Introduction
South Africa has proven on several occasions being a powerhouse when it comes to agricultural activities, but being a water scarce country this has not been an easy road but yet it’s a road travelled daily. South Africa covers 1.2million square kilometers of land and has seven climatic regions, ranging from Mediterranean to subtropical and semi-desert. With the country growing by about 2% annually either food production needs to increase as well or food imports should increase, but if production needs to increase this will need to be done by using the same amount of resources or possibly even less (Colin, 2014). Factors like what food production is critical will also be discussed .In this essay we will look at factors influencing the agricultural potential of South Africa’s soil , what the soil is used for , agricultural productions and why it’s so important…
South Africa diversity
South Africa being such a diverse country is diverse in soil types, Biomes, rainfall figures, consumption patterns and even what land can be used for. Although most of the country is mostly dry, the general characteristics remain the same m a sandy top layer underlain by a layer of an accretion of silica, with Kwazulu Natal being the only exception, where high fertile soil are found along the coast, but its easily degraded. All this means that only 12% of land can be used for crop production (Muhammed, 2000), and of that only 22% can be used as high potential arable land, putting this in terms , of the only 144 thousand square kilometers , only 32 thousand square kilometers are well suited for agricultural use without having to implement irrigation systems. When comparing this to India, where 53% is arable land, we can see how little we ac...
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... largest agricultural producers in the world showing that agricultural potential is huge, but with problems such as soil loss, nutrient depletion, over grazing and climate change this could lead to problems in the near future. With the amounts of fertilizers needed at this stage for crop productions our soil is already a non-renewable commodity.To conclude this essay we can see that soil is a cmodity fr the country and should nt be overlooked as being important , Suth Africa relies n agriculture fr our ecnmy aswell as the thousands f jobs created directly and indirectly from agriculture.Soil shuld be seen as a non renewable resurce and with the amound of degradation , sil depletion and soil displacement soil could become very scarce in South Africa , If soil protection policies are not implemented , the soil will nt be able t sustain production for a growing nation
The medium of film is often a great place to depict many facets of American society. This fact is sometimes validated by the depiction of the criminal justice system. While scripted film are often examples of this, documentary films provide a realistic platform. In the 1998 film “The Farm: Angola, USA,” this is shown. Through the work of director/producers Liz Garbus, Wilbert Rideau, and Jonathan Stack, it shows an in-depth look into Americas largest maximum-security prison. I first discovered the film in 2013, but for the purposes of this assignment I rewatched it via YouTube this week. The film can be found at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odx9NEHc17M.
Now we all know that Africa is some of the most fertile, lush land in the world. Africa abounds with game and almost any type of fruit and berries imaginable. The actual deserts in Africa are quite small, and those images of starving African Negroes you see on your TV is only a very tiny portion of Africa's vast abundance. Any geography professor will tell you this, and they will tell you it has been like this for millennia.
Agriculture plays an enormous part in having a functioning society. The farming fields in the
With the rapid growth of our global population pouring into the next millennium, we will witness an ever-growing hunger rate around the world. That is unless we call for a revolution on the global scale. The Green Revolution which already sprouted in the early part of the century only need to add a bit more momentum and we will see a bright future for the human race, a future without hunger and starvation ¡V hopefully.It is becoming increasingly difficult for the planet to support its overwhelming population. And since the amount of arable land available is becoming scarce, we must seek ways to dramatically improve crop yields of existing cropland.
Agriculture was the most important economic activity in America from the founding of Virginia in 1607 to about 1890. Although farming declined rapidly in relative economic importance in the twentieth century, U.S. agriculture continued to be the most efficient and productive in the world. Its success rested on abundant fertile soil, a moderate climate, the ease of private land ownership, growing markets for farm produce at home and abroad, and the application of science and technology to farm operations.
In this essay, the effects of climate change on agriculture and how to manage it shall be discussed. Climate change has and will greatly affect agriculture. As time progresses, the effects of climate change will worsen and become detrimental. Mendelsohn and Dinar (2009:1) state,” if future climate scenarios lead to a widespread reduction in food supply, there could be massive problems with hunger and starvation”. Climate change is a change in global climate patterns which is mainly caused by the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels. The writer chose this topic because climate change is a global problem that will pose a threat to people’s lives around the world and must be dealt with sooner than later.
