Intensified Agriculture and its Merits and Demerits

1. 3/18/2015

3. History of agriculture

4. History of agriculture
• GOOD we had food to survive
• Agriculture was too much labor intensive then
came a revolution by change in machinery
• Result
• Agricultural productivity soared
Variety of
food
Made
available
Ecnomic
conditions got
better
Living
standards
increased
Populations
increased
Need of
cultivating
more land for
agriculture

5. • So more and more land was cleared to increase
agriculture.
• But the rate was not high as the population was
not too much.
This brought newer technologies with It
World population grew from 1.6 to > 7
BILLION
Agriculture which was on 7% land in
1700 covered > 40% land area now
The world needs to produce more food than ever
before
Industrializaiton
Post-Industrializaiton

6. Need to intensify agriculture
Obligation for farming
Intensify agricultural
production
To produce
more crop
and
livestock
With less
land and
water and
small carbon
foot print
Land, water
and
resources
b/w
agriculture,
industry and
urbanization
Through
large scale
commercial
farming
Harsh competition for
scarcer

7. What is agricultural intensification?
Just another name for modern industrial farming
K. Marx
• “the concentration of capital upon the same plot rather
than its distribution among several
adjoining pieces” of land (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2n
d ed., vol. 25, part 2, p. 227)
Lenin pointed out that
• intensification of agriculture is “not some accidental,
local, casual phenomenon, but one that is common to all
civilized
countries” (Poln. sobr.soch., 5th ed.,vol. 27, p. 168).

8. Agriculture intensification may occur as a result
of :
 Increase in the gross
output in fixed
proportions due to inputs
expanding
proportionately, without
technological changes
 Technical progress that raises
land productivity
 shift towards
more valuable
outputs

9. Agriculture
intensification
is based on:
protecting
plant mechanization
in
agriculture
and animal
husbandry
developing
irrigation
and land
Replacing
low-
yield plantings
by high-yield
large
complexes
and factories
for
agricultural
products
extensive
use of
automation
and
electronics
developing
intensive
cultivated
and
technical
crops
Economics
of
agriculture
Increasing
mineral and
organic
fertilizer

10. Green revolution
• Agriculture intensification came to be known
as green revolution
• The Green Revolution was essentially a
package of inputs (fertilizer, high yielding seed
varieties, pesticides, mechanization etc.)
which were designed to lead
to agricultural intensification
•

11. Green Revolution
• Credit of green revolution is
attributed to NORMAN BORLAUG
• Spread worldwide in the 1950 and 1960
• The plants produced were high yield varieties

12. Impacts of green revolution
Fertilizers made GR possible – HYV produced now
cannot grow successfully without the help of fertilizers
GR brought irrigation techniques – now water can be
stored and Send to drier areas putting more land into
agriculture
Pesticides were used to protect the plants
Tractors and other modern techniques were employed
along with
Production of genetically modified plants resistant to
environmental stress
Green Revolution has
forever changed the way
agriculture is conducted
worldwide, benefiting the
people of many nations in
need of increased food
production.

13. significance
• Agricultural intensification itself is usually
conceived of as a positive process; something
that agricultural systems should be encouraged
towards.
• However, there may be negative effects of
intensification - both in terms of the quantity
of livelihoods, and the quality of those livelihoods
• while there may be negative effects on the
sustainability (environmental, economic etc.)
of those livelihoods.

14. Merits and Demerits of
Intensified Agriculture

15. Merits of intensified agriculture
1. Increased level of macro nutrients in
soil
2. Increased level of Plant Production
3. Increased organic matter content in
soil
4. Decreased land use pressure
5. Affordable food outputs

16. Appropriate
application of chemical
fertilizers, increased
the N, P, and K
nutrients in the soil,
resulting in enhanced
soil quality.
Increased level of
macro nutrients in soil

17. Wheat
RiceMaize
Intensified agriculture has also
increased the level of plant
production by introducing a
number of faster growing HYV’s
( High Yielding Variety) allow an
extra crop to be grown every year.
Increased level of Plant Production

18. Increased organic matter
content in soil
Intensified agriculture has also
increased the level of plant production
which ultimately increases the amount of
crop residues that can be returned to the
soil to enhance soil organic matter
content.

19. Crop residue provides:
Soil cover
Reduce soil erosion
Maintain the soil organic
matter content
Increases the soil organic
matter content

20. Decreased land use pressure
• Agricultural activities has been intensified mostly
on the more productive, relatively level soils,
where risk from erosion are not too high.
• So, the need for expanding onto more fragile
lands has been minimized.
• It preserves the soil quality and other related
environmental aspects.

