American geographers (vol.26: 199-240) Whittlesey in
his monumental paper delineated the agricultural system of the earth on the following five
characteristics of agriculture—
(1) The crop livestock association
(2) The methods used to grow the crops produce the stock
(3) The intensity of application to the land of labor capital organization the
out turn of product which results
(4) The disposal of the products for consumption
(5) The ensemble of structures used to house facilitate the faring operations
With the Boris of above indicators Whittlesey has identified the following types of
agricultural system regions—
1. Nomadic herding
2. Livestock ranching
3. Shifting cultivation
4. Rudimentary tillage
5. Intensive subsistence tillage (with paddy dominance)
6. Intensive subsistence tillage (without paddy dominance)
7. Commercial plantation
8. Mediterranean agriculture
9. Commercial grain farming
10. Commercial livestock and crop farming
11. Subsistence crop & livestock farming.
12. Commercial dairy farming
13. Specialized horticulture

A brief account of these agricultural regions is given below under separate heads.

(1) Nomadic Herding:

This is an extensive farm of animal grazing on natural pasturage involving
constant on seasonal migration of the nomads their flocks nomadic handing is confined to
rather sparsely populated parts of the world where the natural. vegetation is mainly grass.
Location:
Nomadic handing at present is mainly concentrated in Saharan Africa
(Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Libya, Algeria ). The south western central parts
of Asia the not pails of Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden , Finland ) northern
Canada.

Characteristics:

(a) Nomadic herding ism ecological or rear ecological systems of agriculture

It is carried mainly to produce food for the family to fulfill the needs of clothing shelter
recreation.
(b) It is a declining type of agriculture continues to become less important.
(c) The main characteristics of nomadic herding is the continued
movement of people with their livestock in search of forage for the
animals.
 (d) The Bedouin of Saudi Arabia the taurag of the Sahara also practice nomadic
herding in the desert semi desert areas of North Africa south west Asia.
(e) The chief characteristics of nomadic herding are described below--
➢ Seasonal pattern of movement.
➢ Many kinds of animals grazed.
➢ Transhumance.

(2) Livestock Ranching:

In the extensive temperate grasslands once named by nomadic herdsmen or by hunters arc
found permanent ranoles where large numbers of cattle sheep goats horses are kept.

Location:
Livestock ranching at present is manly located in the Americans, Australia, the
Republic of South Africa, Brazil Argentina, Peru, New Zealand the nearest equivalent to
nomadic herding is ranching.

Characteristics:
(a) The livestock ranchers specialize in animal husbanding to the exclusion of crop
raising even through both live in arid on semi-arid region.

(b) Tim livestock ranchers have fixed place of residence and operate as individuals
rather than with in a tribal organization.

(c) Livestock ranching differs farm nomadic herding in time important aspects.

➢ The vegetation cover is continuous.

➢ There is little or no migration.
➢ Ranches one scientifically managed.
➢ The animal’s arc rose for sale.
➢ Commercial grazing supports the development of town’s communications.

(3) Shifting Cultivation:

Shifting cultivation essentially this is a land rotation system. Farmers using
machetes or other bladed instruments chop away the undergrowth from small pat etches of
land. Then they kill the trees by cutting of a strip of bank completely around the truck.
Afton
the dead clean it farm the land. These cleaning techniques have gluten shifting cultivation
the name or slash and burn agriculture.

Location:
Shifting cultivations the primitive form of soil utilization usually a tropical
rainforests also tropical lowlands hills in the center America, Africa, and Southeast Asia,
Indonesia.

Characteristics:

(a) Shifting cultivation is called by different name in different parts of the world. It
is generally known as a slash burn and bush fallow agriculture. it, is variously termed as
ladang in Indonesia, Milpa in central America, Mohole in the Congo central Africa.
(b) The farmer grow food only for his family in this agriculture systems. Some
small surplus if any are exchanged on bartered (exchange of commodity for commodity)
or sold for crash in the neigh boning markets.
(c) Shifting cultivation has been described as an economy of which the main
chana etenistues arc rotation of fields rather than rotation of crops.
(d) In the hill tracts of north-Cast India Thinning is the dominant economic
activity. Our 86 percent of the people living on hill arc dependent on shifting cultivation.
(e) The shifting cultivations grow food grains-rice maize-millet- jobs-
beans- vegetables- soybean.

