FOOD RESOURCES

IMPORTANT TERMS

Sustainable Agriculture:- It is successful management of resources for agriculture to satisfy the requirements of human needs, while maintaining the quality of environment and conserving natural resources.

Green Revolution:- It is a programme to increase food-grain production by use of modern technology, high yield variety of seed, fertilizers and improved irrigation.

Manure:- It is a natural fertilizer. It is bulky sources of organic matter which supply nutrients in small quantities but organic matter in large quantities.

Fertilizers:- Fertilizers are commercially produced plant nutrients. Fertilizers supply nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Pisciculture:- It is the controlled breeding and rearing of fish commercially in tanks or enclosures such as fish ponds, usually for food.

Apiculture:- It is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in man-made hives, by humans.

Milch:- Milk-producing females are called milch animals.

Organic Farming:- It is a farming system with minimal or no use of chemicals, with a maximum input of organic manures, recycled farm wastes, and bio-agents, with healthy cropping systems.

Mixed cropping:- It is growing of two or more crops simultaneously without any pattern on the same piece of land.

Inter-cropping:- It is growing of two or more crops simultaneously in definite row patterns on the same piece of land.

FOOD

Food provides nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals, and therefore it is one of the basic need for all living organisms. Agriculture and animal husbandry (livestocks) are the main sources of food. There is a need to introduce production efficiency of crops and livestock to cater to the food requirements of the rapidly increasing population while there is no major scope of increasing the area under cultivation.

TYPES OF CROPS

Cereals: It Provides carbohydrates for energy requirements. e.g., wheat, rice, maize, millets and sorghum.

Pulses: It is a source of proteins. e.g., pea, gram, black gram, green gram, pigeon pea and lentil.

Oilseeds: Necessary fats are obtained from oilseeds. e.g., soya bean, ground nut, sesame, castor, mustard, linseed and sun flower.

Vegetables, spices and fruits: These are source of vitamins and minerals.

Fodder crops: These are grown as food for the livestocks. e.g., berseem, oats, sudan grass.

CLASSIFICATION OF CROPS ON THE BASIS OF CLIMATIC CONDITION

Different crop requires different climatic conditions, temperature and photoperiods for their growth and completion of life cycle. There are two distinct season crops: kharif crops and rabi crops.

Kharif crops

• Sown in the months of June-July.                     
• Crops grow in hot and wet conditions.
• Require more water.
• Crops are harvested during September- October.
• Paddy, soyabean, pigeon pea, maize, cotton, green gram and black gram are kharif crops.

 

Rabi crops

• Sown in the months of October-November.                
• Crops grow in cold and dry conditions.
• Require less water.
• Crops are harvested during March-April.
• Wheat, gram, peas, mustard, linseed are rabi crops.

IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD PRODUCTION

Three scientific approaches are adopted in our country to obtain high yields from our agriculture farms: (A) Crop variety improvement (B) Crop production improvement and (C) Crop protection management.

(A) Crop variety improvement:

 

Varietal improvement means combining desirable characteristics of one crop variety into another and multiplying it. Some of the factors by which variety improvement can be done are:

• Good and healthy seeds
• Hybridisation: It is the process of combining different varieties or species of plants which are genetically dissimilar to create a hybrid. It can be inter varietal (between different varieties), inter specific (between different species), intergeneric (between different genera). 
• Genetic Improvement: Genes of the crop are modified so that desired properties are retained and undesired properties are suppressed.

 

Desired properties of improved seeds

• Higher yield: To get higher productivity per acre of land.
• Improved quality: Quality considerations may be different for different crops as per the requirements.
• Biotic and abiotic resistance: Crops should have sufficient resistance to biotic factors (diseases, insects and nematodes) and abiotic stresses (heat, cold, frost, drought, salinity etc.).
• Change in maturity duration: Short duration crop means less cost and more rounds of crops every year.
• Wider adaptability: Crops having wider adaptability will help in stabilizing the crop production under different environmental conditions.
• Desirable agronomic characteristics: Crops with desired agronomic traits will help in setting higher production e.g. Tallness and profuse branching is required for fodder crops, Dwarfness is desired for cereals.

 

(B) Crop production improvement:

It involves different practices carried out by farmer to achieve higher standards of crop production. It includes: (i) Nutrient management, (ii) Irrigation and (iii) Cropping pattern.

