Monday, November 7, 2011

Agriculture in Asia

1.      History and culture
-          First agricultural revolution
-          Vegeculture first developed in Southeast Asia more than eleven thousand years ago- taro, banana, and palm.
-          Seed agriculture(now the most common type of agriculture)from Central and West Asia about nine thousand years ago- wheat and barley
Although many plants were in different parts of the world, rice, oats, millet, sugarcane, cabbage, beans, eggplant, and onions were originated from Asia.

Asian agriculture- intensive
-          Asia supports about 60 percent of the global population on only about 23 percent of the world’s agricultural land.
-          Despite the population pressure on the land, Asia has remarkable progress in agricultural productivity.
-          Between 1966 and 1995, wheat production grew 5.5 percent a year, and rice production 2.2 percent.

Structure
-          Almost all farm operations are done manually or with the help of the animals. Exceptions are found in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, where small scale equipment similar to garden tractors is widely used.
-          Some Asian farmers start to use chemical fertilizer, and for water, they largely depend on rain.
-          Farming is labor-intensive, and the extended family is the main source of labor. It explains why the family size is large in Asian agricultural countries.
2.      Agriculture in China and it’s trade

















The picture above reflects the main agricultural regions of Mainland China.

Statistics of the crop production in China recent years:

Crop
1949 Output (tons)
1978 Output (tons)
1999 Output (tons)
1.
113,180,000
304,770,000
508,390,000
2.
444,000
2,167,000
3,831,000
3.
Oil-bearing crops
2,564,000
5,218,000
26,012,000
4.
Sugarcane
2,642,000
21,116,000
74,700,000
5.
Sugarbeet
191,000
2,702,000
8,640,000
6.
Flue-cured tobacco
43,000
1,052,000
2,185,000
7.
Tea
41,000
268,000
676,000
8.
Fruit
1,200,000
6,570,000
62,376,000
9.
Meat
2,200,000
8,563,000
59,609,000
10.
Aquatic products
450,000
4,660,000
41,220,000

Due to political and technological changes over the last half of the 20th century, the agricultural production of China greatly increased.
l  Bloomberg Television's "Behind the Wall": China's Agriculture in Transition:
International trade in China                                            
-          The world’s largest importer of soybeans and other food crops
-          In order to maintain grain independence and ensure food security, the government of China has enforced policies that encourage grain production of more-profitable crops
3.      Plant Protection Technology for Sustainable Agriculture in Japan
-          Non-chemical methods of controlling pests and diseases
-          Plastic rain shelter reduces the incidence of bacterial diseases
-          Solar sterilization raises the soil temperature, killing pathogenic organisms
-          Protection of rice crops is aided by computer simulation models which record favorable conditions and predict outbreaks
4.      Southeast Asia
-          Early Agricultural Societies
-          Complex agricultural cultures, which influences from India and China a lot  


Work Cited
A.    ASIAN AGRICULTURE, 4, November, 2011. <http://www.flowers-gardens.net/asian-agriculture.html>.
B.     Beijing Official Website International, 4, November, 2011.
C.     Argument - Trends in Agricultural Policy. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 4, November, 2011.
D.    Knutson. R.D., C.R. Taylor, J.B. Penson and E.G. Smith. 1990. Economic impacts of reduced chemical use. 72p, Knutson & Associates, College Station, Texas, U.S.A. Walker, P.T. 1975. Pest control problems (pre-harvest) causing major losses in world food supplies. FAO Plant Protection Bulletin. 23(3/4): 70-77, 4, November, 2011.
E.     History of southeast asia - early agricultural societies, 4, November, 2011.


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