what are the challenges of agriculture

The key challenges include the following:

• High cost of investment/finance.
• Inadequate physical infrastructure to support the sector
• Poor farming techniques
• Limited access to quality farm inputs
• Too much relying on rain;
• Lack of marketing data and information
• Inadequate production and post harvest technologies.
• Inadequate disease control facilities.

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What are the four major challenges of Agriculture?

What kind of problems do farmers face? Cope with climate change, soil erosion and biodiversity loss. Satisfy consumers’ changing tastes and expectations. Meet rising demand for more food of higher quality. Invest in farm productivity. Adopt and learn new technologies. Stay resilient against global …

What are the problems of Agriculture?

 · Limited Resources. This is another problem we face in agriculture. Even if one wants to go all out with their agricultural techniques, this cannot be made possible. The earth can only suffice its subjects with limited resources. Raw materials, water, and land for farming are all available in limited quantities.

What are the problems of farming?

Challenges faced by the agriculture sector. The key challenges include the following: High cost of investment/finance. Inadequate physical infrastructure to support the sector; Poor farming techniques; Limited access to quality farm inputs; Too much relying on rain; Lack of marketing data and information; Inadequate production and post harvest technologies.

What problems did farmers face?

 · Agriculture has to produce more raw materials to satisfy the increasing and diversifying demands of a growing world population, which is expected to grow by more than a third (around 2.3 billion people) between 2009 and 2050; these figures are often repeated, and for good reason – the challenge they present to global food production is enormous.

What are the challenges of AKST?

The main challenge of AKST is to increase the productivity of agriculture in a sustainable manner. AKST must address the needs of small-scale farms in diverse ecosystems and to create realistic opportunities for their development where the potential for improved area productivity is low and where climate change may have its most adverse consequences . The main challenges for AKST posed by multifunctional agricultural systems include:

What is the recognition of current challenges and the acceptance of options available for action?

The acknowledgement of current challenges and the acceptance of options available for action require a long-term commitment from decision makers that is responsive to the specific needs of a wide range of stakeholders. A recognition that knowledge systems and human ingenuity in science, technology, practice and policy is needed to meet the challenges, opportunities and uncertainties ahead. This recognition will require a shift to nonhierarchical development models.

What is the concern of all regions regarding poverty alleviation and the livelihoods options available to poor people?

There is recognition that the mounting crisis in food security is of a different complexity and potentially different magnitude than the one of the 1960s. The ability and willingness of different actors, including those in the state, civil society and private sector, to address fundamental questions of relationships among production, social and environmental systems is affected by contentious political and economic stances.

Is the pace of formal technology generation and adoption uneven?

The pace of formal technology generation and adoption has been highly uneven. Actors within North America and Europe (NAE) and emerging economies who have captured significant economies of scale through formal AKST will continue to dominate agricultural exports and extended value chains. There is an urgent need to diversify and strengthen AKST recognizing differences in agroecologies and social and cultural conditions. The need to retool AKST, to reduce poverty and provide improved livelihoods options for the rural poor, especially landless and peasant communities, urban informal and migrant workers, is a major challenge.

How does agriculture affect the environment?

In addition, irrigation of agricultural crops comprises 70% of global water use, and agriculture directly contributes to around 11% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (mostly through cattle). Expanding agricultural land can also lead to deforestation, additional GHG emissions, and a loss of biodiversity.

What are the challenges facing the global food system?

Let’s start with the most obvious one. The global food system is expected to provide safe and nutritious food to a population that will likely grow from 7.5 billion people today, to nearly 10 billion by 2050. Not only will there be more mouths to feed, but as incomes grow in emerging …

What are the three challenges that must be tackled together?

These three challenges – feeding a growing population, providing a livelihood for farmers, and protecting the environment – must be tackled together if we are to make sustainable progress in any of them. But making progress on this “triple challenge” is difficult, as initiatives in one domain can have unintended consequences in another.

How many farms are there in the world?

There are an estimated 570 million farms worldwide today, and millions of other people work in food-related jobs. The global food system also has a large environmental footprint. In fact, agriculture occupies nearly 40% of the earth’s surface, far more than any other human activity.

Is food production only one aspect of the food system?

However, food production is only one aspect of the food system. The agro-food sector also provides a livelihood for millions of people . Globally, most of the people living in extreme poverty are in rural areas where food production is often the most important economic activity. There are an estimated 570 million farms worldwide today, …

Is farm productivity positive or negative?

