MED 007
AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT
Programme: MA/2021/2022
Course Code: MED 007
Max. Marks: 100
IGNOU MED 007 Free Solved Assignment 2022, MED 007 Solved Assignment 2022, MED 007
Assignment 2022, FREE MED 007 Assignment, IGNOU Assignments 2022- Gandhi
National Open University had recently uploaded the assignments of this session
for the year 2022. Students are recommended to download their Assignments from
this webpage itself. IGNOU MED 007 Free Solved Assignment
2022 They don’t need to go anywhere else when everything regarding the
Assignments are available during this text only.
IGNOU MED 007 Free Solved Assignment 2022
MED 007 Free Solved Assignment 2022: for college
kids – MED 007 AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT Solved Assignment 2022,
Students are advised that after successfully downloading their Assignments,
you’ll find each and every course assignments of your downloaded. Candidates
got to create separate assignment for the IGNOU Master Course, so as that it’s
easy for Evaluators to ascertain your assignments.
MED 007 Free Solved
Assignment
1. What do you understand by sustainability? What are the
parameters and goals of sustainable agriculture?
Sustainability is a complex
concept. The most often quoted definition comes from the UN World Commission on
Environment and Development (WCED): “sustainable development is development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.” Consequently, sustainability has been
defined as meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs. It presumes that resources are finite, and
should be used conservatively and wisely with a view to long-term
priorities and consequences of the ways in which resources are used.
Sustainability is the process of
living within the limits of available
physical, natural and social resources in ways that allow the living
systems in which humans are embedded to thrive in perpetuity.
Working definition by Academic
Advisory Committee at the University of Alberta
The concept continues to expand in
scope. In 2000, the Earth Charter broadened the definition of
sustainability to include the idea of a global society “founded on respect for
nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.”
Sustainability is a holistic
approach that considers ecological, social and economic dimensions, recognising
that all must be considered together to find lasting prosperity.
Pillars of Sustainability
A popular method of considering the
sustainability state of mind is the triple bottom line approach. The three
bottom lines, or pillars, are:
·
Economic Sustainability
·
Social Sustainability
·
Environmental Sustainability
The importance of sustainable role
of agriculture in Slovenia is widely recognized, but the scientific research of
this topic is still rare. We suggest an empirical model which enables
continuous quantitative monitoring of sustainable orientation of agriculture
for the individual EU 15 countries and Slovenia. The model enables the
estimation of the extent to which the elements of sustainable agriculture
pursue the goals of agricultural policy. The model was developed within the
project “Parameters of Sustainable Development of Agriculture” (2010-2012),
financed by Slovenian Research Agency and Ministry of Agriculture and the
Environment.
The definition of sustainable
agriculture is hard to pin down. It is both a philosophy and a set of
concrete farming practices. Although practiced by conscientious and prosperous
farmers since day one, the term sustainable agriculture didn't come into widespread
use until the 1980s. In the 1990 Farm Bill, Congress proposed a definition of
sustainable agriculture as an "integrated system of plant and animal
practices" that work toward the following overarching goals:
Satisfy human food and clothing
(cotton, wool, leather) needs
·
Enhance environmental quality and natural resources
·
Use nonrenewable resources more efficiently
·
Take better advantage of on-farm resources
·
Employ natural and biological controls for pests and
disease
·
Sustain the economic viability of farming
·
Enhance the quality of life of farmers and society as
a whole [source: Gold]
If there is a single overarching
goal in sustainable agriculture, it is to work with natural processes rather
than against them [source: McRae]. Let's use soil fertility as an example:
In nature, the soil is fed by the slow decomposition of organic matter in the
form of dead plants, dead animals and animal droppings. Natural soils are also
home to a broad diversity of plant life that has evolved natural resistance to
common diseases and pests. A naturally fertile soil is also rich with
beneficial insects and microbial life that repel pests and cycle nutrients back
into the earth.
Sustainable agriculture doesn't ask
farmers to let their fields run wild, but to simply learn from nature's bag of
tricks. For example, farmers can increase the organic matter content of their
soils -- thereby improving soil texture and water-holding capacity -- by
plowing in compost each fall. In a diverse and well-planned farm operation, the
farm's own cows and horses can provide sufficient manure for composting.
Farmers can also mimic nature by planting disease-resistant varieties of crops
and using companion plants to attract beneficial insects that ward off invasive
pests.
2. a) Explain the basic principles of land use. What impact
would superiority of demand have on our land use pattern?
The principle of maximization
points out that the user of the land tend to maximize his value returns because
he is motivated by a desire to make the best utilization of as many resources
as possible that are lying at his disposal.
He always tries to use his land to
the maximum possible extent subject to the abundance or scarcity of other
factors of production e.g. capital, labour, irrigation and other facilities.
For example if a huge amount of
capital has accumulated through saving and thrift in a densely populated area
where cheap labour and irrigation and other facilities are available but only a
small fraction of land is available for agricultural use, then this small area
would be intensively cultivated.
Consequently the yield per hectare
would be very high. On the other hand, much land may be available in a sparsely
populated undeveloped area where capital, labour and irrigation are severely
restricted; the land would be extensively cultivated. Thus under both the
condition, the user of land attempts to maximize his value return.
