Improvement in Food Resources Notes

Improvement in Food Resources

Importance of Food

All living organisms require food.
Food provides essential nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals.
These nutrients are crucial for body development, growth, and maintaining health.
Major food sources are plants and animals, primarily obtained through agriculture and animal husbandry.

The Need for Improved Production

India's population exceeds one billion and is still increasing.
Current projections estimate a need for more than a quarter of a billion tonnes of grain annually to feed this population.
Increasing land cultivation is not a viable solution as India is already intensively cultivated.
Therefore, there's a critical need to enhance production efficiency in both crops and livestock.

Revolutions and Their Impact

Green Revolution: Significantly increased food-grain production.
White Revolution: Improved milk production efficiency and availability.
Negative Impacts: These revolutions have led to intensive use of natural resources, increasing the risk of environmental damage and ecological imbalance.

Sustainable Practices

It is crucial to increase food production sustainably, without harming the environment.
This necessitates the adoption of sustainable practices in both agriculture and animal husbandry.

Food Security

Simply increasing grain production is insufficient to address malnutrition and hunger.
Food security depends on both the availability of food and people's ability to access it (purchasing power).
A significant portion of the population relies on agriculture for their livelihood.
Therefore, increasing the income of those working in agriculture is essential to combat hunger.

Scientific Management

Implementing scientific management practices in farms is crucial for achieving high yields.
For sustained livelihoods, practices like mixed farming, intercropping, and integrated farming should be adopted.
Example: Combining agriculture with livestock, poultry, fisheries, or bee-keeping.

Improving Crop Yields

Cereals: Wheat, rice, maize, millets, sorghum provide carbohydrates for energy.
Pulses: Gram (chana), pea (matar), black gram (urad), green gram (moong), pigeon pea (arhar), lentil (masoor) provide protein.
Oil Seeds: Soyabean, ground nut, sesame, castor, mustard, linseed, sunflower provide fats.
Vegetables, Spices, and Fruits: Provide vitamins and minerals, along with small amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.
Fodder Crops: Berseem, oats, sudan grass are raised as food for livestock.

Crop Seasons

Kharif Season: June to October (rainy season). Examples: Paddy, soyabean, pigeon pea, maize, cotton, green gram, black gram.
Rabi Season: November to April (winter season). Examples: Wheat, gram, peas, mustard, linseed.

Increase in Food Grain Production

India achieved a four-fold increase in food grain production between 1952 and 2010.
This was accomplished with only a 25% increase in cultivable land area.

Stages of Farming

Seed Selection: Choosing appropriate seeds for planting.
Crop Nurturing: Taking care of the crop plants during their growth.
Crop Protection: Protecting growing and harvested crops from loss.

Major Activities for Improving Crop Yields

Crop variety improvement
Crop production improvement
Crop protection management

Crop Variety Improvement

Focuses on identifying crop varieties that yield well.
Breeding is used to select for desirable traits: disease resistance, response to fertilizers, product quality, and high yields.

Hybridization

Crossing genetically dissimilar plants.
Types: intervarietal (different varieties), interspecific (different species of same genus), or intergeneric (different genera).

Genetically Modified Crops

Involves introducing a gene to provide a desired characteristic.

Requirements for New Crop Varieties

High yields under diverse conditions.
Good quality seeds that germinate uniformly.

Factors Influencing Cultivation

Weather, soil quality, and water availability.
Varieties that can withstand unpredictable weather conditions like droughts and floods are valuable.
Development of varieties tolerant to high soil salinity.

Factors for Variety Improvement

Higher yield: Increased crop productivity per acre.
Improved quality: Considerations vary (baking quality in wheat, protein quality in pulses, oil quality in oilseeds, preserving quality in fruits and vegetables).
Biotic and abiotic resistance: Resistance to diseases, insects, nematodes, drought, salinity, water logging, heat, cold, and frost.
Change in maturity duration: Shorter durations are more economical, allowing multiple crops per year and reducing production costs. Uniform maturity simplifies harvesting.
Wider adaptability: Stabilizes crop production across different environments.
Desirable agronomic characteristics: Tallness and profuse branching for fodder crops, dwarfness in cereals to reduce nutrient consumption.

Crop Production Management

Farming scales vary widely, affecting access to resources and technologies.
Financial conditions determine a farmer's ability to adopt different farming practices.
Higher inputs correlate with higher yields.

