Subsistence and commercial agriculture, green revolution and food security

subsistence and commercial agriculture, green revolution and food security are covered in the first unit of agronomy of 1st semester of AFU.

1. Define agriculture and what are the differences between subsistence and commercial agriculture. (2075)

2.Define green revolution and what are the achievement of green revolution explain(2073)

3.Explain the role of agronomist on solving the food problem in agricultural sector of Nepal.(2073/2071)

4.Define food security (2071)

5. List the major reasons of food insecurity in Nepal

6. List the major problems of food production in our country.

ANSWERS

1. Define agriculture and differentiate between subsistence and commercial agriculture. ( 2075)

Agriculture is the art, science and the business of cultivating soil, producing crops and raising livestock and in varying degree the preparation and marketing of the resulting products.

Subsistence Agriculture	Commercial agriculture
1. The farming practice where crops are grown for family consumption and only remaining might go for for selling.	1. The farming practice in which the farmer grows crops and livestock for trade and earning profit.
2. It is mostly prevalent in under developed and developing countries.	2. It is mostly prevalent in developed countries.
3. It is labor intensive and employ very little machinery for farm activities.	3. It is capital intensive and employs little labor for farm activities.
4. Individual farms in subsistence farming are small and fragmented	4. Farms in commercial agriculture are large.
5. The main crops grown are food grains, fruits and vegetables needed for daily consumption.	5. Mainly cereals and cash crops are grown in commercial agriculture.
6. The agriculture is mostly rain fed with little to no provision for irrigation.	6. This agriculture system uses modern irrigation methods.
7. old tools and equipment are used with little to no application of modern tools such as chemical fertilizers, irrigation, pesticides and cultivation techniques	7. Farmers use inputs such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, machinery and high yielding varieties of crops and livestock.

2. Define green revolution and what are the achievement of green revolution explain(2073)

Green revolution is the phase of transition of traditional agriculture into modern agriculture through the use of high yielding varieties, use of fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation is termed as green revolution. The green revolution took place in 1960s when many of the countries were facing food scarcity that caused death of many people. Dr. Norman E. Borlaug who worked at CIMMYT developed dwarf and high yielding varieties of wheat and distributed around the world that led to food sufficiency and a change in attitudes of farmers concerning the methods and system of farming.

Achievements of Green Revolution

Development of high yielding varieties of crops.
Encouraged the use of fertilizers, pesticides.
Better management of human resources and induction of newly trained labourers.
Development of effective crop management practices like modern and complicated irrigation systems, mulching, staking, etc.
The green revolution also established food security.
Increment in yield and quality of food.
High yield at the cost of low input has uplifted the living standard of farmer’s especially developing world.
Development of industries that manufacture agriculture inputs and use agriculture output to produce final products.
Use of high yielding varieties, multiple cropping and increase in various farm operational task such as sowing, harvesting, ploughing, application of fertilizer, pesticides etc has led to increase in employment opportunities especially in rural area of developing countries.

4.Define food security (2071)

Food security may be a situation that exist when all people, in the least the days, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to satisfy their dietary needs and food preference for a lively and healthy life.

5.Differentiate between subsistence and commercial agriculture. list the major reasons of food insecurity in Nepal

Some of the major reasons behind food insecurity in Nepal are

1. Low agricultural productivity

Poor, marginalized and illiterate farmer unable to adopt and use new technology, lack of fertilizers, pesticides etc , erratic weather pattern, small land holding capacity, weather dependent cultivation and many other reasons have led to low agricultural productivity and hence food insecurity.

2. Lack of quality roadways and transportation facility has also made market inaccessible to both farmers and consumers especially in remote hilly and mountainous regions.

3. Rapid population growth and low agricultural productivity has led to a wide gap between food demand and food production due to which import of food has become a necessary custom.

4. Low purchasing power of farmers and consumers has also led to food insecurity in our country.

6. List the major problems of food production in our country.

The major problems of crop production in Nepal are listed below:

Lack of availability of quality seeds.
Traditional system of agriculture and subsistence farming.
Rain fed agriculture and lack of proper irrigation in appropriate times.
Fragmentation and settlement in fertile and cultivable land.
Lack of market and problems of broker due to which farmers are unable to justifiable price for their investments in production.
Lack of proper agricultural research, study, extension.
Lack of technical knowledge among farmers such as; proper system of layout, seed replacement rate, proper application of fertilizers.
Nepalese agricultural products whose cost of production is high( due to various reasons) can not compete with Indian and Chinese agricultural products available in Nepalese market at comparatively low price.