The Equimarginal Principles:
Every piece of land has
potentialities for many kinds of use; e.g. the land may be utilized for growing
jute, paddy or ladies finger near Calcutta. Inputs are assigned to every kind
of use in proportion to return expected from them. As ladies finger fetches
good return from Calcutta market, so more input is assigned to it. The transfer
of input from one use to another shall equal the loss in return from the rest
of uses.
The Principle of Diminishing Marginal Rate of Substitution:
The increasing amount of production
and consumption, the increment of satisfaction for any type of land use
decreases. It is valid when two goods are substituted for each other. The
smaller quantities of greater good are necessary to compensate for the
substitution of another goods.
The land use pattern of
saline water marshy lands is usually restricted to peat forests and fishing.
The Salt Water Lake region that previously existed in this region continued to
grow into land masses with increase in farmland from land reclamation effort.
Encroachment of land in some region had started in the aforementioned boundary
of present EKW region, mentioned as Salt Water Lake region. B. N. Dey in
1943–44 increased the availability of wastewater to the wetlands in the eastern
fringes of Calcutta city and widespread adoption of wastewater-fed aquaculture
started in the waterbodies of Salt Water Lake region. The land use of any other
kind became restricted in these fishing zones. During the period of the Second
World War, the world was confronting an economic crisis which led to sudden
rise in the prices of daily commodities like rice and the fishermen who ran on
daily income had to sacrifice their fish sales. This was the quest for survival
of rural people who could not embrace the sudden upsurge in prices and these
factors partly contributed to the 1943 “Bengal Famine.” The fish farming was
threatened in the region as a result. However, the concept of culture of fishes
from wastewater of the city, available free of cost and without much effort,
had persuaded the mindset of some people toward pisciculture. In 1947, after
India's independence, a diaspora of people from East Pakistan (present
Bangladesh) rushed into Bengal. The refugee number proliferated in Bengal and
this caused demand for township in and around Calcutta. The north and southern
parts of the then Calcutta were congested and a parcel of land from reclaimed
Salt Water Lake region was assigned for development of new township named “Salt
Lake City” as shown in The Dutch engineering firm NEDECO surveyed the
Salt Water Lakes on invitation of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy and a government
gazette notification was published regarding acquisition of 173.4 acres for the
reclamation of the north of Salt Water Lake area. This land was taken over by
the Government of West Bengal. The erstwhile Yugoslav firm Invest Import
selected by a global tender was entrusted with the reclamation work of the
swampy land area. This was followed by a tender on urban planning. Reclamation
of Sector-I of modern Salt Lake Township was completed in 1965. Sectors II and
III of Salt Lake, also known as Bidhannagar after the name of its founder, were
completed in 1969. Sector I, II, and III have been developed mainly as
residential area. As Salt Lake City is a preplanned township, the Land Use
Pattern was allotted among different categories such as road networking, water
supply, storage reservoirs, and other essential infrastructures beforehand.
Related Link:
IGNOU BEGC 131 Free Solved Assignment 2022
IGNOU BEGC 133 Free Solved Assignment 2022
IGNOU BANS 184 Free Solved Assignment 2022
IGNOU BEGAE 182 Free Solved Assignment 2022
(b) List five management options to manage water logged lands.
Waterlogged area is generally
defined as an area having ground water level from 25 cm to 300 cm on the
surface of the land for few months or for whole year. Waterlogged areas are
classified in three categories i.e.
(1) shallow: having water level
upto 45 cm on the surface of land (2) medium: having water level from 45 cm to
120 cm and (3) deep: waterlogged area having water level above 120 cm land
surface. Arable land is a scarce resource and its every available part has
already been brought under cultivation. Further, ever growing pressure on land
has necessitated to bring the tracts of waste and barren land under economic
uses and accordingly the Waste Land Development Board has launched a number of
measures to reclaim the alkaline and saline soils, but no proper attentions has
yet been paid to develop the water logged areas in the country. No doubt, if
the water logged areas are also tapped they can be of great economic help to
eradicate unemployment and poverty in the rural areas. Hence, the development of
water logged areas is felt necessary. Water logging is caused by the
accumulation of rain water in the low lying areas as well as seepage of canal
water. Some of the water logged areas when dry up, are used for only growing
Rabi crops while others remain submerged under water throughout the year
without rendering any economic benefit. The water logging is a crucial problem
in the flood effected areas of U.P.
1. Leveling of land:
Leveling of land in many wetlands
removes water by run off.
2. Drainage:
Drainage removes excess water from
the root zone that is harmful for plant growth. Land can be drained by surface
drainage, sub-surface drainage and drainage well methods.
3. Controlled irrigation:
Excess use of water in the
irrigation results in waterlogged area.
4. To check the seepage in the canals and irrigation channels:
Due to seepage, land becomes
water-logged.
5. Flood control measures:
Construction of bunds may check
water flow from the rivers to the cultivable lands.
3. What are off-farm inputs in agriculture, and why are they
called off-farm inputs? Describe the various ways in which off-farm inputs
affect air quality.
