UPSC IAS exam preparation - World and Indian Geography - Lecture 23

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World Agriculture - Part 1

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Agricultural development is one of the most powerful tools to end extreme poverty, boost shared prosperity and feed a projected 9.7 billion people by 2050. Growth in the agriculture sector is two to four times more effective in raising incomes among the poorest compared to other sectors. 2016 analyses found that 65% of poor working adults made a living through agriculture.

Agriculture is also crucial to economic growth: in 2014, it accounted for one-third of global gross-domestic product (GDP). The trend continued. But agriculture-driven growth, poverty reduction, and food security are at risk: Climate change could cut crop yields, especially in the world’s most food-insecure regions. Agriculture, forestry and land use change are responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. Mitigation in the agriculture sector is part of the solution to climate change.

1.1 Threats from current system

The current food system threatens the health of people and the planet: agriculture accounts for 70% of water use and generates unsustainable levels of pollution and waste. Risks associated with poor diets are also the leading cause of death worldwide. Millions of people are either not eating enough or eating the wrong types of food, resulting in a double burden of malnutrition that can lead to illnesses and health crises. A 2018 report found that the absolute number of hungry and undernourished people increased to nearly 821 million in 2017, from around 804 million in 2016. Adult obesity is also increasing. In 2017, one in eight adults--or more than 672 million people—were obese.

1.2 Facts about current system

Present world agriculture is capable of providing everyone on the Earth with 2720 calories a day (more calories than the average 2100 recommended by the American Red Cross). However, sadly, 800 million people go to bed hungry every night. Staple foods are the major food sources of a particular region. They are typically energy rich, inexpensive, and easy to maintain over a long period of time. Most of the world's people rely on grains such as rice, wheat, oats, or millets as their main food source. In humid tropical and subtropical regions, root crops such as cassava are the staple foods. 

Starvation occurs when a person gets too little food to eat. On the other hand, malnutrition occurs when the body lacks certain nutrients or takes in too much unhealthy food. You can eat three meals a dav and still be malnourished. World hunger affects one in seven people. War, drought and other natural disasters, and disease escalate world hunger by destroying crops and killing heads of households.

Absolute poverty that is poverty that threatens a person's life. In global terms, this is a household earning less than the equivalents of US$1 a day. Disease, hunger, and child labour plague people living in absolute poverty. 

Relative poverty is having fewer resources than others in a community or country. Countries define their national poverty lines differently.

2.0 AGRICULTURAL REGIONS OF THE WORLD

The first agricultural systems of the world were delineated by D. Whittlesey in 1936. He employed the following five criteria for the demarcation of world agricultural regions:

1. Crop and livestock combination
2. Intensity of land use
3. Processing and marketing of farm produce
4. Degree of mechanisation, and
5. Association of buildings and other structures associated with agriculture.

2.1 Subsistence nomadic herding

The farmers are herders, who raise livestock for their subsistence (personal consumption) alone. Nomadic herding is an ecological or near ecological system of agriculture. It is carried on mainly to produce food for the family and to fulfill the needs of clothing, shelter and recreation. It is the most simple form of pastoralism. The nomadic herders are dependent on sheep, goats, camels, horses, and reindeers. The duration of stay of the nomads at one place and direction of their movement are governed by the availability of water and natural forage.

At present, nomadic herding is mainly confined to Saharan Africa (Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Libya, Algeria), the southwestern and central parts of Asia (Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Yemen), the northern parts of Asia (Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia). Owing to harsh climate, these areas are unsuitable for cultivation. In the desert areas, the food of nomads is mostly of animal origin (milk, cheese, curd, butter, meat, etc.), while in the sub-Arctic regions, the Eskimos, Inuits, Lapps, and Yakuts, are dependent on reindeers, fish, etc. The population of nomadic herders is, however, decreasing and areas dominated by them in the past are shrinking. It appears that true nomadism is likely to survive only in few pockets of small isolated areas of the above mentioned regions.