(4) Rudimentary Tillage:

Location:
Mostly confined to the tropical lands of Central & South America, Africa,
South- East Asia.

Characteristics:
(a) Crop rotation occurs most rather than field rotation.
(b) Potatoes, Sweet potatoes, Maize, Sorghum, Banana etc are grown.

(5) Intensive Subsistence Tillage (with paddy dominance):

This from of agriculture is best developed in partially confined to the monsoon
lands of Asia.
Location:
Intensive subsistence tillage dominated by paddy is practiced mostly in the
tropical Asia. It is carried on mainly in China. Japan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar,
Thailand, Srilanka, Malaysia, Philippines etc.
Characteristics:
(a) Farming is also intensive that double or treble cropping is practiced. That
is several crops are grown on the same land during the course of a year.
(b) Where only one crop of' paddy can be raised. The fields one normally
used in the dry season to raise other food or cash crop such as sugar tobacco on oil seeds
on the fiber crop jute.
(c) Asian farmer one now producing even greater yields per acre because of
the recent introduction to improved varieties of hybrid rice.

(6) Intensive Subsistence Tillage (without paddy dominance):

Location: It includes interior India and North-East China.
Characteristics:
(a) Land is intensively used & worked primarily by human power.
(b) Farming in these regions suffers from frequent crop failures & famines.
(c) Wheat, Soya bean, Barley, Kaoliang crops are grown.

(7) Commercial Plantation:

The specialized commercial cultivation of cosh or estates or
plantation is a very distinctive type of tropical agriculture is found many parts of world.
Location:
The term plantation agriculture was originally applied specifically to the British
settlements in America then to any Inga estate in north America , west India, south-east
Asia which was cultivated mainly by Negro or other colored
labor.

Characteristics:
(i) A plantation is a land holding devolved to the specialized production of one
tropical or subtropical crop raised for market.
 (ii) Climatic hazards' strong winds, topography, drainage soil vegetation
condition often handicap or many even prevent the development establishment of
plantation stct. Accessibility connectivity availability of labor difficulties of clearing
vegetation prevalence of discover sin sect pest , weeds, rapid deterioration of the tropical
soil , soil erosion are some of the main problem of plantation agriculture.
(iii) The plantation forms arc generally large and arc found mainly in the thinly
populated areas. The size of farm varies from 40 hectares in Malaya India, too 60000
hectares in Liberia. In these estates on large disciplined but unskilled labor force is
necessary.
(iv) Some of the main plantation crops are rubber, oil palm, cotton, copra,
beverages like coffee, tea, coco, fruits like pineapples, bananas, as well as sugar-cane jute.
(v) The continent wise analysis reveals that Asia is the leading producer of Jute
(96%), rubber (90%) tea (87%) coconut (37%) tobacco (46%) of the total world production
Asia share in the production of sugarcane is 39% that of banana , oil palm is 25% each
(Hussain 1996).
(vi) The characteristics features of commercial plantation may be
summarized as follows--
(a) Estate farming.
(b) Foreign ownership local labor.
(c) Fanning in estates is scientifically managed.

