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 Grading System

Module — 50%

Projects/ Output — 30%

Participation, Quizzes, Assignment and Exam — 20%

Course Requirements:

 Students are expected to read the text materials and answer the following activities in
order for them to intelligently participating in class discussion.

The computation of final grades at the end of each semester abides by the following
structure of percentage:
GRADE EQUIVALENT

RANGE EQUIVALENT

99-100 1.00
96-98 1.25
93- 95 1.50
90-92 1.75
87-89 2.00
84-86 2.25
81-83 2.50
78-80 2.75
75-77 3.00
74 and Below FAILED
DRP DROPPED

*Without Laboratory

Introduction Message:

Agriculture plays a great role in our everyday leaving today. It is the source of our life
because of the food that sustains our needs. By learning the history of agriculture particularly
in the Philippines and its neighboring country you will be able to identify kinds of agricultural
techniques of our ancient people and its history that leads to their present sustainable activity
in agriculture.

This module will help you to enrich your basic knowledge about the Philippine and Asia
agriculture, this aims to answer your inquiry and satisfy your course requirement even in the
face of pandemic.

As a student your great interest and active participation in the teaching learning process
is highly encourage for the success of this “new normal” of education. Hoping that in the light
of positive approach we will surpass all the challenge and obstacle that hinders our way for a
brighter future, and let’s get inspired as what Mahatma Gandi said that “the future depends on
what you to today” so, never stop there’s much ways to learn something instead of seating and
lying down all day and doing nothing.

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 Unit I
The Start of Agriculture
Lesson Introduction:
Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil, growing crops and raising
livestock. It includes the preparation of plant and animal products for people to use and
their distribution to markets. Agriculture provides most of the world’s food and fabrics.
Cotton, wool, and leather are all agricultural products. Agriculture also provides wood
for construction and paper products. These products, as well as the agricultural
methods used, may vary from one part of the world to another.

Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the lesson students shall be able to:

a. Explain what is agriculture and its importance

b. Discover the start of agriculture

Lesson 1: Start of Agriculture

Over centuries, the growth of agriculture contributed to the rise of civilizations.

Before agriculture became widespread, people spent most of their lives searching for food
—hunting wild animals and gathering wild plants. About 11,500 years ago, people gradually
learned how to grow cereal and root crops, and settled down to a life based on farming.

By 2,000 years ago, much of the Earth’s population had become dependent on
agriculture. Scholars are not sure why this shift to farming took place, but it may have occurred
because of climate change.

When people began growing crops, they also began herding and breeding wild animals.
Adapting wild plants and animals for people to use is called domestication.

The first domesticated plant was probably rice or corn. Chinese farmers were cultivating
rice as early as 7500 BCE.

The first domesticated animals were dogs, which were used for hunting. Sheep and goats
were probably domesticated next. People also domesticated cattle and pigs. Most of these
animals had once been hunted for hides and meat. Now many of them are also sources of
milk, cheese, and butter. Eventually, people used domesticated animals such as oxen for
plowing, pulling, and transportation.

Agriculture enabled people to produce surplus food. They could use this extra food when
crops failed or trade it for other goods. Food surpluses allowed people to work at other tasks
unrelated to farming.

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 Agriculture kept formerly nomadic people near their fields and led to the development of
permanent villages. These became linked through trade. New economies were so successful
in some areas that cities grew and civilizations developed. The earliest civilizations based on
intensive agriculture arose near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia (now Iraq and
Iran) and along the Nile River in Egypt.

For thousands of years, agricultural development was very slow. One of the earliest
agricultural tools was fire. Native Americans used fire to control the growth of berry-producing
plants, which they knew grew quickly after a wildfire. Farmers cultivated small plots of land by
hand, using axes to clear away trees and digging sticks to break up and till the soil. Over time,
improved farming tools of bone, stone, bronze, and iron were developed. New methods of
storage evolved. People began stockpiling foods in jars and clay-lined pits for use in times of
scarcity. They also began making clay pots and other vessels for carrying and cooking food.

Around 5500 BCE, farmers in Mesopotamia developed simple irrigation systems. By

channeling water from streams onto their fields, farmers were able to settle in areas once
thought to be unsuited to agriculture. In Mesopotamia, and later in Egypt and China, people
organized themselves and worked together to build and maintain better irrigation systems.

Early farmers also developed improved varieties of plants. For example, around 6000
BCE, a new variety of wheat arose in South Asia and Egypt. It was stronger than previous
cereal grains; its hulls were easier to remove and it could be made into bread.

As the Romans expanded their empire, they adapted the best agricultural methods of the
people they conquered. They wrote manuals about the farming techniques they observed in
Africa and Asia, and adapted them to land in Europe.