Sometimes, the consequences are positive. For instance, raising farm productivity can generate income growth in agriculture, make more food available for consumers at lower prices, and – in some cases – reduce pressure on the environment. But sometimes the consequences are negative and require balancing trade-offs.

What is the problem with agriculture?

This problem of agriculture is faced by people all over the world. The steady industrial growth coupled with the ever-increasing urbanization is leaving little to no room for any agricultural land. Deforestation and concrete jungles are taking up maximum area leaving little to no room for farming.

What are the problems farmers face?

Insects, poverty, and lack of irrigation facilities are only a few of the issues that farmers face on a daily basis. Even in developed countries, it is not difficult to spot farmers who lack basic financial and technical support.

Is the storage of crops finite?

The storage facilities for crops, after harvesting, are also finite. The number of people willing to actually go out there are toil in the fields is decreasing day by day. If nothing else, the machinery and equipment needed for farming are also scarce in most countries.

Can you use land year after year?

The land that already exists cannot be used continuously year after year since it needs a couple of years to breathe. In addition to that, farmers prefer growing money-making crops like indigo in comparison to grains and other eatables.

Is agriculture a good business idea?

This article is just to inform you and not to discourage you. I am sure you already know that agriculture or farming in particular is a good business idea.

Why do farmers need to upgrade their machinery?

The machinery for farming also need to be upgraded if one intends to see agriculture growing as a capital sector.

Is agriculture a major occupation?

In almost all developing countries, agriculture is the main occupation of a majority of people. However, it is not given its due importance. Farmers in such countries are hardly given any financial benefits, and the schemes designed in their favor rarely make it to them.

What is the challenge of sustainable agriculture?

As society embraces the challenge of sustainable agriculture, there is growing consensus on the need to combine high agricultural productivity with well-considered environmental protection ; however, Europe’s full potential will only be realised with ambitious science-based policy and political support for innovation. The combined challenges of agricultural production and biodiversity protection require that we exploit proven technologies whilst continuing to invest in the research and development of solutions for tomorrow.

How does agriculture affect biodiversity?

Protect habitats, conserve biodiversity. Agriculture is a major contributo r to land use change, which often implies the destruction of natural habitats – the single most important driver of biodiversity loss.

What is the purpose of EU crop protection?

While their use is certainly not without risk, a sensible, risk-based approach to EU legislation ensures farmers have access to products that when used correctly have no unacceptable effects on their health or the environment. This same stringent legislation allows European consumers a high degree of confidence in the safety, availability and affordability of their food.

How do pesticides protect crops?

Pesticides are formulated to protect crops by discouraging, confusing, altering the behaviour, or killing target pests, diseases and pathogens. When we consider biodiversity protection, this raises questions about the impact on non-target species that may be unintentionally exposed to pesticides.

How much can crop losses be without crop protection?

Without crop protection, losses for certain crops can exceed 80% of potential yield, and low input farming – as typified by organic agriculture – is estimated as averaging up to 34% lower yields than productive agriculture within the EU.

How can farmers protect their crops from pests?

By protecting crops from pests and disease, farmers can optimise yields on the existing agricultural land base, make efficient use of resources (inc. fuel, time, and capital) and prevent the loss of natural habitat that occurs when agricultural land expands to compensate for crop losses.

Why is it important to protect and restore farmland?

There is also a pressing need to protect and restore the quality of existing farmland. Highly productive and resource efficient agriculture mitigates the problems associated with all of these challenges, because it enables us to have more of everything – more crops, and more biodiversity and natural habitats.

What are the challenges of food safety?

There are also common consumer challenges related to food safety (e.g., genetic modification technologies, pesticide and herbicide uses ), despite the early period of indifference in China and the US, that is in marked contrast to early and often violent reactions to the same products in European Union, Latin America, Japan and South Korea ( Zilberman et al., 2013; Gerasimova, 2016 ). For example, lawsuits against Bayer-Monsanto “Roundup”, the most popular weed killer in the world, have the ag-tech firms “frozen”, uncertain of the way forward and confused regarding the best research and development investment options. It is clear there is growing concern among consumers in China and the US about new genetically modified options as these products are evaluated with respect to health and environmental concerns on social media platforms, the press, and the popular media.

What are the unsustainable trends in agriculture?

However, in the rush to raise productivity and income, several unsustainable trends were also introduced: 1) depletion of natural resources used in agriculture, 2) outflow of rural labor, capital and land, and 3) declines in food quality and safety ( Zhou et al., 2017 ).

What are the causes of China’s agricultural miracle?

