Agriculture is the backbone of human survival on this planet. Agriculture faces many problems that affect yield, like climate change, soil erosion, water scarcity, pests, and disease.
Agriculture is a profession that fulfils the basic needs of all living organisms. This oldest profession involves the cultivation of crops and the raising of animals. Agriculture provides food, conserves biodiversity, provides raw materials, generates jobs, and supports the economy. Agriculture is the backbone of human survival on this planet. Agriculture faces many problems that affect yield, like climate change, soil erosion, water scarcity, pests, and disease.
Climate change
Problems:
Climate change is a change in temperature and weather patterns due to natural and human activities. The success of agriculture depends on climatic conditions like temperature, rainfall, etc. A change in climate is responsible for droughts, floods, and an increasing number of insects, pests, and diseases. Climate change shifts the growing season.
Climate change is very dangerous for agriculture because it leads to changing rainfall patterns as high levels of rain lead to floods and low levels of rain lead to drought. Natural disasters are becoming more common and dangerous.
With a temperature increase, the ice caps are melting and sea level rises. Climate change is a problem that is responsible for other problems like land degradation, soil erosion, pest diseases, etc. The effects of climate change not only affect the yield of crops but also the quality of food.
Solution:
We can minimise the effects of climate change on agriculture by adopting strategies. We have to adopt sustainable intensification, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve nitrogen management, and minimise the use of all factors that are responsible for climate change. We have to follow climate-smart agriculture. We have to create climate-resilient infrastructure and efficient policies to cope with it.
Soil erosion
Problem:
Soil erosion is the gradual process of the removal of the top layer of soil by wind or water due to natural phenomena or human activities.
As the top layer of soil is fertile and removed, soil quality and productivity decrease due to soil erosion, which significantly affects agriculture. Soil erosion also causes desertification, which changes the agricultural land into a desert.
It leads to a decrease in biodiversity. As the nutrient-rich layer is removed, leaving coarse sandy particles with poor water-retaining ability. It leads to a decrease in biodiversity and alterations in the ecosystem.
It is reported that due to soil erosion, around 10 million hectares of land are abandoned, which decreases crop yield and ultimately leads to food shortage problems.
Some agricultural practises themselves contribute to soil erosion. So, farmers are being encouraged to pay attention to the soil in their fields, take precautionary steps to avoid soil erosion, and adjust their cropping patterns. Soil erosion increases due to human activities and weather conditions.
Solution:
Soil erosion control depends on factors like the type of soil, agricultural practises, etc. Soil erosion can be reduced by planting more trees, afforestation, reforestation, mulching, proper drainage, and terrace farming.
Water scarcity
Problem:
Water is very important in agriculture, as it is the lifeblood of ecosystems. It is reported that farming accounts for almost 70% of water withdrawals and 95% in some developing countries. As there is less water for agriculture, there will be a shortage of food.
As every part of a plant requires water for growth, water is crucial for survival as a shortage of water affects the photosynthesis process. Wheat and rice are staple crops in Pakistan, and both require a significant amount of water for proper growth. As growth decreases, it significantly affects the economy.
The shortage of water in wheat and rice leads to smaller grain sizes, stem sizes, and the number of grains per panicle. Cotton is an important cash crop in Pakistan, and as its growth is affected by the scarcity of water, it ultimately has an impact on the textile industry. Similarly, problems such as shortages of water affect all crop yields, cause shortages of food, and affect the agriculture which directly affects economy.
Solution
The solution to water scarcity includes the development of drought-tolerant crops, soil moisture management, high-tech irrigation systems, seasonal irrigation, drip irrigation systems for poorer regions, and storing water for dry regions. Smart water management technologies, including sensor-based systems to monitor soil moisture levels and weather conditions, can enable precise water application.
Pests and diseases
Problem:
One of another problems of agriculture is pests and diseases. Pests damage the crop, which ultimately leads to low production. Rats, mice, birds, and some insects damage the crops. Insects damage crops by causing direct injury to the plant by eating leaves, burrowing holes in stems, fruits, and roots, or transmitting bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases.
It is reported that pathogens and pests are causing 10–28% wheat losses, 25–41% rice losses, 21–41% maize losses, 8–21% potato losses, and 11–32% soybean losses. Pests affect the quality of crops, leading to low market value and sometimes a total loss of crop yield. The rice pests include the rice leaf hopper, the white stem borer of rice, and the yellow stem borer of rice. Similarly, other crops are also affected by pests.
Solution:
The management of pests is very important for the successful cultivation of crops. It includes using cultural practices (avoid pests make environment less favorable to them by using crop rotation, sanitation, trap cropping and carefully considered time of planting) , host resistance ( develop varieties of crops that show resistance against pests), physical control (physically keep far the insects from plants by using barriers or traps) , mechanical control (directly remove or kill the pests by hand picking, shaking of plant, strong spray of water will dislodge aphids and mites from greenhouse, garden, and house plants, fly swatters and mouse traps, cultivation or tillage to expose pests), biological control (use living organisms to control pests Bacillus thuringiensis commonly used to control pests) chemical control(use of chemicals to control pests) and Integrated Pest Management(blending of all effective, economical, and environmentally-sound pest control methods into a single but flexible approach to managing pests) .
However, there are other issues in agriculture as well, including increased demand for food, poor infrastructure for storage, increasing prices of agricultural inputs, etc. We have to pay attention to solving problems for our survival because our survival totally depends on agriculture.