For successful farming, various
inputs are required to be applied in the soil and the crops. Small and marginal
farmers usually use the on-farm produce and wastes as inputs but for successful
commercial farming, major inputs are brought from outside the farm and are
called off-farm inputs. These inputs are usually energy intensive and produced
mainly in the urban regions. The major off-farm inputs are fertilizers,
pesticides, oils, and farm machinery. In the last unit of this block, we
discuss the issues and challenges pertaining to the use of these off-farm
inputs. In this block you have developed an understanding of the major environmental
concerns pertaining to the use of natural resources in agriculture. In the next
block, we discuss ways of meeting the challenges and devising strategies for
eco-friendly agriculture.
The world’s population has grown
from ∼1.5 billion
at the beginning of the 20th century to ∼6.8 billion today. This population
increase has been accompanied by the advent and growth of “intensive”
agriculture, with associated impacts on the environment. During the next 50
years, the Earth’s human population is predicted to increase to more than 9
billion, creating higher demand for agricultural commodities, both crop and
animal. Without scientific research to inform policy decisions, there will
likely be a parallel increase in environmental impacts associated with this
future growth in agriculture.
Agronomists throughout the U.S. and
Europe have sought to increase food production by increasing productivity.
Farmers increased agricultural output significantly between the 1940s and the
1990s, capitalizing on increased availability of nitrogen fertilizer (the
global production of fertilizer currently is more than 90 Tg of N yr−1,
compared to ∼1 Tg only
50 years ago). Increased agricultural
output is also the result of mechanization combined with the abandonment of
traditional practices, better pesticides, cultivation of marginal land,
availability of hybrid and genetically modified crop varieties, and
improvements in production efficiency. Many of these innovations have been
supported by public investment. Furthermore, inexpensive fossil fuels have been
available for fertilizer production, for replacement of human labor by
increased mechanization, and for transport of raw material and products.
In both the U.S. and Western
Europe, the governmental agricultural policies encouraged intensification and
commercial factors magnified this effect. Farmers increased agricultural
intensity by the sustained use of chemical inputs, increasing field size, and
higher animal stocking densities (i.e., concentrated animal feeding operations,
CAFOs). Farmers discontinued traditional fallowing practices and crop
rotations, resulting in a displacement of leguminous fodder crops with
increased use of silage and maize for livestock. Specialization and
intensification have resulted in a decrease in the number of farm holdings and
the number of people employed in farming. This has been accompanied by a
concentration of production, leading to less diversity of local agricultural
habitats.
Growing public and regulatory
concerns have recognized the emissions and discharges from agriculture and
adverse impacts of agriculture on the quality of the air and water, and on
soil, biodiversity, and the long-term sustainability of agricultural
ecosystems. Public concerns about current and predicted impacts to the
environment pressure farmers to reduce intensive agriculture. To develop
policies to reduce environmental impacts from agriculture, we must understand
the behavior of agricultural emissions and the subsequent transformations, transport,
and fate of pollutants in the environment Recognizing the growing needs in this
research area, a number of governmental agencies, universities, and research
organizations cosponsored an international workshop on agricultural air
quality
4. Why is scheduling of irrigation important from the point of
economic and environmental consequences? Discuss the importance of land
management practices in dry land farming.
Irrigation has contributed
significantly to poverty alleviation, food security, and improving the quality
of life for rural populations. However, the sustainability of irrigated
agriculture is being questioned, both economically and environmentally. The
increased dependence on irrigation has not been without its negative
environmental effects.
Inadequate attention to factors
other than the technical engineering and projected economic implications of
large-scale irrigation or drainage schemes in Africa has all too frequently led
to great difficulties. Decisions to embark on these costly projects have often
been made in the absence of sound objective assessments of their environmental
and social implications. Major capital intensive water engineering schemes have
been proposed without a proper evaluation of their environmental impact and
without realistic assessments of the true costs and benefits that are likely to
result.
The sustainability of irrigation
projects depends on the taking into consideration of environmental effects as
well as on the availability of funds for the maintenance of the implemented
schemes. Negative environmental impacts could have a serious effect on the
investments in the irrigation sector. Adequate maintenance funds should be
provided to the implementing organizations to carry out both regular and
emergency maintenance.
It is essential that irrigation
projects be planned and managed in the context of overall river basin and
regional development plans, including both the upland catchment areas and the
catchment areas downstream.
Irrigation scheduling allows
an improvement in water resources management, which is critical in arid and
semiarid conditions. Regulated DI scheduling, controlling the moment and
the level of water stress, is more efficient in conditions of water scarcity
than sustained DI. This latter irrigation strategy with the same amount of
water could induce a severe water deficit in sensitive periods that reduce the
quality or quantity of the yield. The drought sensitivity of the phenological
stages of these three species is apparently established. The second rapid fruit
growth (stage III) is considered the most sensitive to irrigation withdrawal
with a reduction in fruit size, although usually an increase in compounds
related to fruit quality has also been reported. On the other hand, the pit
hardening (stage II) and postharvest stages could be the most adequate to
perform a DI strategy if certain limitations are considered.
Drylands are places of water
scarcity, where rainfall may be limited or may only be abundant for a short
period. They experience high mean temperatures, leading to high rates of water
loss to evaporation and transpiration. Drylands are also characterised by
extremely high levels of climatic uncertainty, and many areas can experience
varying amounts of annual precipitation for several years.
Drylands are found on all
continents, and include grasslands, savannahs, shrublands and woodlands. They
are most common in Africa and Asia – for example, in the Sahel region in Africa
and almost all of the Middle East. Drylands cover over 40% of the earth's land
surface, provide 44% of the world’s cultivated systems and 50% of the world’s
livestock, and are home to more than two billion people.