2.2 Livestock ranching

Ranchers build ranches and keep large flocks of livestock, over a vast area, with little inputs per unit area. Livestock ranching is carried on in the region with relatively flat surface and plains where  grass  grows luxuriously. It is mostly practised in the temperate and tropical grasslands- steppes (Eurasia), praries (North America), pampas (Argentina and Uruguay), velds (South Africa), downs (Australia), savanna (Sudan), llanose (Venezuela), and compose (Brazil). The leading areas of commercial grazing are the grasslands of North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

The prairies grasslands have thousands of ranches with more than 1000 acres each. The cattle include white-faced Hereford cattle breed, the black and white Friesian cows, the Jersy cows and the superior breeds of sheep. Every year millions of cattle and sheep are fattened and transported to large slaughter houses.

2.3 Shifting cultivation (Slash and Burn or Jhuming)

Farmers are part of a community that clears a piece of land, farms on it, and then moves on. Little of no technology is used. The history of shifting cultivation is as old as the history of agriculture. Shifting cultivation is a primitive form of soil utilisation. It is practiced usually in the tropical rain forests. 

The main characteristics of shifting cultivation are: 

1. Land belongs to the community
2. Farmers grow crops for the family consumption
3. It is done with fire, digging sticks, hoe and sackle
4. There is no use of draught animals
5. No use of manures and fertilizers
6. Mixed cropping (about a dozen of crops)
7. The settlements are fixed, but the fields are rotated after almost every year
8. The rotation cycle of fields varies from 10 to 25 years
9. The intensity of agriculture is very low, and
10. It is a great catalytic force for community life. The basic axiom of shifting cultivators is from each according to his capacity and to each according to his needs.

2.4 Intensive subsistence agriculture

Farmers put efforts on a small piece of land, to create enough food for their families, but nothing more. Little or no technology is used. [If, however, huge amounts of inputs are used (fertilizers, water, high yielding seeds etc.), then it turns into intensive agriculture (industrial). More capital is needed for it, and the system becomes part of Green Revolution.] Subsistence agriculture is a type of farming in which crops grown are consumed by the grower and his family. It is mostly done in the countries of monsoon of Asia and Africa.

The main characteristics of intensive subsistence agriculture are as under:

1. Small size of holding
2. Small size of fields
3. Scattered fields
4. Use of draught animals
5. Use of domestic labour
6. Dominance of cereal crops
7. General indebtedness

2.5 Plantation agriculture

The term 'plantation agriculture' was originally applied specifically to the British settlements in America and then to any large estate in North America, West Indies and South East Asia which was cultivated mainly by Negro and other coloured labourers from Asia and Africa. Plantation agriculture is practiced in the hot and humid subtropical regions of the world. The main characteristics of plantation agriculture are: 

1. It is practised mainly in the tropical countries to grow cash crops
2. The size of plantation estates is generally large
3. It is a specialised commercial cultivation
4. Land in plantation agriculture is devoted to rubber, oil-palm, copra, cotton, tea, coffee, hemp, spices, cocoa, pineapple, banana, sugarcane hemp and jute
5. It is executed with specialised skill, and wherever, possible with the application of machinery
6. There is heavy application of fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides
7. It aims at high yields
8. In most of the plantation estates there are factories to produce the marketable products
9. It is largely based on the exploitation of cheap labour, and
10. The final product have to be fully processed and standardised to meet the world demand and specifications.

2.6 Extensive agriculture

Extensive farming uses small inputs of labor, fertilizers, and capital, relative to the land area being farmed. It is directly opposite to intensive agriculture (industrial or subsistence). Extensive agriculture is carried on in the mid-latitudes, well away from maritime influence, recording less than 60 cm of rainfall. It is best developed in the steppes of Russia, Central Asia, Central and Western Plains of North America. Following are the main characteristics of extensive agriculture: 

1. It is highly mechanised
2. The size of holdings is large, ranging from 240 to 16,000 hectares
3. It employs little labour
4. The per hectare yield is low
5. It is practiced in the sparsely populated areas, and
6. Monoculture of wheat is the dominant cropping pattern. Among other crops, barley, oats, rye, flax and oilseeds are important.