21. With the introduction of intensive
farming, farm products such as
vegetables, fruits, and poultry
products have become less
expensive.
Affordable food outputs

22. Merits in Pakistan's perspective
• Intensified agriculture leads to a
greater, grain and rice production
in Pakistan.
• Multiple cropping would increase
gross national product (GNP) of
country.

23. Pakistan become food self-sufficient
and even make modest exports
by late 1980s.
Per capita caloric intake increases
by 20% from 1980s-2000s.

24. DEMERITS OF INTENSIFIED
AGRICULTURE

25. Demerits
• Micronutrient
deficiencies
• Increased soil
acidification
• Excessive nutrients as
pollutants
• Salinization
• Role of pesticides &
insecticides
• Role of herbicides
• Unhealthy diet
• Plant diseases
• Reduce biodiversity
• Concentrated animal-
feeding operations

26. Micronutrients removed in
the bumper harvests are
usually not replaced by
standard N-P-K fertilizers, so
micronutrients deficiencies
may appear, decreasing the
soil quality.
Micronutrient
deficiencies

27. Intensified agriculture also come-up
with heavy use of nitrogen fertilizers,
may leads to increased soil
acidification, resulting in decreased
soil quality.
Increased soil acidification

28. In intensive agricultural
activities, N and P usually
applied in the quantities, far
in excess of plants uptake.
When these nutrients level
built-up in soil, the excessive
nutrients act as pollutants
and becomes a part of runoff,
drainage water.
Excessive nutrients as
pollutants

29. Salinization
All irrigation water contains
dissolved salts derived as it
passed over and through the
land, and rain water also
contains some salts.
These salt get deposited into the
soil, decreasing the soil quality
and making it unfit for
agricultural activities.

30. Role of pesticides &
insecticides
Insecticides and
pesticides used in
intensified
agricultural activities
adversely affect the
soil quality.
These broad
spectrum
organochemicals
threatened the
biological integrity
of soil ecosystem.
Some soil treated
decades ago with high
level copper and
arsenic containing
insecticides , still
contain toxic level of
these chemicals

32. Persistent and relatively mobile
herbicides in soil have created major
water pollution problem.
Intensive use of herbicides may leads
to reduce bio-diversity and resilience
of the above and below ground soil
communities.
Role of herbicides

33. Unhealthy diet
Intensified agricultural activities have
focused primarily on cereal crops, provides
about half of world’s calories.
Less attention has been paid to the pulses
(beans, peas etc.), fruits and vegetables. It
creates health problems, as leafy
vegetables rich in proteins, micro-nutrients
and essential vitamins.

34. Monoculture system usually results in a
decline in biological productivity mainly
because of:
Build-up of pathogens
Allelochemicals
Micronutrient deficiency
Plant diseases

35. Reduce Biodiversity
Chemical intensive,
monoculture system results in:
Reduced genetic
diversity within crops
Reduced bio-diversity of
soil microorganism
Reduced bio-diversity of
soil macro-organism

36. Nitrogen
Phosphorous
Pathogens
Growth
accelerating
hormones
Antibiotics
In concentrated animal feeding
operations (CAFOs), they remove plant
products from wide areas and
concentrate them into a production
factory.
Factory waste often pollute the
surrounding soil and water systems with
N, P, pathogens, growth accelerating
hormones and antibiotics.
Concentrated animal-
feeding operations

37. Plant biodiversity and agriculture
intensification

38. Genetically Modified Crops
• Different new crop varieties have been
introduced due to advancement in agriculture
(Intensified agriculture).These are formed by
inducing some modifications in the genetic
material of existing crops varieties.
3/18/2015

39. Properties of GMCs
High yield crops
Better response to
fertilizers
Greater grain size
3/18/2015

40. Cold resistance
Pest resistance
High starch
Herbicides resistance
3/18/2015

41. Polyester gene addition
Improved sweetness
Improved eating quality
Better taste
3/18/2015

42. 3/18/2015

43. 3/18/2015

44. GMCs use in the world
2010 2011 2012 GMCs
USA 66.8 69 69.5 Maize
,Soyabean,cotton,
Papaya, Squash,
Sugarbeet
Brazil 25.4 30.3 36.6 Soyabeen , Maize
Cotton
Argentina 22.9 23.7 23.9 Soyabeen , Maize
Cotton
Canada 8.8 10.4 11.6 Canola,Maize,
Soyabean,
Sugarbeat
India 9.4 10.6 10.8 Cotton
China 3.5 3.9 4 Cotton, papaya,
poplar tomato,
3/18/2015

46. • After World War II, when human population
rapidly increased, the intensified agriculture
provided the food security for this boom in
population.This proved wrong the predictions
of many experts about starvation of humans
and ultimately death.
3/18/2015

47. 3/18/2015

48. World Scenario
3/18/2015

49. On average, across all
crops grown in the US.
over 90% of the varieties
grown 100 years ago are
no longer in commercial
production or maintained
in major seed storage
facilities
In the Philippines, where
small farmers once
cultivated thousands of
traditional rice varieties,
just two Green
Revolution varieties
occupied 98% of the
entire rice growing area
in the mid-1980s.

