Agriculture industry

cultivation is an art, science and industry of do chief(prenominal)aging the result of plants and animals for gay practice. In broad sense, husbandry includes cultivation of the s crude, parenting and harvesting the crops, conduct and raising livestock, daring and forestry. Modern tillage is engineering and technology based. Therefore, mechanization has eased frequently of the back breaking toil to the sodbuster. cultivation is the mother wit of thriftiness of to a greater extent or less of the countries of the valet de chambre.About 48 percent of worlds restriction force is pursue with agriculture. For some countries, agriculture is the major consultation of foreign exchange for employment Sri Lanka depends upon tea, Denmark specializes in dairy products and Australia in wool. Nations depends on agriculture non only for viands simply for national income and raw materials for industry as well, shift in agriculture is a constant international concern. bucolic scientists argon of opinion that, about 40% of 37 million acre grunge of the world whitethorn be considered cultivable.Today, only 5. 5 million sq miles (10% to 11%) of the land show up is actually cultivated. It is fact that nature sets the outer limits of mans potential resources, beca aim corporeal limitation, comparable temperature, rain ruin, deformity character and physiography, fix up the outer limit of cultivable land. Factors Governing Agriculture Today, agriculture has compose an industry. Therefore, like all other industries, its development depends upon multiple factors.Basically, strong-arm purlieu imposes limits on the distri merelyion of rural activeness but cultural milieu at the same period has its declargon importance for this activity because, coarse patterns in the world ar the result of interaction among the operates exerted by the tangible, frugal and social factors. The factors of agriculture bottomland be divided into following classificati on. I. physical Factors II. Human Factors / Non corporal Factors A. Economic Factors B. governmental Factors C. Social / Cultural Factors Physical Factors of AgricultureMans country activities depend on the physical environment in which he lives although he practically has tried to downplay the restrictions imposed by the natural conditions. Nature in its diverse manifestations provides man in varied argonas with a variety of possibilities for development. To examine the unsophisticated activity of man in the world, it is necessary to know about the natural and physical factors of the world, which atomic number 18 as follows 1. Terrain 2. humour 3. Soils 4. Water Resources 5. Forest Cover 1. Terrain some farming(a) geographers have analysed the entrances of terrain on agriculture and it indeed plays a evidential function in land-use variation. The one-third most significant aspects of terrain are (i). military capability (ii). Slope (iii). drainage texture (i). Atti tude The primary con time of elevated is decrease in air pressure with the affix in height. At the height of 3500 m and above the decreased atmospheric pressure causes sickness and agricultural activities can non be carried out despite conditions being favourable to numerous domesticated plants.Usually the rarefied air of the high mountains increased transpiration rates of plants, which unfortunately restricts growth. In tropics, altitude is of special significance for utilization of the land for agriculture. allowance in temperature and non in shop atly in humidity conditions associated with increasing elevation make these flying fields habi put back for terra firma communities. The big secondary consequences of increasing elevation, both agronomically and economically significant are decreased temperature, increased precipitation, increased farting velocity, poor soil and rugged relief.All these factors a negative fibre on agricultural activity and they minimize the a griculture and agricultural products. Even increase in precipitation on elevations are has significant role for agriculture because at those place moisture results in snowfall which makes agriculture truly difficult. (ii). Slope Slope of land is also one of the meaning(a) physiographic aspects influencing the agricultural land use of an area. It is universal fact that with increase in brusqueness of slope the use of even real simple farm machinery becomes difficult. dunk slopes are generally avoided by farmers.Livestock farming may be evenly effected by slope. It is difficult for animals to more(prenominal) on and graze in the pasture situated on rattling steep slopes. Accessibility is the most potent factor in agricultural land-use in mountainous neighbourhoods at any slope or elevation, and inaccessibility at places can gravel all the development efforts in reverse gear. Easy access is of the essence(p) specially for perishable agricultural commodities like vegetable and fruits grown in mountainous area, although technological developments have reduced its significance. Milk and meat cannot be kept for a long time and need quick transportation.Soil corroding is a major problem of almost every slope. Soil eating a mood affects the agricultural activity of that area moreover the arrangements of irrigation cannot be easily do on the hilly areas with slopes. Sunshine is another issue related with slpe. Agriculture is practiced only at cheerfulness facing slopes. The slopes which do not receive direct rays of sun are unable to grow crops. (iii). Drainage Texture Drainage texture is expressed as the total length of streams per unit area, while its reciprocal is the distance between two neighboring(a) channels.These are two important parameters by which one can betoken soil erosion. The critical value of drainage density per square km which may cause faster soil erosion. The heartland of peeing erosion areas fulfil almost all the requisites of s oil erosion. Soil erosion from cultivated fields, crop lands, forest areas and the catchment areas of big rivers affects a nations agricultural economy as a whole. Accelerated erosion produces abnormal quantities of sand, silt, and shingle that are carried from the field and stream system and deposited on the humiliate land, lessening its productivity.Excessive piss erosion areas coincide approximately with the areas of confluence of many tributaries or areas of joints and cracks. 