(8) Mediterranean Agriculture:

Within the Mediterranean climatic region where there is winter rain summer
drought a distinctive type of agriculture has evolved.
Location:
Agricultural typology is confined to the coastal areas the Mediterranean sea in
Europe, Asia, Minor, North African coastal strip. Outside the Mediterranean cost this
system is found in California (USA). Central Chile the south-cast of cape province (South
Africa) South-West of Western Australia.
Characteristics:
(a) This type of farming is also found in irrigated semi-descent descent
areas in similar latitudes.
(b) The agricultural landscape of Mediterranean region has been largely
affected by long day summers occurrence of rains during the winter season devices for
artificial irrigation during drought periods of summers.
(c) Traditional Mediterranean agricultural is bored on what barely cultivation
in the rainy wastes season raising drought resistant vine tree crops like the grape olive, fig,
small livestock herding particularly of sheep goats pigs.
(d) In recent times farmer have begun using irrigation ill 1 major way which
has led to the expansion of crops such as the citrus fruits.
(e) The Mediterranean land in fact the Orchard lands of the world the hart of
the worlds wine industry.

(9) Commercial Grain Farming:

Commercial grain farming is another market oriented type of agriculture in which
farmers specialize in growing wheat on less frequently rice or corn.
Location:
Great wheat belts stretch through Australia the plains of interior North America,
the steppes of Russia, the pampas of Argentina, together the United states, Canada farmer,
Soviet union.
Characteristics:
(i) The commercial vain fanning is basically extensive. The main
characteristics of these systems are--
(a) Big farm size
(b) Comprehensive use of heavy machines
(c) Low use of irrigation fertilizer
(d) Low production rate
(e) Long distance of farm from market.
(ii) Widespread use of machinery enables commercial grain farmer to operate on
this large scale indeed plan ting harvesting grain is more completely mechanized than any
other form of agriculture.
(iii) Wheat is the main crop; Mize, Barleys, oat ore another important crops. The
wheat production regions are divided into two belts.
(a) Winter wheat belt.
(b) Spring wheat belt.
 (10) Commercial Livestock & Crop Farming:
Location:
It is found throughout Europe from h eland in the West through central Europe
to Russia. It is also found in north America cast at 98'o meridian in the pampas or
Argentina, Southeast Australia, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand.

Characteristics:
(a) The main characterized of the mixed farming arc that farms produce
both crops livestock the tow enterprises interwove a integrated.
(b) Mixed farms one characterized by high expenditure on machinery
farm building extensive use of machinery arm buildings fertilizers also by the skill experts
of farmers who need to know about all aspects of farming to grow market their range of
product successfully.
(c) Mixed farming is essentially associated wilt the density populated.
Urbanized industrialized societies dependent. A upon high incomes for the sale or its
products upon manufacturers industry for the provision of its inputs.
(d) In mixed farming a number of crops one grown. Crenels dominate the
cropland use the leading grain varying with climate soil. A large portion of cereals is fed to
animals on the farms on sold to Maim factures of feeding stuff. Livestock feed on crop
grown on the farm graze the post wire.

(11) Subsistence Crop & Livestock Farming:

Location:
Northern Europe, Middle East, Mountain region of Mexico.

Characteristics:
(a) Produced crops & raised livestock mainly used for own subsistence.
(b) Traditional way of farming.
(c) Seeds are poor quality & animals are poorly husbanded.
(d) Capital input is normally unknown.
(e) Wheat, Maize, Rye, Barley etc are the main crops.
(f) Sheep and Goats are the most important animal.
(12) Commercial Dairy Farming:
Location:
The rearing of the cattle for milk, milk products (butter, cheep, condensed, dried
milk etc) is known on daily farming. It is mainly practiced in Europe, Northern USA,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, France, and
Switzerland. It contributes 40% of agricultural income.

Characteristics:
(i) Dairying is capital intensive farming. A modern dairy farm needs long here's
from the farming huge amounts for the development of infrastructural facilities capital is
required for the punch ore of mechanical equipments like milking machines milk freezers,
feeding towers, born silos for the storage of fodder for winters.
(ii) The size of cattle in dairies varies from country to country from farm to farm
depending on the size of holding. In the United Kingdom for example the ratio of cattle
pasture is one cow after one acre. The average size of dairy cattle in north-west Europe is
only five cows per farm.
(iii) Nearly 80% of the total milk production of the world is produced in Europe,
Russia, Anglo America, Australia, New Zealand (Hussain 1996).
(iv) Modern method of daily farming cattle breeding herd management allow high
yields of dairy products. A cow in temperate latitudes under normal healthy conditions
yield or much as 3000kg of milk pen year.