50. Before intensification of agriculture in China,
farmers were growing 10,000 varieties of
wheat.
Today, 90% of these varieties have disappeared,
with only a handful of high yielding wheat
variety.
3/18/2015

51. • According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture
Organization, approximately 75 percent of the
earth’s plant genetic resources are extinct,
with another third of plant biodiversity
expected to disappear by 2050.
• Crop genetic resources are being wiped out at
the rate of 1-2% every year.
• Tropical forests are falling at a rate of just
under 1% per annum.
3/18/2015

52. 3/18/2015

53. Extinct plants species
• Pouteria stenophylla
• Galapagos Amaranth
• Myrcia skeldingii
3/18/2015

54. Cont:
• Indian Monocarp Palm
• Yunnan Malva
• Pallasana Spurge
3/18/2015

55. 3/18/2015

56. Some endangered medicinal plants
Sr:No Plants name Medicinal use
1. Blood root plant Treatment of skin disorders and cancer
3. Ginseng root as a soothing agent for coughs, gastrointestinal ailments,
and skin irritations.
4. Black cohosh treat a variety of conditions including colds, pain,
rheumatism,
5. Alovera Treatment of burns and wounds
6. foxglove Heart failure treatment
7. Monetery pine Full of Antioxidants may protect against age-related
decline in mental abilities
3/18/2015

57. Cont:
Sr.No Plants name Medicinal use
8. Oplopanax species Infection cure, diabetes and tuberculosis
treatment
9. Autumn crocus Cancer and gout treatment
10. Camphor tree Rheumatic pain relief
11. Cinchona species Malaria and heart- disease treatment
12. Hoodia plant Weight loss
13. Opium poppy Pain relief, cough suppression
14. Xi shu tree Ovarian and lung cancer treatment
3/18/2015

58. Some endangered medicinal plants.
3/18/2015

59. Some other endangered plants
• Echinacea paradoxa
• Glandularia tampensis
• Heliconia angusta
• Acacia koaia -
• Acampe longifolia
• Guaiacum officinale
• Guaiacum santum -
• Lycaste ciliata
3/18/2015

60. 3/18/2015
Echinacea
paradoxa
Heliconia
angusta
Acacia koaia
Lycaste ciliata
Guaiacum
santum
Argyroxiphium
sandwicense

61. Pakistan Scenario
• A number of plant species in the country have
become extinct while many more are on the
verge of extinction.
• Unfortunately no critical work has been done
on threatened plants of Pakistan
580-650 flowering plant species (i.e. 12%) are
expected to be threatened.
3/18/2015

62. Extinct plant species in Pakistan
3/18/2015
Asparagus gharoensis (Sindh)
Scaveola plumererii (Sindh
coast)
Allium gilgiticum (Gilgit)
Arabidopsis brevicaulis
(Hunza valley)
Saxifraga duthei (Baltistan)
Taraxacum chitralicum
(Chitral)

63. Cont:
3/18/2015
Sonneratia caseolaris (Indus
delta)
Nepeta schinidii (Chitral)
Bruguiera gymnorrhiza (Indus
delta)
Cousinia matifeldei (Chitral)
Scaveola taccada (Sindh
coast)
Pedicularis caeruleoalbescens
(Chitral)

64. 3/18/2015
Asparagus gharoensis
Scaevola plumieri Arabidopsis
brevicaulis
Sonneratia caseolaris
Bruguiera gymnorrhiza
Allium gilgiticum

65. Reasons of declining plant diversity
Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, the Green
Revolution introduced high-yielding varieties of rice
and wheat to the developing world, replacing
thousands of farmers' traditional crop varieties and
their wild relatives on a massive scale. The same
process continues today. New, uniform plant
varieties are replacing farmer's traditional varieties -
and the traditional ones are becoming extinct.
3/18/2015

