Case study: Intensive Farming in India

Prateek Yadav SE COMPC 60

Summary: Intensive farming is a method of production under which
cultivation is practiced and producer tried to maximize yields from available
land by increasing ratio of variable factors in per unit land area. Intensification
one hand increase per hectare productivity of land and feed the increasing
demand of food but on the other hand it poses soil, water and ecosystem health
problems.

Introduction :

There is big issue of intensive farming and environmental domains degradation

in across the world and it is proved that modern conventional farming has
greater degree of negative impact on land degradation than other farming
methods such as organic farming, natural farming etc. the modern intensive
agricultural practices are a major source of GHG emissions, land degradation,
biodiversity loss, and water scarcity and pollution. Degradation of
environmental domains reduces the capacity of rural communities, women and
vulnerable groups to meet minimum food needs, which will enforce the problem
of food security. For strengthening the productive capacity and protecting
environmental domains degradation need to provide financial and technical
support of small-scale farmer’s country like India, including rapid diffusion of
sustainable agricultural technology and practices with the necessary supporting
services to increase food production would make a remarkable contribution to
improving food security and environmental sustainability.
For achieving the twin goals simultaneously environmental sustainability and
food security is only possible by promoting appropriate farming technology
which will make minimum loss of environmental domains loos maximum
output of food grains. For preventing future food security problem need to
incorporate sustainable agriculture farming practices first in those areas, where
farmers are doing organic farming by default, these regions are rain fed district
of the county and north east state. For above transformation require a clear cut
national policy framework, which will protect the financial loss of small scale
farmers and provide technical supports in registration, training of compose
formation, information soil and seed, and water related issues. So, the for
making a “actual green revolution” which will protect the health of nature and
human being along with producing enough food for growing population is need
strong will power of politicians and farming community along with demand
side support of business community. For achieving above twin goals need to
increase public investments in rural areas, secure property rights and expanding
access to organic productive assets and inputs in support of small scale
production. Land is a finite natural resource and there is no alternative option to
replace it by other resource. How to measures the degradation of land, generally
it is measures by soil ingredients. The degradation of land is the result of both
natural and biotic factors. Natural calamities like drought, floods and
earthquakes are major factors responsible for land degradation and biotic factors
consider human and animal activities by which over exploitation of soil and
water resources, unscientific land use. Intensive farming craft salinity and
alkalinity of soils, soil acidity and waterlogging in the command area where
high inputs is practiced. These soil contaminations are affecting the agriculture
production along with damaging the eco-system. Besides, intensification of
agriculture, mining and shifting cultivation are also recognized as factors of
land degradation in India. In this paper tried to explain causes of discard
intensive farming and greedy to adopt nature friendly farming system. What are
the economic factors which pull the consumer and producer both to adopt nature
friendly farming technology? This is appropriate time to recall for nature
friendly technology in agriculture. The sustainable agriculture practices can help
to achieve ‘nutritional security’ and ecosystem sustainability all rather than
‘food security’.

Intensive Farming and Land Degradation:

Intensive farming is a method of cultivation under which cultivation are

conducted by using machines such as tractors for ploughing, showing; harvester
for crop cutting; pump set for irrigation using drip or spring system along with
using chemical fertiliser, pesticides and HYV seeds. Nearly one-third of area
in India faces the threat of land degradation. India strives to achieve Land
Degradation Neutrality by 2030. This method leads to excess or over used the
seed, chemical fertiliser, water and energy etc. The result as the water level
reduced and the land, water both have polluted by using chemical and fertiliser
continuously in increasing proportion. This intensification process finally
affects the quality of produce and some amount of chemical content reached in
food grains through plants those are harmful for us and produces new kind of
deceases. It means the intensive farming polluted the overall food chain system
and the ecosystem. This greedy of making agriculture productive and profitable
gives the birth of all kinds of environmental and human health problem. Land
degradation usually categorized into three categories i.e. one is physical
degradation which refers to deterioration in physical properties of soil. Whereas
second is biological degradation which refers to reduction in soil organic matter,
decline in biomass carbon and decrease in activity and diversity of soil fauna.
And the third is chemical degradation, which refers to the nutrient depletion.