Production Practice Levels

No cost, low cost, and high-cost production practices.

Nutrient Management

Plants require nutrients for growth, supplied by air, water, and soil.
Air provides carbon and oxygen, water provides hydrogen, and soil provides thirteen other nutrients.

Macro-nutrients

Required in large quantities: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur.

Micro-nutrients

Required in small quantities: iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, chlorine.
Deficiency affects physiological processes including reproduction, growth, and disease susceptibility.
Soil can be enriched with manure and fertilizers.

Manure

Contains organic matter and small quantities of nutrients.
Prepared by decomposition of animal excreta and plant waste.
Enriches soil fertility and improves soil structure.
Increases water holding capacity in sandy soils and improves drainage in clayey soils.
Using biological waste protects the environment.

Types of Manure

Compost and vermi-compost: Farm waste (livestock excreta, vegetable waste, animal refuse, domestic waste, sewage waste, straw, eradicated weeds) is decomposed in pits (composting).
- Vermi-compost: Uses earthworms to hasten decomposition.
Green manure: Plants like sun hemp or guar are grown and ploughed into the soil before sowing crop seeds, enriching the soil with nitrogen and phosphorus.

Fertilizers

Commercially produced plant nutrients that supply nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Ensure good vegetative growth.
Contribute to higher yields in high-cost farming.
Require careful application (proper dose, time, precautions).
Excessive irrigation can wash away fertilizers, leading to water pollution.
Continuous use can destroy soil fertility by depleting organic matter and harming microorganisms.

Organic Farming

Minimizes or eliminates the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides.
Maximizes the use of organic manures, recycled farm wastes, and bio-agents.
Employs healthy cropping systems like mixed cropping, inter-cropping, and crop rotation.
Beneficial for insect, pest, and weed control while providing nutrients.

Irrigation

Most Indian agriculture is rain-fed, dependent on timely monsoons.
Poor monsoons lead to crop failure.
Ensuring water supply at critical stages increases crop yields.

Irrigation Systems

Wells: Dug wells (collect water from water-bearing strata) and tube wells (tap water from deeper strata).
Canals: Receive water from reservoirs or rivers, divided into branch canals and distributaries.
River Lift Systems: Draw water directly from rivers for irrigation near rivers.
Tanks: Small storage reservoirs that store run-off from catchment areas.

Initiatives for Increasing Water Availability

Rainwater harvesting
Watershed management: Building check-dams to increase ground water levels and reduce soil erosion.

Cropping Patterns

Maximize benefits from crop cultivation.

Mixed Cropping

Growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same land.
Examples: wheat + gram, wheat + mustard, groundnut + sunflower.
Reduces risk and insures against the failure of one crop.

Inter-cropping

Growing two or more crops simultaneously in a definite pattern.
Examples: soyabean + maize, finger millet (bajra) + cowpea (lobia).
Crops selected have different nutrient requirements.
Ensures maximum utilization of nutrients and prevents the spread of pests and diseases.

Crop Rotation

Growing different crops on a piece of land in a pre-planned succession.
Crop rotation depends on moisture and irrigation facilities.
Allows two or three crops to be grown in a year with good harvests.

Crop Protection Management

Field crops are susceptible to weeds, insect pests, and diseases.
Uncontrolled weeds and pests can severely damage crops.

Weeds

Unwanted plants in cultivated fields.
Examples: Xanthium (gokhroo), Parthenium (gajar ghas), Cyperus rotundus (motha).
Compete for food, space, and light.
Weed removal is essential during early stages of crop growth.

Insect Pests

Attack plants by:
- Cutting roots, stems, and leaves
- Sucking cell sap
- Boring into stems and fruits

Diseases

Caused by pathogens (bacteria, fungi, and viruses).
Pathogens transmitted through soil, water, and air.

Control Methods

Pesticides: Herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides (sprayed on crops or used for treating seeds and soil).
- Excessive use can be poisonous and cause environmental pollution.
Mechanical removal: Physical removal of weeds.
Preventive methods: Proper seed bed preparation, timely sowing, intercropping, and crop rotation.
Resistant varieties
Summer ploughing: Deep ploughing in summers to destroy weeds and pests.

Storage of Grains

Storage losses can be significant.
Factors responsible:
- Biotic: Insects, rodents, fungi, mites, and bacteria
- Abiotic: Inappropriate moisture and temperatures
These factors cause degradation in quality, loss in weight, poor germinability, and discoloration.