66. • Pests have became more resistant against the
pesticides and their efficiency to target the
crops has been increased. Ultimately
traditional crops are more vulnerable to these
pests.
3/18/2015

67. • On the other hand excessive use of pesticides has
also killed the natural predator of pests causing
more damage to crops than past.
• Due to the lake of gene banks efficiency in the
best operating order to preserve different plants
genes.
• Pakistan lacks a botanical survey department, as
it exists in many regional countries, including
India, and a book on the status of its flora.
3/18/2015

68. • Wildlife habitat declined with the advent of
row-to-row tillage and the adoption of
a monoculture system that eliminates crop
rotation and leads to loss in plants diversity.
• Wetland clearance for agricultural purposes.
• Almost 80% wetland has been cleared for
agricultural purposes.
3/18/2015

69. Recall
• AI can be defined by three major ways:
increasing
yields per
hectare
increasing
cropping
intensity (i.e.
two or more
crops) per unit of
land
changing land
use from low
value crops or
commodities to
those that
receive higher
market prices

70. AI: a driver of biodiversity loss during last decades
Reasons include:
Conversion of complex
natural ecosystems to
simplified managed
ecosystems
intensification of resource
use
application of more
agrochemicals
a generally higher input
and output
Agronomically important,
high-intensity pastures in
Germany lost around half
of the plant species in
post-war Europe and are
now extremely species
poor
seed density in arable
soils steeply decreased
from 1900 onwards
Recent AI also includes
GMCs, which offer new
opportunities for
increased yields in the
coming decades, but also
risk side-effect
species losses are because
of both deterministic (by
agricultural expansion)
and stochastic processes
(by habitat fragmentation)
decline of biodiversity
may affect ecosystem
functioning and yield

71. In Centrral Europe, nature
reserves are anthropogenic and
endangered by AI
Insecticide applications in rice fields
of south and Southeast Asia causing
removal of predators thus pest
resurgence
the impact of AI on biodiversity is
not uniform and some groups of
species are more affected than
others
In Western Europe, AI effects on
plants, beetles and birds.Examples
In another study use of
insecticides and fungicides had
consistent negative effects on
biodiversity in Europe

72. Impact on farmland birds and aquatic
specie
reduces the number of flowers and plant
diversity
In the northwestern Gulf of Mexico,
nutrient enrichment mainly from fertilizer
use in the Mississippi Basin has accounted
for the world’s largest hypoxic or dead
zone

73. Sunstainable intensification
The goal of
sustainable
intensification
is
increase food
production
from existing
farmland
Minimise
pressure on
the
environment
Increasing demand
for food from
growing global
Populaion
It is a
response to
challenges of
In short supply,
Over exploited
Used
unsustainably.
In a world
where land,
water, energy
and other
outputs are

74. Sustainable intensification
•
Main purpose is to meet
rising food demand due
to population increase
using fewer resources
and through efficient
use of new technologies
Drip irrigation,
sprinklers, no-till
beneficial
making
productive
use of human
capital in the
form of
knowledge
social capital to
resolve common
landscape
problems
This system is less
vulnerable to
shocks and
stresses

75. Socio-economic
intens..
Building social
capital, human
capital,
sustainable
livelihoods
Ecological
intens..
Intercropping,
IPM, O.F
Genetic intens..
Higher yields,
improving
nutrition,
resilience to
pests, diseases
& CC

77. ExamplesChina: focus is on
achieving both high
crop productivity and
high resource use
efficiency ensuring
food security and env.
Sustainability
•this system has been
successfully tested and
demonstrated
•policies for
sustainable
intensification in
cultivated land are also
proposed by govt.
AI in Africa: benefits
for 10.39 million
farmers and their
families and
improvements on
approximately 12.75
million ha
•Multiplicative food
outputs, high
yield/ha
•Still more gaps to be
filled (finance,
collaboration among
partners, political
leadership)
Europe is the
most intense
agriculture
producing
country and
also
employing AI

79. Need of
integrated
polices and
correlation
among all
sectors
Detailed
assessment and
understanding of
AI impacts is imp
Globally 4000
plants and
animals
threatened due to
AI
Rare and arable
species are
highly sensitive
to AI
Low intensity
mngt. Tech imp

80. Link between agriculture and climate change
No doubt,
Agriculture is seriously effected by climate change
But;
It also contributes to the problem at the first place
• Researchers argue that, with the right practices
and incentives, smallholder farmers can boost
productivity and help beat climate change.

81. • Any efforts to ‘intensify’ food
production must be matched by a
concerted focus on making it
‘sustainable.’ Failing to do so will
undermine our capacity to continue

82. Any