Cause of Soil Degradation by Intensive Farming:

The cause of land degradation either may be due to natural or by manmade.

Natural causes include earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, floods, tornadoes, and
wildfires etc. The manmade cause is more serious than natural, the agriculture
practices is the major cause of fertile land degradation. The Royal Commission
on Agriculture in India Report (1928) predicted that “most of the area under
cultivation in India has been under cultivation for hundreds of years, and had
reached its state of maximum impoverishment many years ago … In this
connection it must be remembered that deficiency of combined nitrogen is the
limiting factor throughout the greater part of India”. Agricultural activities and
practices are the major cause of land degradation. It influenced soil degradation
in ways such as land use, crops grown, input use, farming method and
management practices. Some common cause of land degradation by agriculture
and its related activities are; cultivation in fragile deserts and marginal sloping
lands without any conservation measures, agricultural depletion of soil nutrients
through poor farming practices, overgrazing, excessive irrigation, over drafting .

Unbalanced use of Fertiliser:

Intensive farming practices, particularly in case of wheat and rice system in

India recorded more vulnerable in terms of soil nutrients. Indian farmers already
practiced imbalanced consumption ratio of 6.2: 4: 1 (N: P: K) in 1990–1991,
which has widened to 7:2.7:1 in 2000–2001 and 5: 2: 1 in 2009–2010 compared
with a target ratio of NPK 4:2:1. As food grain production increased with time,
the number of soil elements deficient increased in India.
In 1950 there was only nitrogen 3 Process of extracting groundwater beyond
the safe yield of the aquifer (N) deficiency and now the nine (N, P, K, S, B, Cu,
Fe, Mn, and Zn) in 2005–2006 .Though the use of fertilizers has increased
several folds, but the overall consumption is continuing low in most of the
states. Wide spread Zn deficiency, followed by S, Fe, Cu, Mn and B in are
common throughout the country. Nearly 20 Mt of the three major nutrients are
removed by growing crops annually. The nutrient loss was estimation through
soil erosion is another reason for soil fertility depletion, for an annual loss of 8
Mt of plant nutrients through 5.3 billion tons of soil loss. Pesticide Overuse and
Solid/Liquid Waste Indiscriminate use of pesticides together with sewage
sludge and composted municipal wastes leads to contamination of soil and
water with toxic substances and heavy metals.

Crop Residue Burning :

With close to 30 per cent of its geographical area already affected, land
degradation is definitely among India’s most pressing environmental problems.
To make matters worse, almost all Indian states have recorded an increase in
degraded land in the past 15 years, with the most rapid increase being noted in
the biodiversity-rich north eastern states. These details have been published in
the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India, made public in August
by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The numbers, collected for 2018-19, also highlight the stiff challenge India will
need to face to achieve its target of becoming land degradation neutral by 2030,
announced by the Prime Minister in September 2019 at the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification.
Currently, 97.85 million hectares (mha) of land — an area 2.5 times the size of
India’s largest state Rajasthan— has already been degraded. Of this, 3.32 mha
— an area 22 times the size of Delhi — has been added in the 15 years between
2003-05 and 2018-19.
The only silver lining though is Rajasthan, the most degraded state, along with
Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, have seen a reduction in their degraded land in the
last 15 years.
Rajasthan, which accounts for almost 22 per cent of the degraded land in the
country, reclaimed almost 388,000 ha, an area roughly 2.6 times the size of
Delhi. Uttar Pradesh (285,665 ha) and Telangana (19,974 ha) together
reclaimed degraded land twice the size of Delhi during the period.
The small victories by the three states fail to mask the biggest problem with the
rapid degradation in the country that it adversely affects the life and livelihood
of the most marginalised social and economic groups: Farmers dependent on
rains and forest dwellers.
Most productive land, the most vulnerable

More than half of the degraded land in the country is either rainfed farmland,
responsible for the food security of the country, or forest land that offers the
best defence against climate change, Down to Earth’s analysis of the ISRO data
has shown.

