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Sustainability
Sustainability
Contour ploughing: Sloping land is ploughed across the slope, following the
contour lines of the land. This allows rainwater runoff to collect in the furrows and
contributes to soil and water conservation.
Furrowing: Creating long, narrow trenches in the ground for planting seeds. This
practise is common when crops are planted in rows so that irrigation can be used.
Terrace farming: Occurs when small patches of flat land in hilly areas are created.
This is achieved by building small steps into the side of a mountain to prevent
mudflows, and reduce soil erosion, while conserving nutrients.
Crop rotation: Alternating crops that require lots of nutrients from the soil with
those that add nutrients into the soil e.g legumes.
Food shortages
Causes:
1 Climate such as drought (especially in tropical desert areas), floods, and tropical
cyclones
4 Changing land use: increase in use of land for biofuels reduces food output.
Solutions:
- Use of hybrid seed varieties or genetically modified (GM) crops that bring
higher yields
- Use a variety of different crops and crop rotation to reduce soil exhaustion
- Education and training of farmers in new methods of cultivation
- Short term food aid from international organizations like the world food
programme (WFP).
Definition
Also known as the third agricultural revolution, it is the great increase in production
of food grains (such as rice and wheat) due to the introduction of high-yielding
varieties, to the use of pesticides, and to use better agricultural management
techniques.
Successes:
Failures:
- Poorest farmers can not afford to take risks, so unlikely to try new techniques