The Chinese also adapted farming tools and methods from nearby empires. A variety of
rice from Vietnam ripened quickly and allowed farmers to harvest several crops during a single
growing season. This rice quickly became popular throughout China.

Many medieval European farmers used an open-field system of planting. One field would
be planted in spring, another in autumn, and one would be left unplanted, or fallow. This
system preserved nutrients in the soil, increasing crop production.

The leaders of the Islamic Golden Age (which reached its height around 1000) in North
Africa and the Middle East made agriculture into a science. Islamic Golden Age farmers
learned crop rotation.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, explorers introduced new varieties of plants and
agricultural products into Europe. From Asia, they carried home coffee, tea, and indigo, a plant
used to make blue dye. From the Americas, they took plants such as potatoes, tomatoes, corn
(maize), beans, peanuts, and tobacco. Some of these became staples and expanded people’s
diets.

Machinery

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 A period of important agricultural development began in the early 1700s for Great Britain
and the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, which lie below sea
level). New agricultural inventions dramatically increased food production in Europe and
European colonies, particularly the United States and Canada.

One of the most important of these developments was an improved horse-drawn seed
drill invented by Jethro Tull in England. Until that time, farmers sowed seeds by hand. Tull’s
drill made rows of holes for the seeds. By the end of the 18th century, seed drilling was widely
practiced in Europe.

Many machines were developed in the United States. The cotton gin, invented by Eli
Whitney in 1794, reduced the time needed to separate cotton fiber from seed. In the 1830s,
Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical reaper helped modernize the grain-cutting process. At about
the same time, John and Hiram Pitts introduced a horse-powered thresher that shortened the
process of separating grain and seed from chaff and straw. John Deere’s steel plow,
introduced in 1837, made it possible to work the tough prairie soil with much less horsepower.
Along with new machines, there were several important advances in farming methods. By
selectively breeding animals (breeding those with desirable traits), farmers increased the size
and productivity of their livestock.

Cultures have been breeding animals for centuries—evidence suggests Mongolian

nomads were selectively breeding horses in the Bronze Age. Europeans began to practice
selective breeding on a large scale beginning in the 18th century. An early example of this is
the Leicester sheep, an animal selectively bred in England for its quality meat and long, coarse
wool.

Plants could also be selectively bred for certain qualities. In 1866, Gregor Mendel’s
studies in heredity were published in Austria. In experiments with pea plants, Mendel learned
how traits were passed from one generation to the next. His work paved the way for improving
crops through genetics.

New crop rotation methods also evolved during this time. Many of these were adopted
over the next century or so throughout Europe. For example, the Norfolk four-field system,
developed in England, proved quite successful. It involved the yearly rotation of several crops,
including wheat, turnips, barley, clover, and ryegrass. This added nutrients to the soil, enabling
farmers to grow enough to sell some of their harvest without having to leave any land
unplanted.

Most of the world was not affected by these developments, however. Farmers in Asia,
Australia, Africa, and South America continued to use old ways of agriculture.

Agricultural Science

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 In the early 1900s, an average farmer in the U.S. produced enough food to feed a family
of five. Many of today’s farmers can feed that family and a hundred other people. How did this
great leap in productivity come about? It happened largely because of scientific advances and
the development of new sources of power.

By the late 1950s, most farmers in developed countries were using both gasoline and
electricity to power machinery. Tractors had replaced draft animals and steam-powered
machinery. Farmers were using machines in almost every stage of cultivation and livestock
management.

Electricity first became a power source on farms in Japan and Germany in the early
1900s. By 1960, most farms in the U.S. and other developed countries were electrified.
Electricity lit farm buildings and powered such machinery as water pumps, milking machines,
and feeding equipment. Today, electricity controls entire environments in livestock barns and
poultry houses.

Traditionally, farmers have used a variety of methods to protect their crops from pests
and diseases. They have put herb-based poisons on crops, handpicked insects off plants, bred
strong varieties of crops, and rotated crops to control insects. Now, almost all farmers,
especially in developed countries, rely on chemicals to control pests. The definition of “pest”
ranges from insects to animals such as rabbits and mice, as well as weeds and disease-
causing organisms—bacteria, viruses, and fungi. With the use of chemicals, crop losses and
prices have declined dramatically.

For thousands of years, farmers relied on natural fertilizer—materials such as manure,

wood ash, ground bones, fish or fish parts, and bird and bat waste called guano—to replenish
or increase nutrients in the soil.