1. Nutrient management

 

• Plants require inorganic elements for building their structure and maintaining their metabolic process. These inorganic elements are called nutrient. There are sixteen nutrients which are essential for plants. Nutrients are supplied to plants by air, water and soil. There are 16 nutrients which are essential for plants, deficiency of which will affect the physiological processes of plants such as growth, reproduction etc.

 

• Macronutrients: The essential elements that are utilized by plants relatively in large quantities, are called macronutrients.

 

• Micronutrients: The essential elements that are used by plants in small quantities, are called micronutrients.

 

Source	Nutrients	Type
Air	Carbon (C), Oxygen (O)	Macronutrient
Water	Hydrogen (H)	Macronutrient
Soil	Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), Potassium (K), Calcium (C), Magnesium (Mg), Sulphur (S)	Macronutrient
	Iron (Fe), Maganese (Mn), Boron (B), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Molybdenum (Mo), Chlorine (Cl)	Micronutrient

Manure

It is defined as the decomposed version of animal excreta and plant waste. Manure mainly contains organic matter and also some nutrients in small amount.

 

Advantages of Manure

 

• Manures helps in enriching the soil with organic matter and nutrients.
• It helps in increasing the soil fertility.
• Increases the water holding capacity of soil.
• Helps in improving soil texture.
• Save our environment from excessive use of fertilizers.
• Manure is classified into following types according to the biological material used:

 

• Compost: Composting is the process in which farm waste material (cow dung, domestic waste, kitchen waste, plant remains etc) is left in a pit for long time to decompose. The compost formed with this process is used as manure.
• Vermi-compost: Vermicomposting is the process which involve use of earthworms in the pit to make the decomposition process fast.  Earthworms eat up the waste and excrete organic matter as their excreta. The vermi-compost formed with this process is used as manure.
• Green manure: Plants like sun hemp or guar are grown and mulched by ploughing them into soil which is turned into green manure. It helps in enriching the soil in nitrogen and phosphorus.

 

Fertilizers

• These are chemicals highly rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. They provide large amount of nutrients and thus ensure better growth of plants.
• Disadvantage of fertilizers are:

• Excessive use of fertilizer leads to pollution of water.
• Fertilizers don’t provide much organic matter to the soil.
• Microorganisms and insects present in soil are harmed due to excessive use of fertilizers.
• Continuous use of fertilizer leads to decrease in soil fertility.

1. Irrigation:

• It is necessary for crops to get water during their growing season.
• The process of supplying water to crop/ plants through human efforts by means of canal, wells, reservoirs, tube-wells etc. is known as irrigation. India has variety of water resources: Wells, canals, tanks, rain water harvesting.
• Water management is needed to increase percolation of water into ground and reduce flow of rainwater to prevent soil erosion.

 

1. Cropping Pattern:

Different patterns are used to maximize the production from crop fields. These are: Mixed cropping, Intercropping and Crop rotation.

Mixed cropping:

 

• It is the practice of cultivating two or more crops simultaneously on the same piece of land without any specific pattern.
• The objective of mixed cropping is to minimize the risk and insure against the crop failure due to abnormal weather conditions.
• Some popular combinations used by farmers during mixed cropping are - Wheat + Mustard, Groundnut + Sunflower, Wheat + Gram, Cotton + Moong bean, Barley + Chick pea.
• Main criteria for the selection of crops for the mixed cropping are – they require similar environmental conditions like rain, temperature for growth; they require different nutrients so that all nutrients of the soil are used and plants do not compete for the same nutrients.
• Advantages of mixed cropping also include the fact that if one crop faces adverse conditions or pathogen attack then the other crop can be saved.

 

Intercropping:

• It is the practice of growing two or more crops simultaneously in a same field in a definite row pattern.
• The basic objective in intercropping is to increase the productivity per unit area.
• Popular Crop-combination used in intercropping are soyabean + maize, or finger millet (bajra) + cowpea (lobia).
• Criteria for the selection of crops during mixed cropping are - they require similar environmental conditions like rain, temperature for growth; they require different nutrients so that all nutrients of the soil are used.
• Advantages of intercropping:

• Diseases cannot spread from one row to other.
• Low risk - if one crop fails, then others may still survive.

Crop rotation:

• It is the practice of growing different crops one after another on the same piece of land.

