1.
Context before the Green Revolution
Following with the
technical modification results from the industrialization, green revolution
emerged during middle of 20th century in order to fulfill the food
requirements of growing population in the world. Because, a significant
fraction of people in the developing world died annually due to the hunger.
Even the countries with strong economy had to spend so much money on the
exporting foods.
2.
Commencement of the Green Revolution
Before 1940s, Mexico was
unable to produce sufficient yield of wheat for feeding its population. At the
beginning of the 1940s, a scientist called Norman Borlaug started doing research
to find a whet variety with high yield. As a result of the combination of naval
techniques together with the new wheat varieties, Mexico produced the wheat
yield more than nation’s requirements. Thereby, Mexico became the first wheat
importing country in the world.
With success of the green
revolution in Mexico, it spread into other countries as well. The countries in
the developing world also shifted their traditional crop production system into
high yield harvesting methods. So, these countries neglected the biological
pest control methods, natural fertilizers like green manure and cow dungs, and
wild varieties of crops.
New pesticides were
innovated to control the pests interfere with the farming lands more
effectively. Artificial fertilizers were started to produce in large scale to
enhance the yield of the crop lands.
New cropping methods were
also introduced to the world. Wild verities of crops were domesticated to
develop high yield crops which are capable of producing high yields. Mono culture which involve cultivation of
single crop species over large land area was converted to multiple cropping
which grow more than one crop species in a single farm yield.
With the innovation of
novel farming techniques and machines, the world moves towards the large scale
food production few years after the green revolution.
3.
Industrial agriculture
.
The industrial agriculture is defined as the increase
of the input and output per area of agricultural land. So the inputs are
increased in order to gain the maximum yield from the crops. The increase in
the production and application of synthesized pesticides, fertilizers, growth
hormones, and modern irrigation methods, machines, and land preparation
techniques have increased the world’s food production by two folds.
Another recent trend was
arose with the innovation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in the
agricultural sector. GMOs are developed with higher resistance to pests by
inserting certain genes from other organisms. Some GMOs offer essential
nutrients that cannot obtained other way for humans.
4.
Disadvantages of industrial
agriculture
Conventional farming
practices produce a large amount of crop yields annually and even in some years
the yields exceeds the world’s requirements. As the most of these farming are
not carried out in a sustainable way, they force an extreme threat for the
well-being of environment and the humans.
1) Eutrophication and
algal blooming: Generally, fertilizers must be applied
for the crop lands after an appropriate analysis of the amount available
nutrients. But, fertilizers are purposely added than the requirements to
increase the yields by two or three times than previous. Unfortunately, plants
do not intake the nutrients than the required amount. So, the excess remain in
the soil and act as harmful for the environment. Runoff through the
agricultural land carry out the excess nutrients bound to soil particles to
adjacent water bodies and cause eutrophication and algal blooming. Leakage of
excess nutrients through the deep percolation of soil pollute the ground water
sources.
2) Bioaccumulation of
pesticides: The substances use in the pesticides are
persistent, highly water soluble, and highly volatile. In developed countries,
pesticides are sprayed over a large land area by using sophisticated technologies. Most of them are got
evaporated before reach the land and carry away into the remote areas by the
prevailing winds. Health of people are even hundreds meters away from farms
affected by the volatile compounds of the pesticides. These chemicals that end
up with aquatic bodies tend to undergo the bioaccumulation in fishes and other
edible aquatic animals and plants. Intake of contaminated aquatic foods cause
serious illness in human and other animals. Consequently, the use of DDT in
agricultural activities have banned since 1972 in the USA.
3) Loss of the support
form the nature: Excessive use of pesticides, fungicides,
and herbicides also affects beneficial organisms of the farmers rather than the
targeted pests and weeds. It causes the disappearing of the pollinators like
bees and butterflies, biological pest controllers like frogs and, and soil
structures builders like earthworms. These organisms are very sensitive to the
chemicals and are killed soon after the expose to the pesticides. When the
farmers lost the assistance from nature for their cultivation, they have to
increase the effort and inputs for the farming. In China, the pollination by
hand is found as a solution for the local extinction of bees.
4) Reduction in crop
diversity: Introduction of new crop varieties encourages the
elimination of wild and local varieties of crops. Pollination among the
introduced crop species and wild crop spices causes the development new crop
varieties. Thereby, it reduces the diversity among the food crops.
5) Depletion of the
natural resource: The conventional farming involves the unsustainable
extraction of natural resources like water, and minerals from the natural
deposits for production of fertilizers. As an example, Aral Sea in
Kazakhstan was dried up by 2014 because the rivers that nourished the Aral
Sea were diverted to feed the massive cultivation of cotton in the Russian
valleys. . As a result of this uncontrolled resource extraction, its inhabited
fauna, flora and other organisms were vanished and the planet lost one of its
valuable marine ecosystem.
6) Soil erosion: Conventional
land preparation methods of soil preparation including plowing, harrowing and
leveling using heavy machines and monoculture increases the susceptibility of
the land for the soil erosion. The nutrient rich top soil layer is carried by
the runoff. So, the availability of the nutrients and organic matter in the
soil deceases. As a results farmers have to increase the input into the farm
lands.
7) Reduction in arable
lands: The area of the world’s arable land is gradually decreasing
as a results of lowering the ground water table, salinization, soil erosion,
deterioration and degradation of soil by excessive use of fertilizers and
pesticides, and depletion of water resources. As a consequently, farmers tend
to explore new areas for cultivation and cut down forests. It leads to reduce
the extent of worldwide forests and extinction of the earth animals and plants.
8) Deforestation: The
agriculture is the leading driver of the deforestation around the world.
Large areas of forests are cut down to establish the plantation of wheat, oil
palm, coffee, soy, tea, rice, maize and cacao. Once the forest ecosystem is
gone, its associated fauna and flora are also wiped out. Most of abandoned the
agricultural lands are left as it is and these lands continue as infertile
lands over time. They are often not upgraded into previous forest ecosystem
through the appropriate reforestation methods like analog forest or village forests.
9) Enhance climate change
effects: The green house emission of large scale due to use of
heavy machineries, loss of sequestered carbon due to disturbance to soil and
living biomass of the forest ecosystems and
reduction in the carbon sequestration capacity of land have accelerated
the climate change. According to reports of the European Union’s scientific
Advice Mechanism in 2020, agriculture alone is responsible for nearly 37% of
total greenhouse gas emission in the world. The enhanced climate change may
also effects adversely on the agriculture by increasing temperature, reducing
precipitation and increasing frequency flood occurrence.
5.
Solutions for the industrial agriculture
Sustainable agriculture
is a type of agricultural system that meets the present food requirements of
people without comprising the ability of future generations to fulfill their
own needs. This agricultural method ensures the well-being of the economy,
society, and environment. It involves the lots of techniques to preserve the
quality of soil, ground water, surface water and air and conserve the
biodiversity.
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