Low Agricultural Productivity

June 1st 2011

Low agricultural productivity

Agriculture is the science and industry of managing the growth of plants and animals for make food for human as a food. In general, agriculture includes soil cultivation, growing and harvesting crops, rising and breeding livestock, dairy and forestry. There are many important sectors in the world and especially agriculture beside the other related sectors. It is very important for both physical and economical health. However, more than 60 percent of the world's population lives in rural areas. Many worldwide organizations are attempting to help these rural families by increasing their agricultural outputs and find ways to raise the productivity. However, this report will discuss the problem of low agricultural productivity and the world challenge, the main natural-human causes of decline in agricultural productivity including lack of water resources, the harmful effects of decline in agricultural productivity and the effects in our environment, and the ways that can improve and support the productivity in agriculture.

- What is the low agricultural productivity?

The most important world challenge that affects us is how to manage world environment. However, the problem is managing the rising demands of food. Ecosystems have been changed widely and faster by human more than ever in the last fifty years. Between 1960 to the end of the 20th century, population has doubled to sixty billion people and six fold.

Agricultural productivity declines because of the natural disasters, volcanoes, floods and the global warming. However, Industry and urbanization are related to the most natural disasters for example corruption lands, siltation of lakes and rivers, polluted soil by acidic rains and industrial trash.

In 1996, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports mentioned that industrial pollutions and urbanization are responsible of destroyed about 1.96 million hectare of land. For example, in sub urban Russian areas three percent only of land is produced about one third percent of the Russian Federation's food. About five million hectares of farms has destroyed, in China, due to the urbanization while The United States lost four hundred thousand hectares. All of these have their role in declining the agricultural productivity. According to FAO's only one hundred twenty species out of seven thousand are being cultivated for food. Low agricultural productivity comes as a result of unconcern and profiteering of people activities.

- What are the major causes of low agricultural productivity?

Agricultural production has affected by polluted air for more than hundred years. There are many gases that causing agricultural productivity. First, agriculture is polluted by poisonous sulfur oxides which produced from burning coal and chemicals. Second, the air around us, world soil and water resources are polluted by the very high levels of ammonia, chlorine, ethylene, mercaptans, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides. Finally, we can classify the major pollutants to acidic gases, products of combustion and products of reactions in the air. However, there are many chemical causes such as ceramic producing, drilling, melting which are the causes of fluorides gases emission (Mishra, 2010).

Moreover, the use of chemicals that used in protecting plants from the blights and diseases causing pollution of lands immediately will decline the productivity. Also, there are other harmful pollutants that may enter the atmosphere from other source different than farming and agriculture which destroy the crops, are classified as acidic gases, combustions and reactions in the atmosphere.

In addition, there are many natural causes that decline the agricultural productivity. Soil corrosions because of the frequent floods and that caused loss of surface soil and that means decline the productivity. Also, frequent dryness conditions caused by the irregular rainfall done by human activities lead to bane the crops and lower the productivity.

However, because the water resources are limited over exploitation and polluted water, the threats to their use and, in the future, the imbalance in their distribution will cause harsh crisis for countries over the world. Since the adoption of Agenda 21 in 1992, in Rio Summit, has been concentrating in the problem and trying to find out a solution, and then in 2000, The Hague at the Second World Water Forum.

The highest use of water resources is in farming as known and by its nature. It is using three quarters (3/4) of world water resources. So, there is a big chance to save water using the technology or any other useful way. According to Hadjidemetriou (2000), "we must not destabilize the sector with radical measures, as our peoples’ food security depends on it. Solutions can only be found within the context of comprehensive, integrated management of water resources". Moreover, in Europe, the southern countries got a serious crisis and suffer the lack of water resources because of rare rain, overuse of the ground-salinisation water and deforestation over the green lands. And again, in Nicosia Oct 1998 was concentrating at the third Mediterranean Agriculture Forum (Hadjidemetriou, 2000).

Furthermore, the huge rises of the population (the explosion in population is increasing by more than eighty million every year and playing a major role in polluting the agricultural productivity), housing and industrial areas are replaced instead of farms and green land. As well as, increasing in food demand made people expand their trading therefore it caused depletion of food and lower the productivity.

- What are the major effects of low agricultural productivity?

