What is Agriculture?

Agriculture is a process by which food, fibre, and feed are produced by raising livestock and cultivating specific plants. This practice is also called farming, and many scientists are devoted to improving farming methods and their implements in agriculture.

There are two types of farming that we can look at here. One is subsistence farming, where a small area is farmed with limited resources, and the product is only enough to feed the family. On the other hand, intensive commercial agriculture involves more animals, more extensive sources, and more mechanisation. One of the objectives here is maximum financial gain from the livestock, produce, or grain.

Agriculture Today

The field of modern agriculture has improved and gone far beyond traditional food production and animal feed. Today these goods include tropical fish and birds for trade, nursery and ornamental plants, fuels (methane from biodiesel, ethanol, and biomass), fibres (flax, silk, hemp, wool, and cotton), industrial chemicals (resins, alcohols, sugar, and starch), legal and illegal drugs (cocaine, opium, marijuana, tobacco, biopharmaceuticals), animal hides, fertilisers, leather, and timber.

There have been significant changes in this field ever since the 20th century, including agricultural chemistry. This refers to the increase in nutritional needs of farm animals, analysis of agricultural products, soil makeup, chemical fungicides, chemical insecticides, and chemical fertilisers. What was known as the green revolution began in the western world spread across the globe with varying levels of success. 

There have been more recent changes in this field regarding improved weed control, better management of the soil nutrients, gene manipulation, hybridisation, plant breeding, and hydroponics. Genetic engineering has resulted in crops with better capabilities than plants that naturally occur in terms of higher resistance to disease and better yields. In addition, the modified seeds can be grown in an extended area since they germinate quicker. However, this has proven controversial for many reasons, with one of them being the plants being herbicide-resistant.

In 1996, about 42% of the world’s workers were employed in agriculture. This number has only gone down, 36% in 2006, and 31% in 2013. For a very long time, this sector was the one that employed the most people worldwide, but in 2006 this was taken over by the services sector. Agricultural production also accounts for less than 5% when considering the aggregate of the gross domestic products across the world. 

Branches of Agriculture

There are seven main branches in agriculture, and they include:

1. Horticulture
2. Agronomy
3. Forestry
4. Fishery science
5. Animal husbandry
6. Home science
7. Agricultural engineering 

• Horticulture

This includes producing beverages, condiments, spices, ornamental plants, flowers, vegetables, and fruits.

• Agronomy

This field includes the production of different crops that include oilseeds, sugar, fibre crops, fodder crops, food crops, etc. The objective here is to increase the production of fibre and food and the improvement in the use of soil.

• Forestry

This involves the production of perennial trees on a large scale for the cultivation and supply of wood, rubber, timber, etc. There is also the provision of raw materials and the management of land forested with the wasteland and waters associated mainly for the harvest of wood. 

• Fishery

This involves the practices of reading and breeding fish, inland, marine, prawns, shrimp, etc., for manure, feed, and food.

• Animal husbandry

This includes the practice of raising and breeding livestock to provide food for humans and also manure. This branch deals with animals raised for products like eggs, milk, fibre, and meat and includes the daily care and the raising and selective breeding of livestock. 

• Home Science

This deals with the utilisation and application of agricultural produce in a manner that is efficient to give nutritional security and food preparation and value addition. 

• Agricultural Engineering

This involves improving, constructing, and designing machinery and farming equipment. This also includes post-harvest processing like bio-energy, water and soil conservation engineering, harvesting, inter-cultivation and farm machinery for field preparation. 

Agriculture in India

India has a population of 1.3 billion, the second-most populous nation in the world is India, and it is also the seventh-largest nation in the world. It is a diverse nation when it comes to the terrain, with the Gangetic delta to the Deccan Plateau in the south and the east, the Thar desert to the west, and the Himalayas in the north. This means that there is also agro-ecological diversity. 

When discussing agriculture in India, it is essential to mention that it is the largest producer of jute, pulses and milk and the second-largest producer of cotton, fruit, vegetables, groundnut, sugarcane, wheat, and rice. In addition, India is also one of the leading producers of plantation crops, livestock, poultry, fish, and species. It is, therefore, the third-largest economy in the world after the USA and China.

The largest source of livelihood in the nation is agriculture alongside all of its allied sectors. 82% of the farmers here are small and marginal, and 70% of the nations’ rural households mainly depend on agriculture for their livelihood source. By 2017-2018, the country’s total food production came up to 275 million tonnes. It is also the largest importer, consumer, and producer of pulses globally. 

Conclusion

Agriculture is a process where the cultivation of certain plants and domestication of livestock results in feed, food, and fibre production. Today it is one of the largest employment sectors worldwide; however, the number is slowly dipping, with the services sector already being number one. Agriculture has various branches like home science, horticulture, fishery, agronomy, animal husbandry, agricultural engineering, and forestry. 

The activities of farming and all the work done for the improvement in this field are also included under agriculture. In India, it is one of the largest sources of livelihood. India is also the largest producer of jute, pulses, and milk goods.