worm environmental solutions

The need for Sustainable agriculture.

2018-10-31T01:22:00.000+05:30

We cannot solve the problems we have created with the same thinking we used in creating them - Albert Einstein.

South Asia still faces the greatest hunger burden, with over 281 million malnourished people, including 40% of India’s population. How we grow and consume our food has a significant impact on levels of hunger, but it doesn’t end there. If done right, agriculture and forests can become sources of decent incomes for the global population, the engines of rural development, and our vanguard against climate change. The agricultural sector is the single largest employer in the world, employing 40% of the global population, and in India, 54.6% of its total workforce. Even with more than half of the country’s population employed in the sector, agriculture contributes only 15% of India’s GDP.

Restores and nourishes the soil :

Healthy soil ultimately leads to healthier plants and animals, resulting in much more nutritious food for people. It holds moisture much more efficiently than depleted soil does, and leads to resilient healthy plants that are not as susceptible to attacks from diseases and pests. In contrast, the conventional agriculture style of heavy tillage and ever-increasing toxic chemicals that dominates our food system today is very destructive to soil ecology. Such as a system generally fails to nourish the soil beyond the three primary nutrients of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous (NPK).

Such a simplified mechanistic view of plant-based nutrition and wellness leaves out many different important nutrients, minerals, and healthful plant compounds that plants need, resulting in depleted soil that grows much less nutritious food and leads to nutrient deficiencies in the human population. This lack of respect for the soil in today’s conventional industrial agriculture system is plagued with problems of soil erosion, crops that are susceptible to attacks from disease and pests (thus requiring more toxic chemicals for “protection”), water pollution, and higher susceptibility to drought.

Better land management :

Today's agriculture relies on a process called monoculture, which involves planting huge fields of a single plant breed. This practice is extremely dangerous, as relying on a single breed causes the plants to become vulnerable to diseases that can spread quickly from plant to plant. A single disease can wipe out an entire industry of crop, which can cause food prices to spike. Nowadays most fields feature a single crop, it’s difficult to make use of an entire mixed field.

Sustainable farming places several crops on a single plot of land, usually by combining tall, sun-loving plants with shorter, shade-loving plants. This practice produces more food per acre and allows farmers to free up more land for preservation purposes. Conventional industrial agriculture generally relies upon a few primary crops, and chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides to protect their plants that are more vulnerable to disease and pests. These agricultural chemicals can be very toxic to people, wildlife, and pollinators. Crop and animal production are generally separate, with animal waste requiring disposal, and crops require their own fertilizers in these “efficient” conventional agricultural systems.

A climate action :

Sustainable agriculture systems employ many methods that conserve water, including the use of mulching, drip irrigation, creating swales on contour that help to hold water high on the landscape and rechargeunderground water resources, planting crops that do not require as much water such as an emphasis on perennial crops with deep roots. In contrast, conventional industrial agriculture requires a great deal of water for production, and the crops in such systems are generally vulnerable to drought.

With diverse systems that grow a variety of crops, an emphasis on those plants that naturally require less water, and systems that have healthier plants because of the presence of healthier soils, crops in sustainable systems should have greater resilience than those in conventional systems. In addition, when sustainable agriculture systems incorporate trees and other perennial plants, along with free-range livestock grazing systems, agriculture can actually become carbon sinks.

Livelihood development :

Sustainable farming is easily decentralized and limits the impact of financial troubles to a small percentage of its agriculture industry while local food production. By localizing our food system, we reinvest our money in our communities, where it continues to circulate within our local area to provide jobs for our community people.

To Achieve SDG No 2 ZERO HUNGER:

We can solve this complex problem. Where today 925 million peopleare hungry, and experts say the number will grow as an additional 2 billion are added to the global population by 2050. Science is our solution, Individuals have to start believing in science again. Move past the scare tactics and twisted facts. Get educated, Scientists have been modifying crops for many, many decades without push back until recently. Companies need to apply science from a local perspective. Really learn the agricultural and cultural challenges on the ground all over the world. Don’t just import a solution from one region to another. Think long-term and about different ways to do business – different buyers, different ROIs, different partners. Xylem is doing this with its water pump that addresses cultural, agricultural, and local economic factors in India We need markets that work for everyone. Business and government are going to have to be global here. Work together to get the right policies in place to help everyone, not just someone.

Don’t think this is just a developing country problem. People everywhere are hungry and malnourished. Take the US as an example – a place where many think we can’t possibly have a problem. California is running out of water and farmers can’t grow crops. In 2013, 49.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including 33.3 million adults and 15.8 million children. We need to solve this problem everywhere. we @wormenvironmental solutions works together with community to provide solutions on agricultural technology and environmental conservation which will enrich farmers with knowledge and training developing seeds, farming equipment, and Ag.tech solutions, so we have enough food grown in a sustainable way to end hunger. And no one should go to bed hungry.