2.7 Mediterranean agricultural system

This type of agriculture is confined to the coastal areas of Mediterranean Sea in Europe, Asia Minor, California, Central Chile, Cape Province of South Africa and south-west of Western Australia including Tasmania. The main characteristics of Mediterranean agriculture are: 

1. Specialise in the orchards of citrus fruits. Cereals are subordinated to tree crops
2. Wheat and barley are the main crops during the winter season
3. The size of holdings vary from medium to large
4. The shape of fields is irregular
5. Vines, figs, olive, etc. occupy a significant part of the agricultural land
6. In the hilly areas sheep rearing is common, and 
7. In general the farming community is well off.

2.8 Mixed farming or Commercial crops and livestock

Mixed farming is  a type of agriculture which involves both crops and livestock. It is found throughout P.urope including Eurasia, North America (east of 90" longitude). The main characteristics of mixed farming are given below: 

1. It is practiced in the densely populated and urbanised regions of the temperate latitudes
2. The size of holdings is large
3. It is highly mechanised
4. It yields high agricultural returns
5. Crops are grown to be fed to livestock, pigs and poultry
6. Agricultural land is devoted to fodder (hay) and maize crops
7. In winter season, forage crops, hay, solid feed and concentrates are fed to livestock
8. The livestock require daily attention of the farmers
9. The wages of labour are high, which made this increasingly difficult to keep a variety of livestock on the farms and
10. The per capita income and the standard of living of the of mixed farmers are high.

2.9 Dairy farming 

The keeping of cattle for milk and milk products (butter, cheese, curd, condensed and powder milk) is known as dairy farming. It is practised mainly in the temperate countries of Europe, North and South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The main characteristics of dairy farming are given below; 

1. Dairying is a capital intensive farming. It needs huge amount to develop the infrastructure for livestock
2. It is highly mechanised
3. It needs long hours for the farmers to look after the cows
4. There is a fixed ratio of cattle and arable land. For example, in Britain the ratio is one cow per acre, and
5. Dairying fetches handsome amount to the farmers. Consequently, the standard of living of the dairy farmers is fairly high.

2.10 Horticulture (Truck Farming)

Specialised cultivation of vegetables, fruits and flowers is known as horticulture or truck farming. It is practiced mainly in the highly industrialised, urbanised regions of North East USA, Canada (Lakes Region), and in the suburbs of the metropolitan regions of North-West Europe, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In urbanised districts of the developed countries, there is a heavy demand of vegetables and fruits. The main characteristics of this type of farming are given below:

1. The size of holdings is relatively small
2. These orchards are well connected by metalled roads
3. The truck farms are generally at an over night distance from the markets
4. It is a capital intensive and highly mechanised type of farming
5. This type of agriculture is done on scientific lines, and 
6. Harvesting of vegetables and fruits is done

3.0 Fishing and Forestry

Fishing and forestry involve gathering or harvesting a raw material from nature. Forestry and fishing are the important economic activities providing employment for a substantial number of persons in the developing and developed world. Moreover, they are important sources of food, building material and trade.

Fishing is an important economy in the coastal regions of the world particularly in the coastal areas of the temperate latitudes. Fisheries can be classified into two groups: 

1. Fresh water fish, and   
2. Marine fish. 

China is the leading producer in the fresh water fish as well as that of marine fish. The major fishing grounds of the world are as under: 

3.1 The North-East Atlantic Region 

This region extends to the western part of Europe from the coast of Portugal up to the coast of Norway including the North Sea. The warm water of the North Atlantic Drift (Gulf Stream) keeps the coast of North Sea open throughout the year. The Dogger Bank located in the North Sea is one of the most important fishing grounds in the world. Cod, and herring are the important fish species caught in this region. The major fishing countries include Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and UK.