(13) Specialized Horticulture:

Specialized cultivation of vegetables, fruits, flowers is called horticulture.
Location:
Horticulture is well developed in the densely populated industrial districts of
north-west Europe, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy.
Characteristics:
(i) In horticultural the farms arc small such farms arc located where
communication links the consumption centers arc appreciably good. The land fruits'
vegetable gardening is very intensively cultivated. Soil fertilizers Mimi oldie work is done
by hand labor.

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 (ii) The market gardens are scientifically managed to achieve optimum yields hand
some returns.
(iii) The important vegetation region are California Rio Ground boring of Texas
Florida Netherlands, Rhone valley etc. fruits regions are west of Paris , Rhine valley lake
region of Switzerland, Mendoza, Sanjuam of Argentina etc. (grapes production ) south
western Germany (apple).
(iv) Besides south Arab, Iraq for date. India, South-East Asia for spices, pineapple,
mango etc.

Conclusion:

By agriculture many of the necessities of life especially food, drink, fibers is

produced. In this modern period, most of people are depends on agriculture for this food
livelihood. But at this stage, many portion of the world suffers from food deficiency. So, a
modern cultivation method should apply for achieving sufficiency in food.

Factors that affect Agriculture

Farming is the practice of keeping animals and growing crops for raw materials and food. It
is an important aspect of agriculture. Started centuries ago, agriculture is as old mankind, but
nobody knows its exact age. Farming in the early century gave rise to the Neolithic
Revolution. It was an era when people stopped nomadic hunting to start settlements that later
grew into large cities.
Domestication of animals and agriculture are believed to have begun in the Fertile Crescent.
The Crescent is made up of the Levant, the Nile Valley, and Mesopotamia. The area is today
occupied by Israel, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. The first crops to be
grown include barley and wheat.
It means agriculture began slowly with just a handful of crops, with most foods gathered in
the wild. Changes in soil and weather could have supported farming and its continued
growth. Unlike hunting, farming can feed more people in the same area of land. Although
agriculture was mainly done for subsistence purposes in the early days, it has grown to
include commercial farming.
Agriculture has also grown to include various techniques such as crop rotation, fencing, the
use of fertilizers, plantation, weeding, ranching, and breeding, among others. The techniques
are meant to increase farm production and output for higher returns. Similarly, farming is
now widespread worldwide based on various factors. The following are major factors
affecting farming worldwide:
Top 3 Factors Affecting Farming
1. Economic Factors Affecting Farming
Farming is an old practice, but its modern forms are affected by various distinct economic
factors. The farming environment today is economically complex and competitive. It allows
farmers worldwide to choose what to grow from what’s produced globally. On the other
hand, governments offer financial incentives to farmers on specific types of crops.
Most farmers are affected by weather and economic factors. However, some are independent
and thus able to develop markets through innovative strategies and direct sales. Subsidies,
commodity prices and immigration laws and labour are the major economic factors affecting
farming.