Refrence:-

http://goo.gl/J0GsY8

http://goo.gl/HbxL1whttp://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ss574
https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjAita69K7eAhVEXn0KHZd4ASoQjB16BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.colourbox.com%2Fimage%2Forganic-food-photography-tomatoes-mint-and-red-beet-image-29210009&psig=AOvVaw0xjttUPvy4E0TND4JjqLoz&ust=1541014463665356
www.globalgoals.org

How climate change affects farmers.

2018-10-17T03:18:00.000+05:30

In the recent times, Climate change has become an acute threat to human sustenance and existence. Increasing incidences of Climate change impacts- droughts, floods, extreme heat and natural disasters are not only causing fatalities but also severe economic losses and the most vulnerable are being hit the hardest. Climate change increases volatility and threatens global development and food security.

Unpredictable weather:

The frequent occurrence of floods, famines, droughts, and overall rise in the temperatures is severely affecting the poor people. These people live on meager incomes and having very less social security insurance and infrastructure, thus are the most unguarded individuals.

Food production in India:

India is sensitive to climate changes such as variability in monsoon rainfall and temperature changes within a season. Studies by Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and others indicate greater expected loss in the Rabi crop. Every 1°C rise in temperature reduces wheat production by 4-5 Million 11 Tones. Small changes in temperature and rainfall have significant effects on the quality of fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, aromatic and medicinal plants, and basmati rice. Pathogens and insect populations are strongly dependent upon temperature and humidity, and changes in these parameters may change their population dynamics. Other impacts on agricultural and related sectors include lower yields from dairy cattle and decline in fish breeding, migration, and harvests. Global reports indicate a loss of 10-40% in crop production by 2100. Scientists also estimated that a 2°C rise in mean temperature and a 7% increase in mean precipitation would reduce net revenues by 12.3% for the country as a whole.

1) direct effects from changes in temperature, precipitation or carbon dioxide concentrations,

2) indirect effects through changes in soil moisture and the distribution and frequency of infestation by pests and diseases.

Impact on Farmers:

Agriculture is one of the most important economic sectors in developing countries like India where more than half of population is directly, indirectly or remotely dependent on agriculture for their income and unfortunately it is also one of the most sensitive to climate change given its dependence on weather conditions. Non-seasonal rainfalls and less rainfall in the required seasons cause a great distress on the agriculturalists and farmers, causing them to fall into the cycle of debts, pushing them towards suicides.

Water scarcity:

Water is going to be a depleted resource in the times to come, especially the people living in coastal areas are predicted to be suffering the most. This effect of climate change would also have a direct effect on the economically unstable people. Approximately 22 million people faced water scarcity at the end of the twentieth century, and according to projections configured by the IPCC, the number of people likely to endure issues in water sanitation by 2050 is 79 to 178 million.

Increase in expenditure:

A farmer already spend more income on social and health than other classes. Climate change along with rising prices of basic necessities i.e. Bread, Cloth and Housing and along with Inflation and the increasing spread of communicable diseases and epidemics will drive the vulnerable households into the viscous cycle of economic instability.

Current Actions:

Farmers need to be sensitized on climate variability, climate change, its impact on crop production, and coping options like agro-met Advisories, Contingency Planning, Demonstration of Climate Resilient Technologies to the farmers. So we at worm environmental, provide a smart ag tech solutions that deliver significant decision-making tools that bring consistency and dependability with capabilities of live reporting, analysis, interpretation and insights based on the research, while data-managing the entire ecosystem.

Reference :

Asian Development Bank, 2009. Addressing Climate Change in the Asia and PacificRegion.

Briefing Note (1), 2008, International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Geneva,

September, 2008 International Food Policy Research Institute, 2009. ClimateChange: Impact on Agriculture and Costs of Adaptation, 2009 Jamil Ahmad, Dastgir

Alam and Ms. Shaukat Haseen. 2011.

Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food Security in India Int. Jr. of Agril.,

Env. and Biotech. Vol. 4, No. 2 : June 2011 : 129-137

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change) 2006. The Economics of ClimateChange: Stern Review. The Summary of conclusions. Survey of the Environment

2007, The Hindu, pp141-145.

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change) 2007. Climate Change: ThePhysical Science Basis. Extracts from the IV Assessment Report. Survey of the

Environment 2007, The Hindu, pp147-155.

Image source :

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