3.2 The North-West Atlantic Coastal Region

This fishing region lies around the New-Foundland (Canada). Here the continental shelf is fairly wide which is known as the Grand Banks and the Georges Banks. The warm water of the Gulf Stream and the cold water of Labrador Current meet in this region. These conditions are ideal for the fast growth of planktons. Consequently, these banks are rich in fish. The main fish of the region are cod, haddock, herring, lobsters, oysters and perch. 

In the warm water of the southern part, shrimp is an important catch. St. John's, Charlottetown, Halifax, Portland, Boston, and New York are the important fishing ports of this region.

3.3 The North-West Pacific Region

This region stretches from the Bering Sea in the north to Philippines in the south. The warm current of Kurosiwo and the cold Oyasiwo currents converge to the east of Honshu Island (Japan). The merger of the warm and cold currents create ideal conditions for the fast population growth of fish. The people of China, Japan, North and South Korea and Russia are the main fish catchers in this region.

3.4 The North-East Pacific Region

This zone extends from Alaska to California along the coasts of Canada and USA. The North Pacific Drift brings warm water in this region which keeps the coast open throughout the year. The main fish species found in this region are halibut, pilchard, salmon, sardine, and tuna. The main ports along the coast where fish industry is important are Anchorage (Alaska), Vancouver (Canada), San-Francisco and Los Angles (USA).

Fishery provides an important source of protein in the diet of much of the population. About 90 per cent of the fish is caught from the sea, while the remaining 10 per cent is obtained from the inland water-bodies.

Comprehensive listing of farming types in the world

4.0 Aqua-culture

The commercial raising of plants and animals in water is known as aquaculture. Today aquaculture accounts for less than one per cent of world fish production. The coastal areas of China and Japan are well known for aquaculture. Fish are also raised as sideline in rice paddies in the countries of Monsoon Asia. In recent years Japanese farmers have permanently converted some rice paddies into huge dug-out tanks for fish production. In the United States, commercial production of catfish has become big business in many southern states. The future of fish in the human diet remains bright. The developing countries will begin to produce more fish for their domestic markets rather than for export. According to the United Nations Law of the Sea Conference 1982, the territorial sea limit is 12 miles from the shore, a 24-mile contiguous zone, and a 200 mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as called for in the Law of the Sea Treaty. Pollution of coastal marine waters remain a threat to world fisheries. Heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, and mercury reach coastal water via river discharges in industrial areas. Moreover, oil spills are adversely affecting the aquaculture adversely.

5.0 Forestry

Forestry is an important economic activity in the contemporary world. Wood is used as fuel including cooking and heating uses, and half for industrial purposes (boards, pulp, veneer). 

Commercial forests occur in two huge global belts. The first virtually encircles the world in the higher latitudes of the northern hemisphere. The second forest belt lies in the equatorial region including a large part of South America and central Africa. The main species of tropical region which are in much demand are mahogany, cedar, teak, ebony, and balsa. Moreover, commercial forest gathering is of significance in Japan, southern United States, Madagascar, Chile, Myanmar, Thailand, southeastern Australia, New Zealand, some of the east European countries. The Amazon Basin is one of the largest equatorial forest areas of the world. The forest of Amazon Basin are known as 'Selvas' 

The tallest trees of the world grow in the fir and pine forests of northern California, where giant redwood sequoias attain heights of about 100 m and diameters of 6 meter. Douglas fir trees in California grow about 100 m. The forest resource of mid-latitudes hardwood deciduous tree include oak, chestnut, hickory, maple, birch, and beech trees.

The leading producers of industrial timber include United States, Russia, and Canada while India is the leading producer of fuelwood followed by Brazil and China.

6.0 FOOD SUPPLY AND THE FUTURE

So far, world agriculture has been able to respond to the rising demand for crop and livestock products. Although the world's population doubled between 1960 and 2000 and levels of nutrition improved markedly, the prices of rice, wheat and maize - the world's major food staples - fell by around 60 percent. The fall in prices indicates that, globally, supplies not only kept pace with demand, but even outstripped it.