• If same crop is grown again and again on the same field, same nutrients are extracted from soil again and again. Therefore, different crops are chosen to save soil’s nutrient.
• Advantages of crop rotations are:

Ø  Fertility of soil maintained for longer period.

Ø  The chemical nature of soil is not altered.

 

(C) Crop protection management:

Crops need protection against weeds, pests and pathogens.

Weeds

• They are unwanted plants in the cultivated field. e.g. Xanthium (Gokhroo), Amaranthus (Chaulai), Parthenium (Gajar ghas), Avena sativa (Wild oat).
• They are considered to be harmful as they compete for food, space and light with the desired crop. They reduce crop production by taking up the nutrients meant for the crops.
• Methods of weed control include mechanical removal, use of herbicides, summer ploughing (fields are ploughed deep in summers to destroy weeds and pests.)
• Preventive measures for the growth of weeds are as follows:

• Proper seed bed preparation: Fields are ploughed deep so that weed seeds come on top and germinate in few days. Then they can be removed before planting actual crops.
• Timely growing of crops.
• Inter-cropping: Due to presence of multiple crops, environmental resources are used more efficiently. Thus, very little resources are left for growth of weeds.
• Crop rotation: some crops destroy weeds and they must be included in crop rotation to eradicate weeds.
• Use of resistant varieties.

 

Insect/ pests

They attack the plant in three ways:

·       They cut the root, stem and leaves.

·       They suck the cell sap from various parts of the plants.

·       They bore into the stem and fruits.

 

Pathogens

• Any organism (bacteria, fungi, virus) that can produce disease in plants is called pathogens.
• Various types of pesticides (Herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides) are used to kill different pests and pathogens. These are toxic chemicals. They cause pollution. They may be toxic to many plants and animals.

Organic farming:

• There is little or no use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Therefore, there is no toxicity due to pollution of crop/ plants, soil, water or air.
• Bio-fertilizers include the nitrogen fixing organism (Blue green algae) and mineral solubilizing bacteria.
• Bio-pesticides are organism or plants (Neem and turmeric) and their extracts which repel or kill weeds, insects and other pests.
• Healthy cropping includes mixed cropping, intercropping and crop rotation.
• Advantages of organic farming are:

Ø  It does not cause pollution of our environment.

Ø  Farm wastes are recycled.

Ø  Soil fertility is preserved.

 

Storage of grains

• Crops are stored after harvesting till they reach the consumer. Seasonal foods are also stored in safe storage so that they are available throughout the year. During their storage they can be destroyed by biotic factors (insects, birds, mites, bacteria) and abiotic factors (inappropriate temperature, moisture).
• Precautions to be taken during safe storages are:-

• Proper cleaning of warehouse.
• Proper drying of grains before storage.
• Fumigation to kill pest and insect.

 

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

• It is the scientific management of domestic animals (livetocks) that includes feeding, breeding and disease control in an efficient manner to obtain food and other useful products from them.
• It is essential to get higher production of milk, eggs and meat to satisfy the increasing demands of people for animal food.
• Operation flood is related to milk production.
• Cattle farming: It is the raising of cattle for yield of milk and agriculture work.
• Indian cattle belong to two different species, Bos indicus (cows), and Bos bubalis (buffaloes).
• Milch animals: Milk producing animals (female animals)
• Draught animals: They don’t produce milk but are used for agriculture work.
• The cattle feed consists of two components: roughage (largely fibre) and concentrate (low in fibre and contain relatively high levels of proteins and other nutrients).
• Milk production can be increased by increasing the lactation period.
• The exotic breeds (e.g., Jersey, Brown Swiss) are selected for their long lactation periods, while local breeds (e.g., Red Sindhi, Sahiwal) show excellent resistance to diseases. The two can be cross- bred to produce animals with desired qualities of both breeds.
• Animal shelter should be spacious enough to provide proper space for each animal.  It should be clean, dry and ventilated. Proper arrangement for the disposal of animal waste should be made.
• Cattle suffer from various diseases.

• External parasites live on skin and cause skin disease. Internal parasites like worm and fluke affect stomach and liver respectively.
• Communicable (infectious) diseases are caused by pathogens like bacteria, viruses, fungi etc.
• Non-communicable (non-infectious) diseases are caused due to deficiency of nutrients or malfunctioning of body organs.
• Vaccination should give protection against major disease.