There are many effects of decline agricultural productivity. First, the low agricultural productivity is causing starve in most regions over the world. According to the International Atomic Agency (IAA)- ‘When agriculture fails sources of income is lost. Social ties are disrupted and as a result, societies become more mobile.’ In 1998, The World Food Summit (TWFS) aimed to decrease the percentage of starving people to fifty percent that means exactly the half. Although the rise of agricultural productivity, about half million people around the world are hungry. In 1980s in the post green revolution, the increasing in agriculture economy separated people to poor and rich states. Second, in the 9th five years plan two percent a year was the growth of agriculture and the growth was targeted to be eight percent while fife and half percent was the incoming growth. Finally, the crop productions affected by the lack of water resources which wasted because of the neglect in maintenance (Mishra, 2010).

For the next forty years, the productivity of world's agriculture must be increase by double as the time of reducing the hunger and supply the food to people around the world, as says by United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). According to United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), by 2050, world's population will reach about nine billion people. As FAO expects, in 2019, the Brazilian agricultural productivity will be increase by forty percent while it twenty percent for India, China and Russia. Those will push the world’s agricultural productivity about two percent up. According to Nunes (2010), FAO says

"To achieve the goals the investments in agriculture in Asia and Pacific region must reach US$ 120 billion per year, over the next 40 years. Worldwide, the investments must sum up US$ 200 billion per year. However, the organism observed that the investments of US$ 80 billion per year over the last three years in Asia and Pacific are well below the regions’ needs".

As a result in 1997 to 2007, the average growth of the productivity of rice reached 0.8 percent whereas in 1960s during the green revolution the average growth reached 2.7 percent. However, 0.2 percent per year was the average growth. As an ideal hope, the aim of world's agricultural productivity would be increase to about forty percent till 2030 (Nunes, 2010).

Solar energy and water resources are examples of the climate factors which are essential to agricultural production. Nowadays, twenty fife percent of global agriculture and forestry practices (for example wetlands conversion, urbanization, grain fields, fertilizer use) provide to the diffusions of greenhouse gases. However, dryness, storms and flooding has some side effects on ecosystems and agricultural productivity.

- What are the ways that improve agricultural productivity?

Technology is one way of improving agricultural productivity. From the past, Farmers had used technology in farming such as computers and modern communication devices. Year by year, with increasing the world dryness, watering system was improved by reducing the rate of water use, so we can conclude that there is more water that could be used by farmers. Farmers have provided new opportunities by technology such as biofuels which is another fuel made with corn for farmers who prefer new kind and good pay. However, with the availability of biofuels, demand for crops that make biofuels will be increased. Technology is making crop cutting much easy without wasting time by using special agricultural equipments. In my opinion, farmers over the world must be advised to use technology to increase the agricultural productivity (Hichman, 2010).

According to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization, by 2050 the world population will be about nine billion and the agriculture productivity must increase seventy percent. However, there are many ways to improve the agriculture productivity. You must take an agricultural course or at least read about agricultural public policy so that will improve the productivity. Moreover, farmers must get the government subsidies and usually every country provides subsidies.

In addition, the agriculture productivity is not the same everywhere. Some parts of world have great productivity and some are not. So, try to boost nutrition as global aim. In the 20th century, six hundred percent of food produced was increased. However, 1.7 billion was the population in 1900 while 6.7 billion in the end of 1900s. Another point is that; support the agricultural researches, education and the agricultural technology which will improve the productivity.

In conclusion, low agricultural productivity is a serious problem. As I mentioned it is the most important challenge that faced the world. Also, there are many causes those losses to agricultural productivity e.g. natural, technological, institutional, economic factors and social factors such as water resources availability and their effects in human and different environments all over the world such as hunger over the world and global climate change .And, there are many ways to improve and support the productivity by using modern technologies and reducing the input cost by effectively managing the variable resources like fertilizers, pesticides, seed and labor. However, the productivity of agriculture regions is important for many reasons. It provides the food for people affects the growth of agricultural trading market and provides new jobs. I believed that agricultural productivity will rise in the next fifty years because of the huge demand of the agriculture with the explosion in human population.

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Hadjidemetriou, Initials. (2000, Septemper 25). Agriculture and lack of water resources . Retrieved from http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/AdoptedText/ta00/eres1222.htm

Hichman, Sara. (2010, August 04). How technology can improve agricultural production and productivity. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/facts_6816763_technology-improve-agricultural-production-productivity.html

Mishra, M. P. (2010, February 21). What is decline in agricultural productivity?. Retrieved from http://www.ecosensorium.org/2010/02/what-is-decline-in-agricultural.html

Nunes, Fabio .G. (2010, July 11). Fao: to eradicate hunger, agricultural production must double. Retrieved from http://www.animalagnet.com/profiles/blogs/fao-to-eradicate-hunger