Although global demand for agricultural products has continued to rise, it has done so less rapidly in recent decades. Between 1969 and 1989 demand grew at an average of 2.4 percent a year, but this fell to only 2 percent in the decade from 1989.

Apart from temporary factors (foremost among them a decline in consumption in the transition economies in the 1990s), there were two more enduring reasons for the slowdown:

The growth rate of world population peaked in the late 1960s at 2 percent a year and slowed thereafter.

A rising proportion of the world's population had reached fairly high levels of food consumption, so the scope for further increase was limited. By 1997-99, 61 percent of the world's population were living in countries where average food consumption per person was above 2700 kcal per day. However, the demand for agricultural products will continue to grow more slowly.

6.1 Dietary changes in developing countries, 1964-66 to 2030

Just as world average calorie intakes have increased, so also people's diets have changed. Patterns of food consumption are becoming more similar throughout the world, incorporating higher-quality and more expensive foods such as meat and dairy products.

This trend is partly due to simple preferences. Partly, too, it is due to increased international trade in foods, to the global spread of fast food chains, and to exposure to North American and European dietary habits. Convenience also plays a part, for example the portability and ease of preparation of ready-made bread or pizza, versus root vegetables. Changes in diet closely follow rises in incomes and occur almost irrespective of geography, history, culture or religion. However, cultural and religious factors do explain differences between countries with similar income levels. For example, Hindus abstain from beef or meat in general, Moslems and Jews from pork. Despite similar income levels, Japanese people consume far fewer calories from non-starchy foods than do Americans, as do Thais compared with Brazilians.

Dietary convergence is quite high among the high-income countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where food consumption patterns show a 75 percent overlap with those in the United States, meaning that 75 percent of processed food products are based on the same raw materials. Even Japan has been moving closer to other OECD countries, with the overlap rising from 45 percent in 1961 to about 70 percent in 1999. Convergence towards North American dietary patterns is also occurring in other groups of developing countries, though only slowly in some cases, especially in landlocked or politically isolated countries where international influences permeate less easily. However, cultural factors appear to limit convergence to an upper ceiling of around 80 percent, at least for the time being.

These changes in diet have had an impact on the global demand for agricultural products and will go on doing so. Meat consumption in developing countries, for example, has risen from only 10 kg per person per year in 1964-66 to 26 in 1997-99. It is projected to rise still further, to 37 kg per person per year in 2030. Milk and dairy products have also seen rapid growth, from 28 kg per person per year in 1964-66 to 45 kg now, and could rise to 66 kg by 2030. The intake of calories derived from sugar and vegetable oils is expected to increase. However, average human consumption of cereals, pulses, roots and tubers is expected to level off.

The problem of under-nourishment should become more tractable. The projections imply that the problem of under-nourishment should become more tractable in future. This will work in two major ways:

As the incidence of under-nourishment diminishes, more and more countries will find it easier to address the problem through national policy interventions. By 2030, three-quarters of the population of developing countries could be living in countries where less than 5 percent of people are undernourished, compared with 7.7 percent at present. This dramatic change will occur because the majority of the most populous countries (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Mexico and Pakistan) will shift to the "under-5-percent" category.

The number of countries with severe problems of under-nourishment will become smaller over time. International policy responses will tend to become more feasible and effective, as the total effort need not be spread so thinly. For example, if the projections come true, the number of countries with under-nourishment of over 25 percent will fall from 35 at present (accounting for 13 percent of the population of the developing countries) to 15 in 2030 (accounting for only 3.5 percent).

So far, world agriculture has been able to respond to the rising demand for crop and livestock products. Although the world's population doubled between 1960 and 2000 and levels of nutrition improved markedly, the prices of rice, wheat and maize - the world's major food staples - fell by around 60 percent. The fall in prices indicates that, globally, supplies not only kept pace with demand, but even outstripped it.