Drylands are extremely vulnerable
to climatic variations, and damaging human activities such as deforestation,
overgrazing and unsustainable agricultural practices. The consequences of these
include soil erosion, the loss of soil nutrients, changes to the amount of salt
in the soil, and disruptions to the carbon, nitrogen and water cycles –
collectively known as land degradation.
Land degradation leads to the
reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of
land. In drylands, land degradation is known as desertification. It is
estimated that 25-35% of drylands are already degraded, with over 250 million
people directly affected and about one billion people in over one hundred
countries at risk.
Drylands support an impressive
array of biodiversity. This includes wild endemic species – such as the Saiga
Antelope in the Asian steppe and American bison in the North American
grasslands that do not occur anywhere else on earth – and cultivated plants and
livestock varieties known as agrobiodiversity. Biodiversity in drylands also
includes organisms which live in the soil, such as bacteria, fungi and insects
– known as soil biodiversity – which are uniquely adapted to the conditions.
5. (a) How do organic farmers fertilize their crops? How do
they control crop pests and weeds?
The important concentrated organic
manures are oilcakes, blood meal, fish manure etc. These are also known as
organic nitrogen fertilizer. Before their organic nitrogen is used by the
crops, it is converted through bacterial action into readily usable ammoniacal
nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen. These organic fertilizers are, therefore,
relatively slow acting, but they supply available nitrogen for a longer period.
Oil cakes
After oil is extracted from
oilseeds, the remaining solid portion is dried as cake which can, be used as
manure. The oil cakes are of two types:
Edible oil cakes which can be
safely fed to livestock; e.g.: Groundnut cake, Coconut cake etc., and
Non edible oil cakes which are not
fit for feeding livestock; e.g.: Castor cake, Neem cake, Mahua cake etc.,
Both edible and non-edible oil
cakes can be used as manures. However, edible oil cakes are fed to cattle and
non-edible oil cakes are used as manures especially for horticultural crops.
Nutrients present in oil cakes, after mineralization, are made available to
crops 7 to 10 days after application. Oilcakes need to be well powdered before
application for even distribution and quicker decomposition.
The standard requires organic
producers to manage soil fertility and crop nutrients in a way that maintains
or improves soil organic matter content [7 CFR 205.203(a)]. This objective is
achieved through crop rotations, growing cover crops and the application of
plant and animal materials. Nutrients harvested are expected to be replaced by
the recycling of organic matter. However, the applications must be made in a
way that does not result in the contamination of crops, soil or water by
plants, nutrients, heavy metals, or materials that are otherwise prohibited for
organic production. Any fertilizer or soil amendment to be used on certified
organic land must be included in the Organic System Plan (OSP) [7 CFR
205.201(a)(2)]. Before any farming input can be applied, the USDA Accredited
Certifying Agent (ACA) must approve the OSP [7 CFR 205.201(a)]. Animal manure
that is composted or otherwise effectively treated to reduce pathogens may be
applied without restriction to crops grown for human consumption. Raw animal
manure is subject to an interval between application and harvest of crops for
human consumption. Crops that are in contact with the soil, such as carrots,
potatoes, spinach and lettuce are subject to an interval of 120 days. Crops not
in contact with the soil, such as corn, beans, and fruit, are subject to an
interval of 90 days [7 CFR 205.203(c)
Crop protection is the general
method or the practice of protecting the crop yields from different agents
including pests, weeds, plant diseases, and other organisms that cause damage
to the agricultural crops.
Apart from crops, agricultural
fields would have weeds, small animals like rats, mites, insects, pests,
disease-causing pathogens and frequently raided by birds. All these factors are
mainly responsible for the loss or damage to the crops. Thus to yield high crop
production, farmers need to protect the crop from these pests. Hence crop
protection management is important before, during and after the cultivation.
There are many crop protection
tools and practices, which farmers can implement to increase the success of
their crops.
Weed Management
Weeds are unwanted plants growing
along with the crops. These undesirable plants, steal the nutrients, sunlight,
water and other resources from the crops and affect their growth, which
results in the undernourished of crops and decreases the yields. To safeguard
the productivity of crops, farmers remove these weeds by a process called
weeding.
Weeding is the process of
controlling the growth of weeds. There are various methods of weeding:
·
Spraying weedicides on the weeds
·
Manually plucking the weeds by hands
·
Removing weeds by trowel and harrow
·
Ploughing the field to remove the weeds even before
sowing the seeds
·
Few examples of weeds
are Amaranthus, Cyperinus rotundus, Bermuda grass, etc.
Apart from weeding, Herbicides
– a chemical substance also play an important role in controlling the
growth of the weeds and also help in preventing soil erosion and water
loss.
Pests and Insects Management
Both insects and pests are the
major cause of crop damage and yield loss. They could ruin the whole crop and
eat up the large portion of grains. In fact, they can reduce crop output
by 30-50(%) every year if left unchecked. The best ways to protect crop damage
are by incorporating integrated pest and insect management. Spraying
insecticides, pesticides help to minimize the crop damage by controlling the
insects and other pests.
(b) What is biological control? Why is it an important
component of IPM?