No one knows the origins of agriculture. Since the beginning of recorded history, agriculture has existed. Yet not all vegetation is native to its location today. They have been diffused through many different cultures over time and had expanded greatly due to the industrial revolution. In chapter 10 titled, “Agriculture” of the book Contemporary Human Geography, written by J. Rubenstein. Rubenstein describes the expansion of the production of food from just family consumption to mass production in four steps; expand agriculture, increase agricultural activity, identify new food sources, and expand exports. One of the biggest processes happens in the second step (increase agricultural activity) known as the green revolution. The green revolution refers to scientifically engineered seeds of grain, maize, and rice that have been created and grown to adapt to many different climates rather than just temperate ones(Rubenstein, 10.7).To explain present times J. Benson describes about the different techniques used for agriculture today in the article, “Drastic changes to US agriculture policy necessary for future of food, say scientists”. As Benson explains farmers today use organic farming, grass-fed animal raising, and biodiversity growing methods to sustain a long-term agricultural which creates nutrition rich food as well as nutrition rich soil(Benson, 2011). Nutrition rich food and Nutrition rich soil is well needed. Nutrition rich soil sustains agriculture conditions. Without it, crops don't have the proper conditions to grow, which decreases the crop and requires the need for international trade to make up what is lost.
Agriculture requires the dedication of many of our natural resources, including land, water, and energy. When the quality and quantity of our natural resources degrades as a result of unsustainable practices, it’s not only the environment that suffers–the viability of future agricultural operations is also put at risk. Sustainable agriculture is founded on the premise that our resources can be carefully managed and cultivated to make them last indefinitely.
As agriculture has become more intensive, farmers have become capable of producing higher yields using less labour and less land. Growth of the agriculture has not, however, been an unmixed blessing. It, like every other thing, has its pros and cons. Topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm labourers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities. These are the cons of the new improved agriculture.
The global population in the year 2050 is expected to be nine billion and the agricultural demand is expected to double. With the current population already over seven billion people, there are hunger issues all around the world (“New” par. 1). How are we going to deal with food shortages in the future? With less land to work with, strains on the soils, and the lack of water, it is getting harder for the farmers of the world to support our growing population. These complications are making it harder for farmers to produce quality, affordable food. To help the crops grow better, farmers use fertilizers and chemical sprays to enhance growth and control the weeds. Farming in the United States is a relevant business because it supplies people with food, provides people with jobs maintaining the used equipment with the new equipment being much more expensive, and it provides research for more efficient ways on how to feed the world.
Agriculture is quite possibly the most important advancement and discovery that humanity has made. It produces the one thing that we need the most: food. It has been around since 9500 BC, and can be the oldest sign of mankind’s acumen and the development and evolving of our minds and creations. Agriculture has been mastered throughout hundreds of years and is one of our most important resources on Earth, along with water and fossil fuels. Although the older farming methods from ancient times seem somewhat mediocre and barbaric, they were very ingenious and advanced for that time period. Over thousands of years, we have improved the way agriculture is used, how land is cultivated, the various techniques of farming and irrigation, and the tools and mechanics used. Numerous things that we see as aboriginal today, such as using a hand plow, were extremely contemporary in ancient times, and played key roles in the development of man and society, since quick labor was not abundant before this time. We are now extremely advanced in agriculture and irrigation and the tools used to farm and grow and harvest crops. We have learned from our past and ancestors how to grow and evolve in our methods and have advanced forward greatly.
People have depended on agriculture for years as the primary source of getting food. We have developed all kinds of ways to manipulate nature so what we can produce higher yield crops, more nutritious crops, bigger crops, crops that withstand cold, and farming equipment that allows us to manufacture these crops with relative ease. Why then are there five billion people being malnourished and forty thousand children dying each day from hunger? It seems as though world hunger is more a result of the lack of distributing the food properly than the lack of quantity. agriculture has turned into a high profit business and biotech companies like Monsanto are constantly trying to come up with better and more efficient ways of farming. Are they doing this to try to solve the world hunger crisis, or merely to make a profit?
Soil is the most important non-renewable resource on any farm. Healthy soil is key to a good
Mendelsohn, R. (2000, July 12). Climate Change Impacts on African Agriculture. Retrieved December 4, 2009, from www.ceepa.co.29
Although systems have been looked at, South Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change because, amongst other things, a large proportion of the population live in abundance to poverty and have low resilience to extreme weather. With already a low and variable rainfall pattern, predictions testify that by 2050 areas will be experiencing extremely high temperatures in Spring, Summer and some parts of Autumn with Winter experiencing rapidly decreasing temperatures below -65 degrees Fahrenheit. It will also become drier and hotter affecting agricultural production and biodiversity distribution. Saving and conserving fresh water now will ensure that in times of drought and extreme weather, people will have other alternatives to turn to especially with the amount of rainfall to be expected in the adjoining future.