6.2 The problem of undernourishment

While East Asia's population will be growing at only 0.4 percent a year, that of sub-Saharan Africa will still be growing at 2.1 percent. By 2030, every third person added to the world's population will be a sub-Saharan African. By 2050, this will rise to every second person.

The second major factor determining the demand for food is growth in incomes. The latest World Bank assessment of future economic growth is less optimistic than its predecessors, but it still projects a rise of 1.9 percent a year in per capita incomes between 2000 and 2015, higher than the 1.2 percent seen in the 1990s.

What will happen to the incidence of poverty under this overall economic scenario is of great importance to food security because poverty and hunger are closely associated. The World Bank has estimated the implications of its economic growth projections for poverty reduction by the year 2015. It is possible to achieve the goal of halving the proportion of people living in absolute poverty - defined as an income below US$1 per day by 2015, over the 1990 level.

However, it is unlikely that the number of poor people can also be halved. This will decline from 1.27 billion in 1990 to 0.75 billion in 2015. Much of the decline will be due to development in East and South Asia. Indeed, about half of the decline of 400 million projected for East Asia has already occurred.

Only in sub-Saharan Africa, where incomes are expected to grow very slowly, are the numbers living in poverty expected to rise, from 240 million in 1990 to 345 million in 2015. By then, two out of five people in the region will be living in poverty.

Average nutrition will improve, but under-nourishment will fall only slowly.

In the light of these changes in population and incomes, progress in improving nutrition is expected to continue, though more slowly than in the past. Average per capita food consumption in developing countries is projected to rise by 6.3 percent, from 2 680 kcal in 1997-99 to 2 850 kcal in 2015. This is a third of the rise achieved between 1974-76 and 1997-99.

The slowdown is occurring not because of production limits but because many countries have now reached medium to high levels of consumption, beyond which there is less scope than in the past for further increases. Huge countries such as China, where per capita consumption rose from 2 050 kcal per day in the mid-1970s to over 3 000 kcal per day today, have already passed the phase of rapid growth. More and more countries will be attaining such levels over the projection period.

By 2030, three-quarters of the population of the developing world could be living in countries where less than 5 percent of people are undernourished. Only 1 in 13 live in such countries at present.

The World Food Summit of 1996 set a target of halving the numbers of undernourished in developing countries by 2015, compared with the base period of 1990-92. FAO's study has found that the proportion of undernourished people should fall significantly, from 20 percent in 1990-92 to 11 percent by 2015 and 6 percent by 2030. However, in numerical terms the World Food Summit target is unlikely to be met. The total number of undernourished people will probably fall from 815 million in 1990-92 to some 610 million by 2015. Not until 2030 will the numbers fall to 440 million, thereby approaching the 2015 target.

The proportion of the world's population living in countries with per capita food consumption under 2 200 kcal per day will fall to only 2.4 percent in 2030. The reduction in the number of undernourished people will be impressive in some regions: in South Asia, for example, it could fall from 303 million in 1997-99 to 119 million in 2030, while in East Asia the number could halve from its current level of 193 million.

In contrast, in sub-Saharan Africa and the Near East and North Africa, there is likely to be little or no decline in the numbers of undernourished people, although the proportion will approximately halve. By 2030, all regions except sub-Saharan Africa should see the incidence of under-nourishment decline to between 4 and 6 percent, down from the range of 9 to 24 percent today. In sub-Saharan Africa, 15 percent of the population or 183 million people will still be undernourished by 2030. This will be by far the highest total for any region, and is only 11 million less than in 1997-99. The fate of sub-Saharan Africa is therefore cause for serious concern.

As incomes rise, access to food should become more equal. This is because poor people spend a high proportion of increases in their incomes on food, whereas there is an upper limit to the amount of food that rich people want to eat. This greater equality will have a significant effect on the numbers of undernourished people. For example, in the 44 countries that will have average per capita food intakes of over 2 700 kcal per day in 2015, the number of undernourished people is expected to be 295 million. But if inequality of access to food were to remain unchanged at today's level, this number would be 400 million. 

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