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Subsidies – Farmers receive subsidies from the government to support the growth of
commodity crops such as soy and corn. The modern federal agricultural policy assumes that
mass production through farming keeps the prices of food low. As a result, it benefits the
economy.
Theoretically, the policy offers farmers an economic stability measure. It also ensures
consumers have access to affordably-priced food products processed from the commodity
crops. Farmers are also encouraged to make sure there is an oversupply of a few types of
crops. Such crops are required to generate money for growing processed foods despite the
prevailing conditions on the market.
Commodity Prices – Weather, investor speculation and demand for non-food (such as
biofuels) and food crops influence the price of main commodity crops such as soy and corn.
Commodity crops earn farmers losses or profits based on the prevailing price of output that
industrial buyers are willing to pay.
Moreover, international economic factors such as the strength or weakness of the dollar also
affect commodity prices. This happens because American farmers don’t just compete with
other local farmers, but also growers spread across the world.
Immigration Laws and Labour – Poorly paid labour in the form of migrant farmers are at
the core of mainstream agriculture. The migrant labourers often live illegally in the country
and thus accept the lowly-paying jobs that American citizens are unwilling to take up. There
is a need for workers who can work for low pay, a practice customary in the agricultural
field, for Americans to continue enjoying the low food prices, they’re accustomed to.
Immigration laws affect farming because they influence labour availability, including labour
laws responsible for allowing or disallowing wages paid for subsistence farming.
Available transportation facilities or networks, cost of land, capital and markets are other
economic factors that affect farming in different ways.
2. Climatic Factors Affecting Farming
Climatic factors such as light, water, and rainfall, temperature, air, relative humidity and
wind also affect farming in various ways. Just like other abiotic elements of environmental
factors such as soil and topography, they influence how crops grow and develop.
Light – Light is critical in plant photosynthesis (the process of manufacturing food in plants
as sugars) and chlorophyll (the green pigment in plants) production. Light also influences
phototropism, mineral absorption, stomatal movement, translocation, photomorphogenesis,
and abscission. The intensity (degree or level of light brightness a plant receives), quality
(specific light wavelengths) and day length (the duration plants receive light in a day) of
light affect plant growth and development.
Water and Rainfall – Water promotes animal and plant life. The availability of water
affects crop growth and development, and thus yield. Water irrigation can double farm
yields, increasing the number of crops grown in a single year. However, different crops
require varying amounts of water to grow and develop.
Just like snowfall, freezing rain, hail, ice pellets or sleet, rainfall is a type of precipitation.
The frequency and amount of rainfall vary based on the prevailing type of climate and
location. Water and rainfall determine the specific vegetation type that dominates and grows
in any specific location. Therefore, they affect the growth and yield of crops.
Temperature – Temperature is the degree or level of coldness or hotness of a substance,
expressed in centigrade (C) or degree Celsius and degree Fahrenheit (F). It affects various
growth processes in crops such as seed dormancy breakage, photosynthesis, transpiration,
respiration, protein synthesis, seed germination, and translocation. Plants mature earlier in
hot areas with high temperatures because photosynthate translocation occurs faster.
Crops require a general temperature range of 0 to 50 degrees Celsius. Different crops have
varying optimal or favourable temperature range during the night or day for growth and
optimal yields. Temperature rise increases chemical reaction rates and enzyme activity in
crops. Every 10 C increase in temperature can double enzymatic reactions in plants.
However, extremely high temperatures denature proteins and enzymes.

