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AGRO-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM

AGRO-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM. Agricultural Food production depends on: CLIMATE - suitable WATER - adequate SOIL - fertile HUMAN RESOURCES – skilled and knowledgeable. basic resources. C limate.

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AGRO-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM

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  1. AGRO-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM Agricultural Food production depends on: • CLIMATE - suitable • WATER - adequate • SOIL - fertile • HUMAN RESOURCES – skilled and knowledgeable • basic • resources

  2. Climate • Agriculture is highly sensitive to climate variability and weather extremes, such as temperatures, droughts, floods and severe storms. The forces that shape our climate are also critical to farm productivity • Good and suitable climate enhances agricultural growth and productivity • There are climate risks in agriculture, sometimes unpredictable & can be detrimental to productivity

  3. CLIMATE (÷ed into 4 regions) • TROPICS • High temperature, humid • A lot of rainfall • Many agricultural activities • Crops : Eg: rubber, oil palm, cocoa, coconuts, sugarcane, Tropical fruits, Tropical vegetables

  4. CLIMATE B) TEMPERATE • Neither too warm nor too cold • Neither too wet nor too dry • Weather not extreme but changeable • 4 seasons - WSSA • Crops planted in spring, harvested in summer (eg. maize & wheat) • Vegetables continuously grown (winter in glass house) • Livestock farming: most suitable • Large cattle reared for milk and beef performed best in the temperate region.

  5. CLIMATE C) TUNDRA (treeless land) • very low temperatures (below 0oC) • Long, cold dark winter (6-10 months) • little water and sunshine • short growing season (6-10 weeks) • dominant vegetation: grasses, mosses and lichens • crops/livestock hardly grown/raised • Only in restricted enclosures adequate water supply.

  6. 3 types of TUNDRA Antarctic Tundra (Permafrost) Eg. Kerguelen Islands Arctic Tundra (Permafrost) Eg. Greenland Alpine Tundra (high altitude)

  7. CLIMATE D) DESERT • very little precipitation, < than 250 mm annually • vegetation very sparse • Temperature very high in the day, very low at night • Agriculture only possible with sufficient irrigation

  8. WATER • Important agricultural input • Agric. Activities : Rain-fed or irrigation • Food and agriculture are the largest consumers of WATER makes a significant contribution to food security as it directly affects agricultural productivity. • Due to the significant growth in agricultural productivity over recent decades, the irrigated areas that comprise 17 per cent of agricultural lands produce nearly 40 per cent of food and agricultural commodities. • The water used for irrigation in developing countries makes up over 80 per cent of fresh water use. • In arid and semi-arid regions, water resources are fully exploited. • Declining quality of water and soil resources has created new threats to food supplies. The great challenge in the 21st century will be to increase food production with limited water and land resources in both rain-fed and irrigated agriculture. Source: Water in Agriculture, Proceedings of a CARDI International Conference on Research on Water in Agricultural Production in Asia for the 21st Century Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 25–28 November 2003. Editors: VangSeng, Eric Craswell, ShuFukai and Ken Fischer

  9. In Malaysia, agro-ecological zones are partially based on the availability of water and dictate the crop type. • Southern peninsular Malaysia: avg. annual rainfall > 3000 mm, suitable for oil palm cultivation. • Kedah-Perlis region: <2000 mm, more suitable for rubber and mangoes • Good irrigation suitable for padi • Padi granary areas: Barat Laut Selangor, KrianSgManik, MADA, KADA, Seb. Perak, IADA Pinang, KETARA, Kemasin-Semerak.

  10. SOIL • Important in soil nutrient cycle Leaf-falls, dead wood falls as organic matter & humus Nutrient elements + water taken by plants

  11. TYPES OF SOIL • Can be based on: A) factors of soil formation such as parent material, climate, topography, vegetations and time B) profile C) physical & chemical composition

  12. A. SOIL FORMATION BASED ON TOPOGRAPHY Location A = acid sulphate soil (along the coastline) Location B = peat soil Location C = coastal alluvium soil Location D = rapidly weathering soil (deep and red) Location E = easly eroded, shallow soil (esp. when lack of vegetation) Location F = cool highland soils

  13. A soil profile as a vertical cross-section of a soil. It is divided into number of distinct layers referred to as horizons 2.Profile5 zones: OABCR O horizon or the organic layer formed resulting from dead plants and animal remains, common in forest/jungle A or Eluvial horizon, accumulation from O horizon. B horizon or illuvial : mineral, humus or plant nutrients deposited after being washed down from above

  14. HUMAN RESOURCE • Agriculture cannot operate without workforce • scientists who conduct research from production level to processing and marketing. • teaching institutions of agriculture to produce graduates in numerous fields • supporting specialists such as extension specialist to pass the knowledge to the operators in the fields, marketing specialists and the economists. • Agriculture also often involves human labour • Human labour: land preparation, planting and harvesting • Can be replaced with machines (LIMITED) • Skilled operators needed • Malaysia: increase dependent on foreign labours.

  15. ENVIRONMENT • World Agroecological Zones - according to climate, soil and vegetation. • (a) Tundra • very cold, low biotic diversity, simple vegetation of mosses and grasses, dwarf trees • (b) Grasslands (the American Prairies, Russian Steppes, African Savannah and Argentinian Pampas) • low fertile land, mild climate, field crops such as soybean, wheat, maize, and livestock

  16. (c) Deserts (African Sahara and Kalahari, China’s Gobi, and Arabian ). • very little precipitation, extreme temperatures, barren plants are xerophytic (dry plants) (d) Tropics - rain and sunshine all year round, rainforest, rubber, oil palm, cocoa, coconut and tropical fruits and vegetables.

  17. IMPACT OF CLIMATIC CHANGE • GLOBAL WARMING CAUSE: fossil fuels in industries and transportation releases greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide andmethane EFFECT: increased world temperature and caused climatic instability: i) melting polar ice cap (inundation) ii)rise of sea level (flood)

  18. IMPACT OF CLIMATIC CHANGE 2)DESERTIFICATION CAUSE: expansion of desert area due to climatic changes, agric. Mismanagement EFFECT: less arable land available for agriculture

  19. IMPACT OF POLLUTION • Extensive commercial agricultural activities created polluting byproducts • EFFECTS: • ACID RAIN (low pH) • polluting gasses sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides  into the atmosphere  acid rains. • impact on forest, fresh water and soil, killing off life forms, and affecting crops and animal production.

  20. IMPACT OF POLLUTION 2) HEAVY METALS • areas of intensive industry and with automobiles • Zinc, copper and lead • easily transported and available to plants and animals • EG: Continuous use of fertilizer that contain cadmium contained in phosphate rocks will pollute the soil and render the crops toxic.

  21. EXCESSIVE CHEMICAL PESTICIDE • AFFECT BIODIVERSITY • AFFECT CONSUMERS HEALTH • EXCESSIVE CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS • HIGH LEVEL OF NITRATE • NITRATE FROM SOIL WATER ECOSYS.  RAPID ALGAE GROWTH LESS O2 LESS AQUATIC LIFE

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