2. Climate Climate inhibits agriculture more than any other factor. The pole-ward limit of agriculture is set by the isotherm for the warmest month. Particular humor suits particular crops. Temperature and rainfall are two main controlling factors of agriculture and some others are snow, wind, sully and fog etc. we can make a list of them as. (i). Temperature (ii). Winds (iii). ascorbic acid (iv). Humidity (v). Fog (vi). sunshine (vii). Rainfall (i).Temperature For plant growth sealed upper and turn away limits of temperature control the plantation in certain areas temperature of lower limit and temperature of upper limit, certainly control the agricultural activity in the world. While some plants grow in the high temperatures and like rubber, rice, banana, tea, date, oil palm etc. Some plants requires moderate or low temperatures like wheat, barley, almonds and oranges etc. Natural vegetation distribution regions clearly depict temperature control likewise, the agricultural regions and products follows the temperature control.(ii). Winds Winds and atmospheric pressure exert direct and indirect influence on the agriculture. The zones of trade winds oddly eastern corners of continents are not qualified for agriculture due to aridity. High winds generally act as obstructor to the growth of crops in various ways. * Unusual high velocities of winds may footing the standing crops. * Snow drifts and chilled winds may damage the crops. * Hot and dry winds may not allow to gro w crops in their areas. (iii). Snow Snow has its own bearing on livestock and cropping.Snow drift results in loss and thawing of large masses of snow creates floods and urine logging. In general, there are two major places where snow falls, i. e. higher elevations and higher latitude. When snow fall occurs heavily, it blocks the roads, tracks, foot paths. This retards the accessibility to field and markets. In general, it slackens all the agricultural activities of the area. Agricultural activities are resumed with the advent of summer season. Unfortunately huge losses often occur along the streams by sudden flooding caused by a large mass of melting snow.On the other hand, snow cover is advantageous to agriculture because it insulates the consideration from extremely low air temperature and retards deep shrewdness of frost action. This make soil available for cultivation rather more quickly when the snow begins to thaw. (iv). Humidity Humidity is one of the prominent elements of prevail from the farmers point of view and plays a significant role in ever-changing agro climatic conditions from place to place. Of the many practicable advantageous influences of high atmospheric humidity on plant growth, following are most significant.* Many a plant can absorb moisture directly from an under saturated air of high humidity. * Humidity affects the photosynthesis in plants. * Most plants grow well in conditions of high atmospheric humidity because very often saturated air stops transpiration. (v). Fog Fog, that is very thick mist, is really much like low hanging clouds and appears as a dense mass of small urine drops in the lower layers of atmosphere. The negative aspect of fog manifests itself when it persists for several consecutive days, blocking the suns light. Consequently plant growth is retarded and plants are in all likelihood to be attacked by pests and maladys.On the other hand fog and mist are the sources of moisture tag on in many areas like cr ops of tomatoes, peppers, beans and other vegetables can be grown in southern California where fogs are frequent without irrigation and even rainfall does not come in the growing season. (vi). Sunlight Sunlight is a factor of great physiological importance to plants because it helps in the formation of chlorophyll. The source of sunlight is the sun and its attribute depends upon the sunshine. The total nub of light that falls on the earth varies from place to place.The intensity, quantity and duration of the sunlight depend upon the latitude, altitude, season and the conditions of the atmosphere at a given(p) place. On all the places on equator, the sun shines for 12 hours a day round the year. However away from the equator towards the poles the days become progressively drawn-out during summer reverse is the case during winter when days are relatively shorter. This seems to account for the fact that summer crops mature faster than the winter ones since the fountain can get th e needed light and sunshine in the nominal possible period. (vii). Rain FallRain fall is another climate element and major factor is mainly responsible for plant growth and distribution and certain areas for specific plants or agriculture practices etc. gumshoe is the tree of the equatorial region, and requires high rain fall uniformly distributed end-to-end the year. It may be said that rain fall is the most important climatic factor as it determines the potential of any region in terms of crops to be produced, farming system to be adopted, the nature and sequence of farming operations to be followed, and the targets to be achieved in agricultural productivity.The grower are more optimistic about a bumper crop, in those seasons when moisture receipts are considerably above normal. In a region where rain fall is confined to a particular season and ground water resources are wanting, a drought will not be an unusual phenomenon. Sometimes the distribution of rain fall is so irregu lar, not only in amount but also in time and space, that it creates water deficiency everywhere. These variations may produce dry spells. Therefore, the emergence of way ward behavior of rainfall from year to year gives rise to different cropping patterns and imbalances in aims of agricultural productivity.3. Soils Soils constitute the physical base for any agricultural enterprise. Farming is a business and good soil is the part of the farmers stock in trade. Together with their impressiveness and special qualities, soils influence the particular types of food, fibre, horticultural crops and olecultural crops. * Physical characteristics and properties of soil determines the types of the crops and their distribution. * Crop growth is contumacious to a considerable extent by the amount of nutrients in the soil. The three basic nutrients nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, contribute to soil fertility.