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On the other hand, extremely high temperatures limit the growth and development of crops.
As an example, low soil temperature inhibits water absorption because water is less mobile
and more viscous with less permeable plant protoplasm. Furthermore, water solidifies and
expands if temperatures drop below the freezing point, rupturing plant cell walls.
Air – Air in the troposphere comprise 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen and 1% argon gases,
including carbon dioxide and traces of other gases. Crops require oxygen during respiration
to produce energy used in different plant growth and development processes. During
photosynthesis, plants require carbon dioxide to manufacture food.
Relative Humidity – The temperature of the air determines the amount of water vapour it
can hold. Warm air can retain more water vapour than cold air. Whenever there is a 10 C
decrease in temperature, the amount of water vapour the air can hold reduces by almost half.
Relative humidity means the amount of water vapour air can hold at any given temperature.
Air humidity is 5% in the humid tropical areas and 0.01% in the frigid poles.
Whereas air with high relative humidity is moist, dry air has low RH. Air with high humidity
levels contains water vapour in large amounts for every unit of air volume. Relative humidity
influences the closing and opening of stomata responsible for regulating water loss in crops
through photosynthesis and transpiration.
RH also affects crop propagation. Bare root seedlings and plant cuttings are enclosed in
plastic bags to prevent desiccation. Leaf and stem cuttings are also kept in plastic tens and
propagation chambers to increase the relative humidity in the air.
Wind – Wind is moving air resulting from differences in heating and pressure gradients.
Movement of large masses of air and the jet stream flow make up a global scale of air
movement. Local air movement is small in scale. Less turbulent and lower surface winds
occur at night because there is no heat from the sun.
Air closer to the ground cools, and contracts then increase in pressure. It expands and
reduces in pressure when it warms up. Cold air flows to displace hot air from high-pressure
zones to low-pressure areas. As a result, it balances the air pressure. This occurs on shores,
over lakes and in tropical Asia where the monsoon winds take place.
Air promotes pollination, hence fruit and seed development. Gas exchanges in crops occur in
moderate winds. However, strong winds can foster water loss and toppling or lodging or
crops. Eventually, strong winds hamper plant photosynthesis due to little to no carbon
dioxide diffusion into leaves when stomata partially or fully closed. Therefore, strong winds
could result in poor crop growth and yield.
3. Physical/Environmental Factors Affecting Farming
Various factors in the natural environment affect farming. Topography, soil, and climate are
the major physical factors affecting farming.
Topography/Relief – Topography relates to how difficult it is to till the land, soil erosion,
and poor transportation networks and facilities. Agriculture can be mechanized depending on
the topography of land to be used. It’s impossible to use farm machinery on sloppy land or
rough, hilly slopes. Mountain slopes can be terraced in areas with high-pressure soil such as
China.
Climate – Climatic factors such as rainfall and temperature affect farming as discussed
above.
Soil – Crops thrive in rich, loamy soils with proper drainage. Crops absorb food and water
through their roots from the soil. They also enjoy plant support. Soils with poor texture and
harsh chemicals are low in productivity. Therefore, poor soils inhibit plant growth and
development.
Other important factors affecting farming across the globe include education or knowledge
of farming, technology, political factors such as government policies and social factors such
as land ownership and inheritance and type of farming in practice.

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 REFERENCES

Grigg B.D. (1974), “Agricultural System of the World; An Evolutionary Approach”,

Cambridge University Press Ltd, New York.
(http://books.google.com.bd/books?id=16ejysyRCgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_a
tb#v=onepage&q&f=false) retrieved on 20/07/12 at 11 pm

Husain M. (2004), “Systematic Agricultural Geography”, Rawat Publications,

Agricultural systems

A population of individual farm systems that have broadly similar resource bases, enterprise
patterns, households livelihoods and constrains and for which similar development strategies
and interventions would be appropriate. Agricultural systems have evolved from traditional to
modern agricultural systems. Traditional methods constitute with crop rotation, tradition
irrigation, hand pruning as a control of weed. Modern agriculture constitute of agronomy, plant
breeding, agrochemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) and technological improvement

Green revolution

This is described as the great increase in production of food grains (as rice and wheat) due to the
introduction of high-yielding varieties, to the use of pesticides, and to better management
techniques.
 Food sovereignty

The right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically
sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agricultural
systems.

Food security

A condition related to the supply of food and individuals access to it. It is a measure of
resilience to future disruptions or unavailability of critical food supply due to various risk factors
including drought, shipping disruptions, fuel shortages, economic instability and wars.

Food insecurity

Food insecurity is a situation of “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and

safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways
(according to the United States)

Causes of food insecurity

Causes of food insecurity will be discussed, which include

i) Climate change
ii) Post harvest losses
iii) Population increase
iv) Drought and other extreme weather events
v) Pest and diseases
vi) Cash crop dependence
vii) Aids, corruption and political instability
 Biotechnology

There are several definitions of biotechnology for instance, the manipulation of natural biosystems
with multiple disciplines for human benefits. In namely:

-agriculture

-environment

-forestry

-medicine

-industries

Biotechnology has also been defined as any technique that uses living organisms, or substances
from those organisms to make or modify a product, to improve plants or animals or to develop
micro organisms for specific uses.