 

Poultry farming:

• Poultry farming is the rearing of domesticated fowl (chicken), ducks, geese, turkey and some varieties of pigeon for their meat and eggs.
• Meat-producing poultry birds are called broilers. They require high protein, fat and vitamin A and K rich diet.
• Egg-laying poultry birds are called layers. They are fed with high fibre content e.g.  grit of stones for calcium and grains for fibre.
• Aseel is an Indigenous and Leghorn is an exotic breed of chicken.
• The following practices are needed to take care of birds:

• Hygienic conditions in housing: Proper sanitation and spraying of disinfectants.
• Protection form diseases: They suffer from diseases caused by virus, bacteria, fungi. Regular spraying of disinfectants to kill infectious microorganisms.
• Management of temperature.
• Hygienic environment and proper sanitation

 

Fish production:

Fish is a cheap source of animal protein for our food. Fisheries are of two types:

• Fin fishery/ True fish production: Production and management of cartilaginous and bony fishes e.g. pomphret, tuna, cod, catla, prawns, rohu, mrigal etc.
• Unfinned fish production: Production of shellfish such as crustaceans (prawns, crabs) and mollusks (oysters, mussels etc.)

 

Depending up on the mode of obtaining fish, fisheries are classified into two types:

• Capture fishery: The fish is caught from natural resources, both marine & freshwater with the help of boats & nets.
• Culture fishery: Fishes of desired variety are cultivating in confined area with utmost care to get maximum yield. This can be done in oceans, rivers, ponds, lakes etc. When it is done in ocean is called mariculture.

 

Marine fisheries

• The practice of rearing & culturing marine fish i.e fish found in seas & oceans is called mariculture.
• Tuna, cod, sardines, Bombay duck, pomphret, mackerel, etc are common marine fishes.
• Regions of high fish population can be found with the help of satellites & echo sounders.
• Fish farming is also done for some marine shelled [Oysters (for pearls), mussels (mollusc)]. & finned fish (Bhetki, mullets & pearl spot) based on their economic value.

 

Inland fisheries

• Inland fisheries deal with freshwater (like in rivers, canals, reservoirs and lagoons) and brackish water fisheries (Estuaries, lagoons).
• Inland fishery is of two types- capture fishery and culture fishery.
• This type of fishing gives lower yield compared to marine fishing.

 

Composite fish culture

• Sometimes fish culture is done in combination with rice crops so that fish grow along with paddy in the standing water. Both local & imported varieties of fish can be used in such systems. 
• In such a system, five to six species of fish are selected on the basis of their feeding habits (they should not compete for food & should not kill each other in the pond) & reared in a single fish pond e.g. Catla- Surface feeders, Rohu-Middle zone, Mrigals & carps - Bottom feeders.
• Advantage of composite fish culture is obtaining a very high yield.
• Disadvantage of composite fish culture is that many fish breed only in the rainy season, so hormonal stimulation has to be given.

 

Bee keeping/Apiculture

• Apiculture is the practice of keeping, caring & management of honeybees on a large scale for obtaining honey & wax.
• Many farmers use bee-keeping for additional income. Apiaries /bee farms are places where the bees are raised for commercial honey production.
• Some common species of indigenous honey bees are: Apis cerana indica- Indian bee, Apis dorsata- Rock bee, Apis florae- Little bee.
• Apis mellifera is an exotic (foreign) Italian variety domesticated in India as it is gentle in nature, stings less and has high honey collecting capacity & stay in the beehive for longer periods.
• Quality & yield of honey depends on quality of pasturage (flowers available to bees for nectar), quantity of pasturage and close location of apiary within 1-2km radius of pasturage.

 

Interesting Facts:

• Many legumes (pulses) are deficient in the essential amino acid methionine that are present in grains. Thus, a combination of legumes with grains forms a well-balanced diet for vegetarians.
• India is called the ‘Land of Spices’ because no country in the world produces as many varieties of spices as India.
• The color orange is named after the orange fruit, but before that, it was called geoluread (yellow-red).
• Vegetables and fruits don't die the moment they are harvested. They respond to their environment for days.
• Goats were the first animal to be domesticated, according to many historians.
• Cows are good mothers and have been known to walk for miles to find their calves.
• The largest producer and consumer of cattle and buffalo milk in the world is India.
• Red meat is "probably carcinogenic to humans" according to WHO.