This is a very useful lens to assess not only China’s agricultural problems, but those challenging US farmers and agricultural officials as well. The post-1978 economic reforms in China resulted in a significantly greater agricultural production, higher rural incomes, and a general improvement in rural infrastructure, including hard-surfaced roads, centralized water supplies, and electrification ( Veeck and Shui, 2011 ). However, in the rush to raise productivity and income, several unsustainable trends were also introduced: 1) depletion of natural resources used in agriculture, 2) outflow of rural labor, capital and land, and 3) declines in food quality and safety ( Zhou et al., 2017 ). These issues reflect both a lack of effective government enforcement and the dangers of unregulated resource use. Certainly, many environmental groups in the US would argue that many US agro-environmental problems should be credited to these exact same shortcomings as well as a lack of sustainable policies and actions.

Why did China’s environmental problems increase after 2000?

In China, environmental problems increased after 2000 with the increasing intensity of land and water resource use due to changing economic opportunities, made possible in part by globalization ( Veeck and Shui, 2011 ).

Which two countries are the most important in the food and agriculture network?

China and the United States are the two most significant nations in the contemporary global food and agricultural network. In addition, they are two of the most important innovators with respect to the development of new crop varieties, agro-technologies, farm products, markets and consumer issues, such as consumer resistance to genetically …

Why is China concerned about food safety?

China has had particular challenges with food safety, due to the nation’s rapid pace of development of the food system and the vast numbers of small food growers, manufacturers, and distributers that populate the system ( Chung and Wong, 2013; Shao, 2013 ). Worries about counterfeit food can compound food risk concerns for Chinese since uncertainty related to the authenticity of food labels can mitigate the effectiveness of some of the coping techniques that are commonly used as an antidote for food safety concerns. Purchasing food with trusted brand names does not offer complete assurance when consumers cannot be certain of the veracity of the brand label. Likewise, labels such as “green,” “local,” or “organic” lose power when consumers cannot be sure that the product has been grown and processed as promoted ( Veeck et al., 2010 ).

What are the challenges of sustainability?

While the causal factors in the US are somewhat different, the basic challenges to sustainability really remain the same. Groundwater shortages are developing in many parts of the nation, and groundwater consumption is expanding at ever increasing rates. Of particular concern are irrigated areas in the “corn belt,” from the states of Illinois and southern Minnesota in the east, across to Iowa and the Ogallala Aquifer, that under lies parts of the states of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming in the west. Intensive rice and cotton production, as well as catfish and tilapia aquaculture in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, also led to drastic groundwater depletions. In addition to these areas, cotton and almond production in the US southwest and vegetable multiple cropping and fruit and nut orchards in the Imperial Valley of California also face questionable futures due to over-exploitation of ground water resources ( Fig. 4 ).

What are the problems with agriculture in Nigeria?

1. Poverty: One of the major problems facing agriculture in Nigeria is extreme poverty prevalent in the country. The country has a huge population of poor people who cannot afford to go into mechanised and commercial farming. Farming activities are done on a small scale and usually for the consumption of the farmer and his family members. Lack of access to funds prevents the production of food on a large scale.

Why are there shortages of agricultural produce?

3. Lack of Storage Facility: Agricultural produce are seasonal. Very few crops produce all year round. The availability of seasonal crops at a time when they are not in season is dependent on the storage and processing facilities available in the country. The country lacks the facilities to process and store up produce for the future. Crops which are not consumed during their time of harvest thus lie to waste. There is thus a scarcity of such produce when they are out of season.

Why do farmers have to pay tribute to the marauding killers?

In some quarters, farmers have to pay tributes to the marauding killers to enable them gain access to their farms. The insecurity in the country, especially in the Northern part of the country has stopped farmers from going to their farms. This translates into a shortage of food production which may likely lead to famine in the near future. Thus, insecurity is a major challenge of agriculture facing Nigeria at the moment.

Why did they spare farms?

One could say “ oh, at least they ate, so they spared farms so they could have what to eat for their next criminal operation “. The case is however not the same today. Farms are being attacked with reckless abandon. Farmers are being killed on their way to farm. Crops are being destroyed and livestocks rustled by bandits.

Is agriculture rewarding?

Conclusively, agriculture is rewarding but the numerous challenges facing it in the country has made it less enticing to a larger chunk of the population. This accounts for the low investment in the agricultural sector by the teeming youths of the country.

Should youths be enlightened about agriculture?

If one can eat, he can as well produce that which he eats. Let the youths be enlightened more on the importance of agriculture and the need to engage in it. This will go a long way to eradicate the stereotype the industry has faced over the years as a result of the rush for white collar jobs.

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