Biological control is a component
of an integrated pest management strategy. It is defined as the reduction of
pest populations by natural enemies and typically involves an active human
role. Keep in mind that all insect species are also suppressed by naturally
occurring organisms and environmental factors, with no human input. This is
frequently referred to as natural control. This guide emphasizes the biological
control of insects but biological control of weeds and plant diseases is also
included. Natural enemies of insect pests, also known as biological control
agents, include predators, parasitoids, and pathogens. Biological control of
weeds includes insects and pathogens. Biological control agents of plant
diseases are most often referred to as antagonists.
Predators, such as lady beetles and
lacewings, are mainly free-living species that consume a large number of prey
during their lifetime. Parasitoids are species whose immature stage develops on
or within a single insect host, ultimately killing the host. Many species of
wasps and some flies are parasitoids. Pathogens are disease-causing organisms
including bacteria, fungi, and viruses. They kill or debilitate their host and
are relatively specific to certain insect groups. Each of these natural enemy
groups is discussed in much greater detail in following sections.
The behaviors and life cycles of natural enemies can be relatively simple or
extraordinarily complex, and not all natural enemies of insects are beneficial
to crop production. For example, hyperparasitoids are parasitoids of other
parasitoids. In potatoes grown in Maine, 22 parasitoids of aphids were
identified, yet these were attacked by 18 additional species of hyperparasitoids.
This guide concentrates on those
species for which the benefits of their presence outweigh any disadvantages. A
successful natural enemy should have a high reproductive rate, good searching
ability, host specificity, be adaptable to different environmental conditions,
and be synchronized with its host (pest).
Cultural methods of pest control
consist of regular farm operations in such a way which either destroy the pests
or prevent them from causing economic loss. The various cultural practices are
as under.
Preparation of nurseries or main
fields free from pest infestation by removing plant debris, trimming of bunds,
treating of soil and deep summer ploughing which kills various stages of pests.
Testing of soil for nutrients
deficiencies on the basis of which fertilizers should be applied.
Selection of clean and certified
seeds and treating seeds with fungicide or bio-pesticides before sowing for
seed borne disease control.
Selection of seeds of relatively
pest resistant/tolerant varieties which play a significant role in pest
suppression.
Adjustment of time of sowing and
harvesting to escape peak season of pest attack.
Rotation of crops with non-host
crops. It helps in reduction of incidence of soil borne diseases.
Proper plant spacing which makes
plants more healthy and less susceptible to pests.
Optimum use of fertilizer. Use of
FYM and bio-fertilizers should be encouraged.
Proper water management as the high
moisture in soil for prolonged period is conducive for development of pests
especially soil borne diseases.
Proper weed management. It is
well-known fact that most of weeds beside competing with crop for micro
nutrients also harbor many pests.
Setting up yellow pan sticky traps
for white flies and aphids at far above canopy height.
Synchronized sowing. Here community
approach is required to sow the crops simultaneously in vast area so that pest
may not get different staged crops suitable for its population build up and if
pest appears in damaging proportion, control operation could be applied
effectively in whole area.
Growing trap crops on the borders
or peripheries of fields. There are certain crops which are preferred more by a
pest species are known as trap crops for that pest. By growing such crops on
the border of the fields, pest population develop there which can be either
killed by using pesticides or its natural enemies are allowed to develop there
for natural control.
6. Discuss the major socio-economic factors that influence the
agricultural sector in a developing country?
There are numerous socio-cultural,
economic, political, technological and infrastructural factors which also
determine the agricultural land use, cropping patterns and agricultural
processes.
Of these factors, land tenancy,
system of ownership, size of holdings, availability of labour and capital,
religion, level of technological development, accessibility to the market,
irrigation facilities, agricultural research and extension service, price
incentives, government plans and international policies have a close impact on
agricultural activities. The impact of these factors on the decision making
processes of agriculture has been illustrated in the present article.
1. Land Tenancy:
Land tenure includes all forms of
tenancy and also ownership in any form. Land tenancy and land tenure affect the
agricultural operations and cropping patterns in many ways. The farmers and
cultivators plan the agricultural activities and farm (fields) management
keeping in mind their rights and possession duration on the land.
In different communities of the
world, the cultivators have different land tenancy rights. In the tribal
societies of the shifting cultivators land belongs to the community and
individuals are allowed only to grow crops along with other members of the
community for a specific period. But among the sedentary farmers land belongs
to individual farmers. In such societies it is believed that one who owns land
he owns wealth.
The ownership and the length of
time available for planning, development and management of arable land
influence the decision making process of the cultivator. Depending on the nature
of tenancy rights he decides the extent to which investment on land could be
made. For example, if the cultivator is the sole owner of the land, he may
install a tube well in his farm and may go for fencing and masonry irrigation
channels.
But a tenant farmer or a sharecropper
will not go for the long term investment in the field as after a short period
of occupancy he will have to vacate the land and the real owner may cultivate
that piece of land either himself or may lease out to other cultivator. In
fact, a farmer who has the right of ownership, he has the freedom to choose a
system of production and investment which improves the quality of land and
gives him increasing capacity to borrow money.
The cropping patterns and farm
management are also dependent on the duration of time for which the land is to
remain under cultivation. For example, among the shifting cultivators (Jhumias
of northeast India), the allotment of land to the cultivator is normally done
for one or two years, depending on the fertility of the land.
