1 Improvements in Food Resources

For their existence,all living organisms essentially require the food.Early human beings started hunting animals and collecting fruits and roots of forests plants to meet their food requirements.Food is required for growth, development and body repair.It also protects the body from diseases and provide energy for doing all life functions.For example, food supplies proteins, carbohydrates, fats and vitamins, minerals and water to our body.

Among all the living organisms, only green plants are autotrophs, i.e.., they make their own food.In fact,green plants perform a basic metabolic activity,called photosynthesis,in which by using the energy of sunlight green plants combine carbon dioxide and water to produce carbohydrates.In contrast to green plants, animals for food.Since immemorial time,human beings have been doing farming and rearing animals to meet their food requirements.Plants are gift of nature as food to humans and to most animals.Indeed all the parts of one or other plant,such as root,stem, leaf,flower and fruit,are consumed by humans in the form of cereals, vegetables,spices and fruits.Animals produce milk,egg,meat,etc., which also supplement our food requirements.

Sustainable Agriculture And OrganicFarming

Our country is second in population in the world with 1.04 billion people.According to an estimate,by the year 2020, Indian population would be around 1.343 billion.For such a huge population we will require 241 million tonnes of grain production per annum to feed our people. Therefore,it is necessary to increase food production. This resulted in variety of 'revolution' which made India self-reliant. These revolutions include green revolution, blue revolution, white revolution and yellow revolution.Our scientists are making efforts to increase the pulse production,i.e.,to cause golden revolution.

For ever increasing human population of our country the natural resources such as land,soil, water,fossil fuels,etc.,are being overexploited for food, shelter and urbanisation. All these human activities have degraded our environment and caused following problems:soil erosion,salinization of soils, desertification,silting of rivers,floods, drought, eutrophication, ozone depletion, deforestation,wild life extinction, pollution of air,water and land, biomagnification of toxic substances,etc.,to name a few. Thus,it has become far more important that we should increase food production without degrading our environment and distrubing the natural balance. Currently,there is a need of adoption of technique sustainable agriculture and organic farming.

(a) Sustainable agriculture.

Sustainability means keeping an effort going continuously. So, sustainable agriculture means successful management means successful management of resources for agriculture to satisfy the changing human needs, while maintaining or enhancing the quality of environment and conserving natural resources.

Advantages of Sustainable agriculture.

Sustainable agriculture is an agricultural production and distribution system that

- Achieves the integration of natural biological cycles and controls.

- Protects and renews soil fertility and the natural resource base.

- Protects and renews soil fertility and the natural resource base.

- Optimizes the management and use of farm resources.

- Reduces the use of non-renewable resources and purchased production inputs.

- Provides an adequate and dependable form of income.

- Promotes opportunity in family and farm communities.

- Promotes opportunity in family farming and farm communities.

Sustainable agriculture can be achieved by adopting:

1. Mixed farming

2. Mixed cropping

3.Crop rotation

4. Crop selection

5. Varietal improvement

(b)Organic farming.

It is the practice of raising unpolluted crops through the use of manures, biofertilizers and biopesticides with healthy cropping systems that provide optimum nutritents to plants and keep the pests as well as weeds under control. In organic farming there is little or no use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Therefore, there no toxicity due to pollution of crop plants, soil, water or air. Organic wastes are recycled in the form of manure. Biofertilizers include the nitrogen fixing organisms and mineral solubilizing bacteria. Biopesticides are organisms or their extracts which repel or kill weeds, insects and other pests,e.g., azardirachtin ,pyrethrum , thurioside.Neem leaves have been used in grain storage as biopesticides. Healthy cropping include mixed cropping, inter cropping and crop rotation. These cropping systems help in controlling insects pests and weeds.

ADVANTAGES OF ORGANIC FARMING

1.It doesn't cause pollution of any component of our environment.

2.Farm wastes are recycled.

3.The foods obtained from organic farming are free from pesticides and toxic chemical.

4.Organic farming maintains soil health.

5.The cropping system of organic farming keeps insect pests and weeds under check.

CROP PRODUCTION

Since plants are our major source of food,so it becomes necessary to increase the production of crops to meet the food requirement of our population.Crops are plants grown on larger area for food or other use. Agriculture is an applied science which deals with the mass production of plants and animals useful to human beings, involving soil cultivation and breeding and management of crops and livestocks. Successful crop production depends upon understanding of how crops develop and grow, and how each factor can be modified or managed.Crop production is permitted to exploitation of plant responses within a soil and atmospheric environment to produce a high yield per unit area of land. Such a target can be achieved by adopting good farming practices and managing resources such as nutrients and water more effectively.

We may recall that cereal crops such as wheat,rice,maize, barely,minor millets and sorghum provide us carbohydrates for energy requirements;pulse crops such as chicken pea or gram,pea black gram,green gram, pigeon pea,lentil and cow pea provide us protein;oil seed crops such as soyabean, ground nut,sesame,castor, mustard, linseed, niger and sunflower provide us fatty acids. Crops of vegetables,spices and fruits provide us a range of vitamins, minerals along with a small quantities of protein, carbohydrates and oil. In addition, from plants we get fibre,sugar, tobacco,tea, coffee, rubber,etc. The fodder crops such as berseem ,oat,sudan grass,etc., are raised for domesticated animals such as cattle, buffalo,etc.

Indeed our food security depends on both availability of food and our access to it. Sometimes,there is inadequate production of a crop and it is not sufficient for all. At other times,a food items is available there,but,we have no means to procure or purchase it.