Plant cell and tissue culture, molecular biology, biochemistry and plant breeding are basically the
main pillars of biotechnology and further interaction with other disciplines can be achieved
depending on the nature of the project.

For example: The main pillars of biotechnology for improving industrially important tree species in
the developing countries like acacia spp., Albizzia spp., Azadirachta indica etc

Woody legumes can be the predominant species in certain ecosystems, especially in the
 1
tropics and their impact is immense in the tropical rainforests including the impact of
substantial amount of nitrogen fixed through the symbiotic association between legumes and
Rhizobium . There are many other benefits of the woody legumes.
Tissue culture offers great potential for the rapid multiplication of elite lines in large –scale
.2
production This technology is important for woody plants that have long maturation periods
or ar difficult to multiply through conventional means. Several important woody plant species
(legumes, conifers etc) cannot be improved through selection of elite trees for seed production
owing to self –incompatibility or low seed viability.

The most commonly used tissue culture methods in forest biotechnology are:

i) Micropropagation
ii) Somatic embryogenesis
iii) Haploid production
iv) Somaclonal variation
v) Cryopreservation
vi) Somatic cell hybridization

Another example is the biopharmaceuticals which can combine ethnobotany, microbiology,

chemistry etc disciplines. Biotechnology is responsible for recent rapid development of many
new drugs. The pharmaceutical industry has shifted the former emphasis on chemical drug
discovery and synthesis to drug discovery and development using the methodology of
biotechnology. The term "biopharmaceuticals" reflects this approach. Many biotechnology
companies now work with major pharmaceutical companies because of their experience in
clinical testing, regulation, and marketing, all major activities necessary to bring a new
biotechnology drug to the public.

Impact of Biotechnology

Biotechnology has innovative technologies that deploys a smart mix of farming techniques
using genetic engineering.
Integrating these to small holders farming system will offer a bright prospect of meeting the
growers demand for food by improving both yield and nutritional quality of crops and reducing
environmental impact.

The technologies employed in biotechnology are the primary focus of the knowledge and skills
offered in the comprehensive academic Cell and Molecular Biology (CMB) courses.

The CMB major consists of a core sequence of five courses that provide the backbone of
knowledge and skills used in biotechnology. In addition, a selection of cell and molecular
biology-based elective courses allows students to gain additional knowledge and skills which
prepare them for specific careers or satisfy particular interests. The core sequence and many of
the elective courses include:

1. learning and refining "hands on" laboratory skills.

2. The use of various databases begins in Genetics with a laboratory and Biomolecular
Interactions, and culminates in Molecular Biology and Recombinant DNA Techniques

3. A specific elective course in Bioinformatics extends the student's core sequence

experiences in utilizing various databases and biomedical resources.

For students expecting to find employment in biotechnology, a course in Biotechnology is

available as an elective. This course is designed to help students transition from the
environment of academia into the world of business and industry.

For the example above, it just shows one aspect of courses offered in the University depending on
the particular area of biotechnology the student intends to end up with. These are basic
interrelated courses, however, the final course of Biotechnology is the course that helps the
student to transit from the world of academia to a world of business of choice. Therefore the
Biotechnology elective course for this reason will depend on the area of interest. That is, for
example, agricultural biotechnology for instance or medical biotechnology.
Biotechnology has proved valuable to agriculture in three main aspects:

a) Improved tolerance to biotic stresses, such as plaques and diseases which lead to
reduction in the use of agrochemicals

b) Resistance to herbicides that favored soil conservation practices and opened

opportunities for novel farming systems

c) Improved and diversified quality of agricultural products. These environments are a

reality now partly because the relevant traits have a relatively simple inheritance
and involve a few genes which are integrated in linear small networks, the G x E is
small; there are no major scaling up or trade off issues (Struik et al., 2007). In
contrast, the contribution of biotechnology to the increment in crop yield potential
and yield stability is much more relegated because of its complex genetic and
physiological mechanisms, strong G x E interactions (Compos et al., 2004).