The hilly terrain, the limited
rights of the occupant and poor economic condition of the tillers hinder the
development and efficient management of land. Since the land belongs to the
community and not to the individuals, this type of land tenancy prevents the
energetic, efficient and skilled individuals of the community to invest in the
farm.
Under such a system individuals are
also unlikely to put much efforts or invest more money on the improvement of
cultivated land as the field is allotted by the community for a short period.
Under this type of land tenancy there is no incentive to individuals to improve
the agricultural efficiency and productivity of the land.
In the erstwhile Soviet Union the
yield per unit area of the Kolkhoz and Sovkhoz was much below to that of the
small holdings (about one acre) given to each household. It was reported that
the per acre yield of the privately managed small holdings was three to four
times more to that of the state farm and the collective farms.
7. Discuss the social, economic, cultural and environmental
aspects of the issue of food security.
Ensuring food security
To meet a growing global demand for
food and fodder, one can opt for increasing yields through intensification
and/or for extending the land base used for agricultural cultivation.
Intensification and concentrating food production in the most productive
regions may appear the most efficient way to use the land. However, risks to
food security may be increased, because supply chains become more vulnerable
and because of pollution. Loss of crop diversity, decline of pollinators and
increased vulnerability of monocultures to diseases are additional stress
factors. On the other hand, regional or local self-sufficiency and the reliance
on extensive farming systems would require more cultivated land at the expense
of natural habitats.
It is not enough to only increase
total food production. The food must also be locally available, affordable and
meet quality standards. The distribution channels and trade patterns are key in
this respect. As long as we can afford to import food from other parts of the
world, European food security may not seem to be at immediate risk, regardless
of our support to European agriculture. But the choices we make will affect
trade and global food security, as well as availability of local food products,
with implications for chain control, food safety and other quality concerns.
Currently, the EU is by and large self-sufficient for cereals, butter
and beef, but a big net-importer of fodder for domestic livestock
production.
Food security can also be tackled
from the consumption perspective, for example by looking at the efficiency
gains from changing diets. Livestock production is more than six times as
inefficient as crop production in terms of protein output, and hence meat diets
are associated with higher land take and nutrient losses (PBL 2011. The
protein puzzle. The consumption and production of meat, dairy and fish in the
European union).
Efficiency gains can also be
achieved through waste reduction in households and in the distribution chain.
Based on data from Eurostat and national data, it has been estimated that
around 89 million tonnes or 181 kg per person of food waste was generated in
the EU‑27 in 2006, of which 42–43 % was from households, 39 % from
manufacturing and the rest from other sources including retailers, wholesale
and the food service sector (but excluding agricultural waste). A
recent study showed that in the United Kingdom an estimated 137
kg/person or 25 % of food purchased by households ends up as waste.
Reducing agriculture’s impact on
the environment
Agriculture is one of
the main sectors affecting the environment through its direct impacts
on land cover and ecosystems, and on global and regional cycles of carbon,
nutrients and water. At the global level, agriculture contributes to climate
change through emission of greenhouse gases and reduction of carbon storage in
vegetation and soil. Locally, agriculture reduces biodiversity and affects
natural habitats through land conversion, eutrophication, pesticide inputs,
irrigation and drainage. Unsustainable agricultural practices may also lead to direct
environmental feed-backs such as soil erosion and loss of pollinators (because
of excessive pesticide application).
Nutrient loading (mainly by
phosphorus and nitrogen) is a major and increasing cause of biodiversity loss
and ecosystem dysfunction. Most detailed information is available for nitrogen.
Estimates show that the total amount of reactive nitrogen in the
environment has doubled globally since the pre-industrial era, and more than
tripled in Europe. This is primarily due to fossil fuel combustion and the
application of industrially produced nitrogenous fertilisers. Excess reactive
nitrogen causes air pollution and eutrophication of terrestrial, aquatic and
coastal ecosystems.
The environmental pressures from
agriculture are reflected in loss of natural capital. The conservation status
of agricultural habitats protected under the Habitats Directive is worrying and
considerably worse than average. Only 7 % of the assessments showed a
favourable conservation status compared to 17 % for all habitat types. Half of
the agricultural habitats are considered to be in a bad status. Lake and river
ecosystems fare slightly better, but their conservations status is also worse
than average. As for the marine environment, all habitats in the North Sea
and the Baltic Sea are considered to be in a bad or inadequate state.
On the other hand, agriculture may
also contribute to the maintenance of species-rich semi-natural habitats.
Conservation of this ‘high nature value farmland’, primarily restricted to
peripheral regions in northern and south-eastern Europe, is an explicit
goal of EU biodiversity and agriculture policy.
8. (a) What are GM crops? How are they useful in avoidance of
biotic and abiotic stresses in crop plants?
GM is a technology that involves
inserting DNA into the genome of an organism. To produce a GM plant, new DNA is
transferred into plant cells. Usually, the cells are then grown in tissue
culture where they develop into plants. The seeds produced by these plants will
inherit the new DNA.
The characteristics of all living
organisms are determined by their genetic makeup and its interaction with the
environment. The genetic makeup of an organism is its genome, which in all
plants and animals is made of DNA. The genome contains genes, regions of DNA
that usually carry the instructions for making proteins. It is these proteins
that give the plant its characteristics. For example, the colour of flowers is
determined by genes that carry the instructions for making proteins involved in
producing the pigments that colour petals.
