Science > Biology > Improvement in Crop variety > Increase in Food Production
Crops are plants grown on the longer area for food or other use. Branch of agriculture connected with rearing and management of crop plant is called agronomy. For the successful crop production, understanding of how crops develop and grow, how various factors affect its growth and development and how each factor can be modified or managed. Growing population necessitates an increase in food production.
Food is something that provides nutrients. Food is required by all living beings for their maintenance and survival. Nutrients provide energy for activity, growth, and all functions of the body such as breathing, digesting food and keeping warm; and materials for the growth and repair of the body, and for keeping the immune system healthy. The rate of population growth increased greatly from the 19th to the 20th Century. Agriculture in the 21st century faces multiple challenges: firstly, it has to produce more food and fibre to feed a growing population with a smaller rural labour force, and secondly to contribute to overall development in the many agriculture-dependent developing countries. Agriculture has to adopt more efficient and sustainable production methods and adapt to climate change. Thus the prime concern of agricultural scientists is to increase food production without degrading the environment and disturbing the balance of nature, to meet the needs of the present generation. There are three basic approaches that are adopted in our country to increase the yield from agricultural fields.
- Improvement in crop variety
- Management of Crop Production
- Management of Crop Protection:
Improvement in Crop Variety:
The technique is the combination of desirable and suitable characteristics from many selected crops into a single hybrid crop, then to multiply it and make the hybrid plant available to farmers for cropping. Thus Crop improvement refers to the genetic alteration of plants to satisfy human needs. The branch of applied biology concerned with the improvement of crop varieties is called plant breeding.
Management of Crop Production:
Crop production management includes various processes applied toward the effective cultivation and harvesting of crops. Such management usually includes the selection of the proper crop to plant, the preparation of the land (soil), the efficient and right use of fertilizers and pesticides, and providing proper irrigation to the crop. During this stage, proper nutrients are supplied to crop.
Management of Crop Protection:
According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, globally, farmers lose 30 to 40% of their crops due to pests and diseases. To help reduce these losses, farmers use an approach known as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) a part of Crop Protection Management. In this technique, the farmers use the best combination of cultural, biological and chemical measures to keep their crops pest free.
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