Preventive and Control Measures

Strict cleaning before storage
Proper drying (sunlight and shade)
Fumigation with chemicals to kill pests

Animal Husbandry

Scientific management of animal livestock, including feeding, breeding, and disease control.
Includes cattle, goat, sheep, poultry, and fish farming.
Demand for milk, eggs, and meat is increasing.
Growing awareness of humane treatment of livestock.

Cattle Farming

Purposes: milk and draught labor.
Indian cattle species: Bos indicus (cows) and Bos bubalis (buffaloes).
Milk-producing females: milch animals (dairy animals).
Animals used for farm labor: draught animals.
Milk production depends on the lactation period.
Increase milk production by increasing the lactation period.
Exotic breeds (Jersey, Brown Swiss) for long lactation periods.
Local breeds (Red Sindhi, Sahiwal) for disease resistance.
Cross-breeding for desired qualities.

Cattle Care

Proper cleaning and shelter.
Regular brushing.
Well-ventilated roofed sheds.
Sloping floors for drainage and cleaning.

Food Requirements

Maintenance requirement: Food to support healthy life.
Milk producing requirement: Food during lactation period.
Animal feed: roughage (fibre) and concentrates (proteins and nutrients).
Balanced rations with all nutrients.
Feed additives containing micronutrients.

Cattle Diseases

Reduce milk production and can cause death.
Parasites: External (skin diseases) and internal (worms in stomach and intestine, flukes damage the liver).
Infectious diseases caused by bacteria and viruses.
Vaccinations prevent major viral and bacterial diseases.

Poultry Farming

Raising domestic fowl for egg production and chicken meat.
Improved breeds for layers (eggs) and broilers (meat).
Cross-breeding between Indian (Aseel) and foreign (Leghorn) breeds.

Desirable Traits

Number and quality of chicks
Dwarf broiler parent for commercial chick production
Summer adaptation capacity/tolerance to high temperature
Low maintenance requirements
Reduction in the size of the egg-laying bird with ability to utilise more fibrous cheaper diets formulated using agricultural by-products.

Broiler Ration

Protein-rich with adequate fat.
High levels of vitamins A and K.

Poultry Diseases

Caused by virus, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and nutritional deficiencies.
Prevention: Proper cleaning, sanitation, and spraying of disinfectants.
Vaccination prevents infectious diseases.

Fish Production

Cheap source of animal protein.
Includes finned true fish and shellfish (prawns and molluscs).
Two methods: capture fishing (natural resources) and culture fishery (fish farming).
Water sources: seawater or fresh water.

Marine Fisheries

India's resources: 7500 km of coastline and deep seas.
Popular varieties: pomphret, mackerel, tuna, sardines, and Bombay duck.
Fishing nets used from fishing boats.
Increased yields by locating fish schools using satellites and echo-sounders.
Farming of high economic value fish (mullets, bhetki, and pearl spots), shellfish (prawns, mussels, and oysters), and seaweed.

Mariculture

Culture fisheries to meet demand as marine fish stocks deplete.

Inland Fisheries

Fresh water resources: canals, ponds, reservoirs, and rivers.
Brackish water resources: estuaries and lagoons.
Mostly aquaculture.
Fish culture combined with rice crop.

Composite Fish Culture

Intensive fish farming systems.
Combination of five or six fish species in a single pond.
Species selected do not compete for food among them having different types of food habits.
Examples: Catlas (surface feeders), Rohus (middle-zone feeders), Mrigals and Common Carps (bottom feeders), Grass Carps (weed feeders).

Problems in Fish Farming

Fish breed only during monsoon.
Fish seed collected from the wild can be mixed with other species.
Lack of availability of good-quality seed.
Solutions: Breeding fish in ponds using hormonal stimulation.

Bee-Keeping

Honey production is an agricultural enterprise.
Low investment, additional income activity.
Beehives are a source of wax, used in medicinal preparations.

Bee Varieties

Local varieties: Apis cerana indica (Indian bee), A. dorsata (rock bee), and A. florae (little bee).
Italian bee: A. mellifera (high honey collection capacity, less stinging, stays in beehive for long periods, breeds well).

Commercial Honey Production

Bee farms or apiaries are established.
Honey quality depends on pasturage (flowers available for nectar and pollen collection).