Therefore, the new biotechnologies could play an important role in plant and animal
breeding if integrated with physiology, molecular biology and breeding. knowledge
in improving agricultural output

References

1. Trigiano RN, Geneve RL, Nerkle SA (1992). Hort Revs. 14:265-331

2. Kerns HR, Meyer MM Jr. (1986). Tissue Culture Propagation of Acer x freemanii
using thidiazurou to stimulate shoot tip prolification. Hort. Sci. 21:1209-1210
3. Thieman William J, and Michael Angelo Palladino. (2004) Introduction to
Biotechnology. San Francisco: Pearson/Benjamin Cummings.

4. Hallauer AR, (2007). History, Contribution, and Future of Quantitative Genetics in

Plant Breeding: Lessons From Maize. CropSci. Vol. 47: 4-19
5. Blum A, (2005). Drought resistance, water-use efficiency, and yield potential—are they
compatible, dissonant, or mutually exclusive?.Australian Journal of Agricultural
Research. Vol 56, 1159–1168
 6. Struik PC, Cassman KG, Koornneef M (2007). A dialogue on interdisciplinary
collaboration to bridge the gap between Plant genomics and crop Sciences. In:
Spiertz JHJ, Struik PC, Van Laar HH (eds). Scale and Complexity in plant
systems research: gene- plant-crop relations. Springer Dordrecht, pp 319-328

The early history of agriculture

There are few subjects in which there have been such great changes in recent years as the
prehistory of agriculture; and probably few in which there will be greater changes in the near
future. Fortunately our only purpose here is to describe those features of the early history of
agriculture which are relevant to an understanding of the development of modern types of
agriculture.

Agriculture is generally understood to mean both the cultivation of crops and the rearing of
livestock, and thus the beginnings of agriculture go back to the first domestication of plants
and animals. It is helpful to make a distinction between ‘seed’ agriculture and ‘vegeculture’.
The latter refers to plants reproduced by vegetative propagation, mainly tropical roots such
as taro, manioc, yams, sweet potatoes and arrowroot. In tropical vegeculture rhizomes have
to be cut from the growing plant and individually planted. There is less need to completely
clear the natural vegetation; if a mixture of roots is grown, crops may be harvested, by
digging up each root individually, over a long period, rather than at one specific time; there is
thus less need for storage. Most tuber-growing communities also collected the fruits of trees
such as bananas or coconuts, and little more than protection, rather than domestication, was
necessary to provide a food supply.

In seed agriculture, which includes of course the cereals which are now the staple food
crops in all but a few parts of the world, more initial clearance of vegetation is necessary,
seed is sown en masse and harvested in one short period.

Arable definitions

The definition of arable is land with soil that will be able to support the growth of

crops. An example of land that is arable is that on which you can see corn
growing. ... An example of arable is a working vineyard.

Agricultural land
Agriculture

Agricultural land is defined as the land area that is either arable, under permanent crops, or
under permanent pastures. Arable land includes land under temporary crops such as cereals,
temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land
temporarily fallow. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded. Land under
permanent crops is cultivated with crops that occupy the land for long periods and need not be
replanted after each harvest, such as orchards and vineyards. This category excludes land
under trees grown for wood or timber. Permanent pasture is land used for five or more years for
forage, including natural and cultivated crops. This indicator is presented as a total and per type
of agricultural land and is measured in hectares and in percentage. Other agro-environmental
indicators include Organic farmland and Transgenic cropland.

Arable and permanent crop land is the total of “arable land” and “land
under permanent crops”. Arable land is the land under temporary crops,
temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen
gardens and land temporarily fallow (for less than five years); and land
under permanent crops is the land cultivated with crops that occupy the
land for long periods and need not be replanted after each harvest.