Almost 37 mha of the degraded land is what the report classifies as agriculture
unirrigated. And water erosion is the most common reason (80 per cent) for
degradation of unirrigated farmland, followed by wind erosion (17 per cent),
salinity / alkalinity in land (two per cent) and water logging (one per cent). 
“Soil cover is the key,” said G V Ramanjaneyulu, executive director of Centre
for Sustainable Agriculture, a non-profit that helps farmers adapt to sustainable
farming techniques.

In irrigated farmland, there would be a crop cover all the time whereas in
rainfed areas, a lot of erosion happened because the top soil remained
exposed and got washed away easily with rains, he added.

While the problem was well-known, Ramanjaneyulu said the solution was less
talked about. The country’s farm policy over the years has encouraged
“resource-intensive, chemical and energy intensive cropping patterns and
practices” which work well in irrigated farms but are unsustainable in rainfed
farms.

Lack of Crop Rotations:

Crop rotation process can manage the soil nutrients shortage and makes
soil healthy. It fixes the deficiency problem of organic component and water
conservation, which are important of crop rotation on soil erosion in lands under
cultivation. In addition, cultivation of marginal lands on steep slopes, in shallow
or sandy soils, with laterite crusts, and in arid or semi-arid regions bordering
deserts has resulted in land degradation. Agricultural production in marginal
areas with low soil organic matter due to unsuitable cropping patterns has been
the major cause of accelerated wind and water erosion. Wind erosion is a
serious problem in arid, semi-arid and coastal areas with sandy soils, and in the
cold desert regions of Leh.

Land Degradation and Yield Loss:

The loss of productivity due to soil degradation had been made tremendous
studies based on plot and field scales field studies on soil erosion and found that
yield reduction was about 30 to 90 percent in some root-restrictive shallow
lands of West Africa. Another study conducted and accounted 20 to 40 percent
yield loss for row crops field study in Africa and found a 50 percent decline of
yields due to soil erosion and desertification. yield reduction in Africa due to
soil erosion and mean loss of 8.2 percent for the continent. Annual reduction in
total production for 1989 due to accelerated erosion was 8.2 million tons for
cereals, 9.2 million tons for roots and tubers, and 0.6 million tons for pulses.
Estimated 20 percent productivity losses caused by erosion in Asia, especially
in India, China, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Nepal, and Pakistan.
Conclusion:

The intensive farming feed the growing demand of food in India as well as
world. But it has made tremendous loss of soil fertility, water scarcity, and land
degradation. Agriculture activity plays a significant contribution in
environmental degradation, which is the cause of human and animal disease.
Sustainable agriculture practice is required to protect natural resource, species
and ecosystem simultaneously. The impact of recent climate change has been
seen in terms of unseasonal rainfall, drought and increase normal temperature in
India, which leads to food security.

References:
Barman, D., Sangar, C., Mandal, P., Bhattacharjee, R.,Nandita, R. 2013. “Land degradation:
Its Control, Management and Environmental Benefits of Management in Reference to
Agriculture and Aquaculture”, Environ. Ecol., 31: 1095–1103.
Bhattacharyya, R., Ghosh, B.N., Mishra, P.K., Mandal, B., Rao, C.H., Sarkar, D., Das, K.,
Anil K.A., Lalitha, M., Hati, K.M. and Franzluebbers, A.J. 2015. “Soil Degradation in India:
Challenges and Potential Solutions”, Sustainability, 7: 3528-3570
Bhumbla, D.R. and Khare, A. 1984. ‘Estimate of Wastelands in India’, Society for Promotion
of Wastelands Development; Allied: New Delhi, India, 18.
David, T., Cassman, K.G., Matson P.A., Naylor, R. and Polasky. 2002. “Agriculture
Sustainability and Intensive Production Practices” Nature, 418: 671-677
https://www.agrifarming.in/intensive-farming-in-india-basics-techniques
https://studynlearn.com/blog/indian-agriculture/
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