In the early 1800s, scientists discovered which elements were most essential to plant
growth: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Later, fertilizer containing these elements was
manufactured in the U.S. and in Europe. Now, many farmers use chemical fertilizers with
nitrates and phosphates because they greatly increase crop yields.

However, pesticides and fertilizers have come with another set of problems. The heavy
reliance on chemicals has disturbed the environment, often destroying helpful species of
animals along with harmful ones. Chemical use may also pose a health hazard to people,
especially through contaminated water supplies. Agricultural scientists are looking for safer
chemicals to use as fertilizers and pesticides. Some farmers use natural controls and rely less
on chemicals.

Lesson 2: History of Agricultural Technology in Asia.

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Agriculture of Asia

By far the greater part of Asia remains uncultivated, primarily because climatic and soil
conditions are unfavourable. Conversely, in the best growing areas an extraordinarily intensive
agriculture is practiced, made possible by irrigating the alluvial soils of the great river deltas
and valleys. Of the principal crops cultivated, rice, sugarcane, and, in Central Asia, sugar beets
require the most water. Legumes, root crops, and cereals other than rice can be grown even
on land watered only by natural precipitation.

Agricultural technology

The traditional method of irrigation in Asia is by gravity water flow. The water from
upstream storage reservoirs or diversion dams is carried through canals to field distributaries.
In some systems the fields adjoin one another, and the water is able to flow from one field to
the next; it may, however, take some time for the water to move across the fields back to the
canal system. The disadvantages of this system include water loss by evaporation and
seepage and the possibility that the continuously flowing water will carry with it soil nutrients,
fertilizers, and pesticides. In Japan and Taiwan water is moved by small electric pumps, which
operate continuously during the growing seasons.

Increasing attention has been given to pumping underground water. The use of ordinary
pumps as well as of deep-bore well turbine pumps has become common, especially in India,
Pakistan, and Iran. Such irrigation avoids some of the disadvantages of flow irrigation and
allows for easier drainage.

The most important modern development in Asian agriculture has been the introduction of
new high-yielding strains of cereals. Several Asian countries have utilized this technology, and
the yield per acre for cereals has increased substantially since the late 1960s. These improved
yields can be attributed to partnership between international organizations, such as the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, and national agricultural
research stations. Thus, in the case of rice, countries have adapted the IRRI strains to local
conditions and have implemented their own seed improvement programs and extension
(advisory) services to farmers. Access to a reliable water supply has been crucial to the new
agricultural technology, which has also required using fertilizer in conjunction with the
improved cereal seeds that have been developed. Huge irrigation projects in southern Siberia,
Central Asia, and Pakistan have been rapidly altering traditional agricultural patterns.

Principal crops

 Cereals and grains

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 Rice is the staple food crop for most Asians. Asia produces some 90 percent of the
world’s total supply of rice. Except in the Middle East, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Siberia, Central
Asia, and Malaysia, rice occupies more land area than any other single crop. The total
proportion of land under rice cultivation, as compared with total arable land, is highest in
Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka; it varies between one-fourth and half in most Asian
countries outside the Middle East, Central Asia, and Siberia. In spite of this, many countries
(among them Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) are not self-sufficient in rice. Thailand, Pakistan, and
Vietnam are notable rice exporters.

The black-earth (chernozem) belt across southern Siberia is cultivated with several
grains, of which wheat is the most important. Wheat is also the dominant crop in Central Asia
(notably Kazakhstan), the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Grain crops, chiefly wheat,
are cultivated in North China—where soybeans are also grown—and in Japan. Barley is grown
in China and India, among other countries. Corn (maize) is raised in China, Siberia, Central
Asia, India, the Philippines, Thailand, North Korea, and other countries. India, China, Pakistan,
and Central Asia also grow sorghum and millet. Intensive use of water resources from wells
and from river-fed irrigation systems has enabled grain crops to be raised in Iraq, Iran,
Pakistan, and northern India.

 Fruits and vegetables

The continent produces a variety of tropical and subtropical fruit, mainly for domestic
consumption. Transport facilities, where available, can be used only for limited distances. In
view of the climatic conditions and the general lack of refrigerated transport, consumption
tends to be seasonal and confined to areas close to centres of production. Among the main
varieties of fruit produced are bananas, mangoes, apples, oranges and other citrus fruits,
pineapples, papayas, and some specialities such as mangosteen (a dark reddish brown fruit),
litchi (a grape-shaped fruit in a brittle red rind), and durian (a large oval fruit with a prickly rind,
a soft pulp, and a distinctive odour). Citrus fruit is produced in the lands bordering the
Mediterranean Sea, in Transcaucasia, and in China and Japan. Taiwan, the Philippines, and
Malaysia export bananas to Japan.