Genetic modification of plants
involves adding a specific stretch of DNA into the plant’s genome, giving it
new or different characteristics. This could include changing the way the plant
grows, or making it resistant to a particular disease. The new DNA becomes part
of the GM plant’s genome which the seeds produced by these plants will contain.
Plants are subjected to a wide
range of environmental stresses which reduces and limits the productivity of
agricultural crops. Two types of environmental stresses are encountered to
plants which can be categorized as (1) Abiotic stress and (2) Biotic stress.
The abiotic stress causes the loss of major crop plants worldwide and includes
radiation, salinity, floods, drought, extremes in temperature, heavy metals,
etc. On the other hand, attacks by various pathogens such as fungi, bacteria,
oomycetes, nematodes and herbivores are included in biotic stresses. As plants
are sessile in nature, they have no choice to escape from these environmental
cues. Plants have developed various mechanisms in order to overcome these
threats of biotic and abiotic stresses. They sense the external stress
environment, get stimulated and then generate appropriate cellular responses.
They do this by stimuli received from the sensors located on the cell surface
or cytoplasm and transferred to the transcriptional machinery situated in the
nucleus, with the help of various signal transduction pathways. This leads to
differential transcriptional changes making the plant tolerant against the
stress. The signaling pathways act as a connecting link and play an important
role between sensing the stress environment and generating an appropriate
biochemical and physiological response.
(b) How do post-harvest technologies differ for storage of food
grains and fruits and vegetables
Postharvest storage implies a
strict control of environmental temperature and humidity in the storing
chamber, and it is known that cuticle properties are largely influenced by
these two factors (Edelmann et al., 2005; Matas
et al., 2005). For example, when fruit cuticles from mature tomato
fruit were examined for rheological properties, remarkable differences were
observed between dry and rehydrated samples. After being dipped in distilled
water, extensibility and plasticity of cuticles increased. Furthermore, the
rheological properties of cuticles were also sensitive to minute temperature
differences in the range from 7 to 30°C. The alterations in extensibility were
unrelated to cuticle thickness or ultrastructure, and no significant
differences in these properties were found between fruit cuticle and fruit skin
(Edelmann et al., 2005).
These data suggest that tomato
fruit cuticles profoundly impact the mechanical attributes of the whole organ,
which clearly points out interesting possibilities, such as an influence on
postharvest changes in fruit firmness, resistance to mechanical damage, or
susceptibility to biotic attack. Analogous results were obtained in a
concurrent study in which the mechanical properties of tomato fruit cuticles
were investigated for their dependence on temperature and relative humidity in
a range of 10–45°C, and 40% to wet (immersion in aqueous solution),
respectively (Matas et al., 2005). Isolated cuticles were submitted
to uniaxial tension stress, in order to assess several essential mechanical
properties including tensile modulus, breaking stress or maximum elongation.
These tests showed that stress–strain curves of tomato fruit cuticles were
biphasic when humidity values were below wet conditions, but monophasic when
cuticles were wet. Whereas maximum elongation was independent of relative
humidity and temperature, temperature decreased pure elastic strain and
breaking stress. This response was also biphasic, consisting of two
temperature-independent phases separated by a transition temperature related to
the presence of a secondary phase transition in the cutin matrix of the
cuticle.
No data on hypothetical
modifications in chemical composition of cuticular waxes and cutin monomers in
response to the different humidity and temperature conditions applied were
reported. It is thus not possible to speculate whether the observed changes in
these mechanical characteristics were accompanied by or related partially to
compositional alterations in fruit cuticles, or rather that they arose simply
from the expectable humidity- and temperature-associated modifications in
cuticle structure or physical properties. Nevertheless, these experimental data
are also interesting in the light of recent findings that water loss patterns
from far less studied fruit species, such as litchi (Litchi
chinensis Sonn.) and longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) are also
biphasic over a wide range of relative humidity values (0%–80%) (Riederer et al., 2015).
These two fruit species belong to the Sapindaceae family, some of whose
members, among which litchi and longan, do not share the typical pericarp
structure of most mature fruits, which display a unique cuticle covering their
outer surface. In these fruit species, rather, the whole pericarp develops into
a water loss-protective, astomatous structure, which encloses the edible aril.
Both the outer and the inner surfaces of this pericarp are covered by cuticles,
showing distinctive chemical composition of cuticular waxes and cutin, and
representing two in-series resistances against water loss. This design
exemplifies an alternative evolutionary strategy to prevent dehydration of
fruits, and illustrates the complexity of water-proofing of aerial plant
organs. In both fruit species, exocarp cuticles contained more waxes than
endocarp cuticles, and cutin analysis revealed the presence of lignin and
suberin monomers in addition to the usual C16 and C18 cutin
components, which may reinforce the transpiration barrier function of cuticles.
9. What alternative measures could be taken to avoid burning of
crop residues? What are the possible options for managing crop residues in the
present scenario?
The major agricultural crops grown
in the world—maize, wheat, rice and sugarcane, respectively, account for most
of the lignocellulosic biomass. Lignocellulosic biomass composed of cellulose,
hemicellulose, and lignin, are increasingly recognized as a valuable commodity,
due to its abundant availability as a raw material for the production of
biofuels.