* Differences in soil fertility have the greatest impact on agricultural land use throughout the world. Unenlightened farming may lead to the rapid soil exhaustion. Soil resources are very important, and these must be carefully husbanded, so that these are conserved and not exploited. Improvement in water supply to crops, use of chemical fertilizers, and high-yielding exotic seeds, accelerate the rate of cropping intensity but at the same time they may have very prejudicious effects on the soil. 4. Water ResourcesAvailability of water to the crops is very much important because without water crops cannot be survived and we cannot think about agriculture at all. On the other hand, sufficient and assured water supply to the farming systems would yield topnotch, stable, diversified and commercially profitable farming, and a vastly superior living standard to peasant proprietors. Many parts of the world use irrigation for the activity of agriculture. The major sources which are used for irrigation are (i). Ground water (ii). Surface water (iii). Desalinated water (i). Ground waterGround water is often called under ground water which occurs below the surface of the earth. On the whole ground water is very unevenly distributed beneath the surface of the land. Moreover, the behavior of such unique storage of underground water is not consistent. It varies from year to year and season to season. Ground water is a major source of irrigation. It can be used from simple Persian swell to modern font tube wells. In ovrid areas it is used through Karez system. Judious tapping of ground water resources is the need of the hour for avoiding excessive over draft and depletion of ground water.Water table is also important for agricultural point of view. If water table is as well low then (in the absence of surface water source), the area cannot grow crops. The very high water table causes the two dangerous disease of land water logging and salinity means again the area cannot grow crops. (ii). Surface water Surface water supply is controlled by several fa ctors such as large quantity of water in the form of rivers, streams, lakes, glaciers, gentle surface gradient and soft land. These make possible the construction of a network of canals.For such schemes, ideal conditions are prevailed in the plains of Niles, Ganges and Indus etc. so that these all plains are intensively irrigated. The main problems in surface water utilizations are * Prevention from evaporation in dry lands is a major problem. * Intensive irrigation may invite water logging and salinity. (iii). Desalinated water The ocean and inland seas are also the source of water. Containing about 93 percent of earths water but not usable because of salt and contaminations. It would be great value to areas along the coasts which are in need of supplementing the short supplies of agricultural water.Some attempts have been do to utilize desalinated water for agriculture but this process is no interrogation very costly. It has been estimated that at present in the western part of joined States desalinated water costs between between fifteen and twenty quin times more than irrigation water obtained from rivers or wells. Now in this modern era the constantly expanding need for fresh water for various purposes, especially agricultural and industrial, requires technically and economically feasible processes for desalination. 5. Forest CoverIn the beginning, agricultural development benefited from forests by the use of natural species to breed more resistant varieties of cultivated crops. In addition to this forest also satisfied mans material and socio-economic inescapably. Forest are also important for environmental balance and for charging the ground water. They are also important for providing water for irrigation in terraced we lands in mountains. Forests are badly effected by the agricultural activities of man in many areas of the world but their preservations are very important.A recommended and balanced extent and density of forest cover has to be main tained, so as so keep an ecological balance between man, agricultural land use and natural vegetation cover for achieving an optimum might in agricultural land use at minimum level of hazards and costs in an area. Human / Non Physical Factors No doubt that Agriculture depends on physical environment but the socio cultural forces can not be neglected at all. Agricultural activities depend upon interrelated physical and non-physical factors.Non physical factors can be classified as follows A. Economic Factors B. Political Factors C. Social / Cultural Factors A. Economic Factors Agriculture provides employment for 48% labour force of the worlds population. Therefore, its economic importance and development needs proper investment funds for certain facilities to improve its yields for economic welfare of the farmers and food requirements of the growing world population. The factors of agriculture that need money are know as economic factors of agriculture.(i). Capital (ii). Agricultura l Machinery (iii). Transportation (iv). foodstuff (v). wintry storage (vi). Irrigation (vii). Pesticides / Herbicides (viii). Fertilizers (ix). High yielding verities (i). Capital The capital or investment is the basic requirement for the agricultural activity. To practice the agriculture on modern grounds, a large investment is unavoidable. (ii). Agricultural Machinery To keep pace with changing nature of agricultural process, modern agricultural machinery is required.Now a days combine harvester, threshers, sprinkled irrigation are necessary to gain a handsome productions. (iii). Transportation The role of faster means of transportation cannot be forgotton in agriculture fruits, vegetables and dairy products are perishable items and they can only bring to the market in the presence of faster means of transportation. The advancements of transportation methods reduces the expenditure and wastage of the agricultural products. (iv). Market Market place is a very important factor i n agriculture.The markets for perishable agricultural products must be located near to the farms to redeem products to consumers as rapidly as possible. (v). Cold storage Now a days storage / cold storage are too much necessary for agriculture point of view because whole yield of crops cannot be consumed at once. Grain crops required a proper storage in this way, they can be consumed throughout the year for example wheat, vegetables like peas, tomatoes, potatoes required cold storage for preservation. (vi).