Except in a few countries—such as the Philippines, Taiwan, and Malaysia, which grow
and can pineapples for export—canning surplus fruit has been developed only to a limited
extent. In view of the tremendous potential for greater fruit production, it is possible to increase
canning of both fruits and fruit juices for export.

The same factors affect the production of vegetables. Vegetables are grown mainly for
local consumption, and only tubers can be transported over distances and stored for any
period of time. Taiwan has had success canning mushrooms and asparagus, and both
products have become leading exports.

 Cash crops

Asia is noted for several plantation cash crops, of which the most important are tea,
rubber, palm oil, coconuts, and sugarcane. Jute, a commercial fibre, though it has decreased
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in significance, remains a major export crop of Bangladesh. Cotton is important to the states of
Central Asia and is also a major crop in India and Pakistan. Rubber was brought to Asia from
Brazil in the 19th century; the major producers are Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia, with
lesser amounts from India, China, and the Philippines. Palm oil has become important in
Indonesia and Malaysia. Tea is grown on commercial plantations in the uplands of India, Sri
Lanka, and Indonesia; and China, Taiwan, and Japan produce several types of tea on
smallholdings. Coconuts are an important crop in the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and Sri
Lanka. India, the world’s leader in sugarcane production, grows primarily for domestic use,
whereas the Philippines, Indonesia, and Taiwan produce for both domestic consumption and
export. Tobacco is grown widely, notably in China, India, Turkey, Central Asia, Pakistan, and
Indonesia. Date palms are cultivated, particularly in the Arabian Peninsula. Liquorice is grown
in Turkey. A large variety of spices are grown in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Southeast
Asia, particularly Indonesia.

Name:_____________________________________________ Date: ______________

Year & Section:_______________________________ Score:______________

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 Activity No. 1

Name:_____________________________________________ Date: ______________

Year & Section:_______________________________ Score:______________

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Activity No. 2

A. Make a time line diagram that shows the development over time in the field of
.

Name:_____________________________________________ Date: ______________

Year & Section:_______________________________ Score:______________

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 Activity No. 3 of lesson 1

Look agricultural areas in your local municipality, have a talk with some of the farmers
and manage to ask these following questions:

(Note: You can have the interview by; emails, messenger, facebook and etc. If ever you are
restricted to go out. If you have farmers in the family use as possible resources to finish this
task.)

Farmers Profile 1

Name:_______________________________ Age.:______________
Paste picture
here Contact No.:__________________________ Status:____________

Address:_____________________________

1. What agricultural crop do you have?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

2. What equipment have you use to improve you crop?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

3. How often do you use Fertilizer or other chemical to improve your crop?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

4. If you were to compare your crop during 2010 and 2020 how will you explain this?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________

5. What are the problems you have encounter over the years as you start your farming?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

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___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

6. How this problem affects your living?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

7. How do you find ways in solving this problem?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

8. Is there are times that you decide to stop farming and sell the land?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________

9. What are the great factors that affects your crops?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

10. Have you experience some programs of the government that helps farmers?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

11. What are the good factors that keep you love farming and still explore Agriculture?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________

Farmers Profile 2

Name:_______________________________ Age.:______________
Paste picture
here Contact No.:__________________________ Status:____________

Address:_____________________________
Signature:________________
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1. What agricultural crop do you have?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

2. What equipments have you use to improve you crop?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

3. How often do you use Fertilizer or other chemical to improve your crop?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

4. If you were to compare your crop during 2010 and 2020 how will you explain this?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________

5. What are the problems you have encounter over the years as you start your farming?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

\6. How this problem affects your living?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

7. How do you find ways in solving this problem?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

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___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

8. Is there are times that you decide to stop farming and sell the land?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________

9. What are the great factors that affects your crops?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

10. Have you experience some programs of the government that helps farmers?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

11. What are the good factors that keeps you love farming and still explore Agriculture?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Farmers Profile 3

Name:_______________________________ Age.:______________
Paste picture
here Contact No.:__________________________ Status:____________

Address:_____________________________
Signature:________________
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1. What agricultural crop do you have?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

2. What equipments have you use to improve you crop?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

3. How often do you use Fertilizer or other chemical to improve your crop?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

4. If you were to compare your crop during 2010 and 2020 how will you explain this?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________

5. What are the problems you have encounter over the years as you start your farming?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

\6. How this problem affects your living?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

7. How do you find ways in solving this problem?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

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___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

8. Is there are times that you decide to stop farming and sell the land?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________

9. What are the great factors that affects your crops?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

10. Have you experience some programs of the government that helps farmers?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

11. What are the good factors that keeps you love farming and still explore Agriculture?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

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