The crop residues generated due to
agricultural activities are exploited by several countries in different ways.
They are utilized in processed or unprocessed form, depending on the end
use. The possible options include its use as animal feed, composting,
production of bio-energy and deployment in other extended agricultural
activities such as mushroom cultivation . According to Lohan et all, many
countries such as China, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Nigeria
and Philippines utilize their crop residues to generate bio energy and compost.
Numerous researchers have worked on
lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment techniques for bio-fuel conversio. Because
of its resistance to chemical and biological degradation by fungi, bacteria and
enzymes, the lignin layer is usually pretreated or acted upon by the lignin
degrading microorganisms to break down the lignin layer and degrade cellulose
and hemicellulose matter to the corresponding monomers and sugars for effective
biomass to fuel conversion. The pretreatment could be mechanical, chemical,
physico-chemical and biological. These methods result in increase of the
accessible surface area, porosity and decrease in crystallinity of cellulose
and hemicellulose and degree of polymerization.
The management of agricultural
waste using microbes could also be an excellent option for the detoxification
of the soil and mitigation of environmental pollution . Microbial populations
degrade the complex substances present in the biomass to simpler ones that can
be reused or recycled through environmental processes. The techniques adopted
can either be aerobic or anaerobic, depending on the nature of bacteria, fungi
or algae involved in the degradation. The microbial degradation techniques
reduce the soil toxicity, promote plant growth through provision of growth
accelerating metabolites and provide plant nutrients through sequestration from
soil. Thus, the bioremediation of the agricultural waste could be effectively
carried out by anaerobic and aerobic processes, through some of the associated
techniques like composting, vermicomposting, biogas production, bio-methanation
and bio pile farming
10. Write a note on aquaculture and poultry. How will you
integrate these two enterprises in alternative agriculture?
Aquaculture, also called fish
farming, fish culture, or mariculture, the propagation and
husbandry of aquatic plants, animals, and other organisms for commercial,
recreational, and scientific purposes. Aquaculture is an approximate aquatic
equivalent to agriculture—that is, the rearing of certain marine and freshwater
organisms to supplement the natural supply. This includes production for
supplying other aquaculture operations, for providing food and
industrial products, for stocking sport fisheries, for supplying aquatic bait
animals, for stocking fee-fishing operations, for providing aquatic organisms
for ornamental purposes, and for supplying feedstocks to
the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. These activities can
occur worldwide.
Financial stress and general crisis
in European agriculture recently have generated a widespread interest in
alternative paths of farm business development and structural adjustment. One
of the options suggested by policy makers and adopted by farmers was the
development of alternative farm enterprises (AFEs), in which farmers recombine
resources on the farm and produce a new mix of products and services in order
to supplement their incomes. In the present paper we examine the factors
influencing the development of AFEs. According to empirical evidence from
Etolia-Akarnania, a prefecture in western Greece that merits “less favored
area” status, AFE adoption is influenced by the amount of family labor, the
ratio of hired to family labor, the presence of tobacco as a main enterprise,
the proximity of the farm to grade A roads, and the farmers' age. Education,
management experience demonstrated by the farm manager, physical size of the
farm, enterprise specialization, the use of grants, and farm location are the
main factors responsible for the farmers' integration into the agro-food system
The aim of the OECD is to provide
sound analysis to improve policy practices in Member countries and to influence
debate on policy issues with an international dimension. The OECD countries in
aggregate account for around 40% of world production of agricultural
commodities, and about three-quarters of its trade. Production technologies and
farming systems within the OECD countries range from conventional to organic, intensive
to extensive and from small-scale to largescale enterprises across a spectrum
of agro-ecological and climatic conditions. Despite these differences there are
potential benefits from sharing experiences. OECD Ministers in May 1999 noted
that: “The pursuit of sustainable development, including global challenges such
as climate change, the sustainable management of natural resources, and the
conservation of biodiversity, is a key objective for OECD countries. Achieving
this objective requires the integration of economic, environmental and social
considerations into policy-making, in particular by the internalisation of
costs, and the development and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies
world-wide.” The sustainability of natural resources and of agriculture will be
given special attention in a major OECD report on Sustainable Development in
2001. The OECD also analysed biotechnology and food safety and provided an
input to a recent G8 Summit.
IGNOU MED 007 Free Solved
Assignment 2022: IGNOU MED 007 AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT Solved Assignment
2022: Those students who had successfully submitted their Assignments
to their allocated study centres can now check their Assignment Status.
Alongside assignment status, they will also checkout their assignment marks
& result. IGNOU MED 007
Free Solved Assignment 2022 All this is often available in a web mode.
After submitting the assignment, you'll check you IGNOU Assignment Status only
after 3-4 weeks. it'd take 40 days to declare.
Those
students who had successfully submitted their Assignments to their allocated
study centres can now check their Assignment Status. Along with assignment
status, they can also checkout their assignment marks & result. IGNOU MED 007 Free Solved Assignment 2022 All this
is available in an online mode. IGNOU MED 007 Free Solved Assignment 2022 After
submitting the assignment, you can check you IGNOU Assignment Status only after
3-4 weeks. It might take 40 days to declare.
Whatsapp 7838475019