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Agriculture Corner

Classification of Climate with Respect to Agriculture

Classification of Climate with Respect to Agriculture I Arid Agriculture
Classification of Climate with Respect to Agriculture

Introduction

This article discusses the climate classification with respect to agriculture sector. Mainly 4 classes exists on this basis. These are as follows:-

  1. Tropical Climate
  2. Temperate Climate
  3. Sub-Tropical Climate
  4. Polar Climate

Details of these are presented below. This article further highlights factors that affect climate.

Classification of Climate with Respect to Agriculture

Tropical Climate

It is a type of climate, where average monthly temperature changes little during the year and lengthy of the day changes only slightly at different times of years. The climate is severe in nature due to intense heat of sun and bears very high rainfall, cloudy weather and high humidity. Soil is rich and fertile due to presence of more organic matter. Bacterial activities are high.

Temperate Climate

Temperate climate is characterized by warm summer with long days and cool winter with short days and long nights. It bears moderate temperature and enough rainfall. Frost and snow may occur. There are heavy rains on the coast side and comparatively low towards interior.

Sub-Tropical Climate

It is between tropical and temperature climate.

Polar Climate

This climate is found on both poles of the earth. Highest temperature does not exceed 50oF. it remains very severe cold all the year. Foggy and snowy weather prevails always.

Factors that Affect Climate

Altitude (Height from sea level)

In elevated region air is thinner and does not receive much heat as there less dust particles to intercept sunrays and thus climate poor. Murree is cooler than Faisalabad.

Latitude (Southern and Northern distances from equator)

Place nearly equator are always hot as the sun rays fall perpendicular during the year. Places which are away from the equator are colder e.g. Indo-Pak is warmer than China and China is warmer than Japan.

Position and Direction of Mountains

The interception of warm and moist winds by high mountains that causes heavy rain falls on one side while in other side may remain dry.

Forests

They affect climate by causing more humidity and rainfall.

Slope of the Land

If slope of a land is towards sun the climate of that place will be warm because the sun rays fall perpendicular. When the sun rays fall parallel, climate is cool.

Wind

Moist winds cause rain and make the atmosphere cool.

Rainfall

Countries receiving more rainfall have moist and cool climate whereas countries receiving low or no rainfall possesses dry and hot climate.

Cite this Article in APA Style as:

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Rahman, M. A. (2019, March 21). Classification of Climate with Respect to Agriculture [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2019/03/21/classification-of-climate-with-respect-to-agriculture/ [/box]

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Agriculture Corner

An Introduction and Benefits of Agroforestry

An Introduction and Benefits of Agroforestry | Arid Agriculture
An Introduction and Benefits of Agroforestry

Introduction

An Introduction to Agroforestry

This article deals with giving an introduction to agroforestry along with its benefits. For ease of understanding, the benefits of agroforestry are further divided into two group viz., short term benefits of agroforestry and long term benefits of agroforestry.

The concept of agroforestry is not new and is in practice for quite a long time. It is the integrated and self-sustained land management system that involves the growing of agricultural crops deliberately along with the trees or woody components. It may also include rearing of livestock along with cropping of trees. Common thing in both cases is that the agricultural and forestry activities are carried out on the same piece of land with the aim to meet not only the ecological needs of a region but also socio-economic needs of the people. The importance of agroforestry lies in the fact that there is both ecological and economic interaction between different components.

An agroforestry system is more preferable than growing trees in isolation because the crops bring the revenue for the farmers when the trees are too young to earn something for them. In addition to this tress brings more stability against harsh climatic parameters like intense rains, winds and help in reducing soil erosion. More benefits of agroforestry are discussed in next section.

Benefits of Agroforestry

There are numerous benefits of agroforestry ranging from providing food security to fuel and fodder availability to the livestock. Fruits shelter and shade provided by agroforestry system are some notable outcomes of this system. A detail idea regarding benefits from agroforestry is presented below.

Short Term Benefits of Agroforestry

  • Less attack of pests and diseases on regular crops due to lack of favorable host plants in the presence of trees.
  • Regular income
  • Short term crops meets the need of food and fodder supply
  • Less soil erosion.
  • Increased activity of soil microorganisms.
  • Water table is sustained.

Long Term Benefits of Agroforestry

  • Overall stability to the ecosystem
  • The soil and crop productivity is increased.
  • The socio-economic living being of the farmers is increased.
  • Continuous nutrient recycling.

Cite this Article in APA Style as:

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Rahman, M. A. (2019, March 21). An Introduction and Benefits of Agroforestry [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2019/03/21/an-introduction-and-benefits-of-agroforestry/[/box]

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Vegetable Gardening

How to Grow Spinach At Home in Kitchen Garden

Arid Agriculture | How to Grow Spinach At Home in Kitchen Garden
Young spinach leaves in isolated white background

Introduction

About 25% of world’s population is suffering from anemia: a complication caused by iron deficiency and expressed in terms of loss of work efficiency. Thanks to the loving nature that has gifted us iron rich vegies i.e. spinach.   If you want healthy lifestyle for your family and you have some garden patch, trust me you are such a blessed person. Why not grow spinach at home because there is nothing like freshly grown vegie for your kitchen.

Spinach is a cold weather loving leafy green vegetable, yet some varieties can be grown in summers also. It needs fertile soil rich in nitrogen, well drainage and neutral Ph. Spinach can be started indoors at balcony/terrace or garden using seeds. It requires full sun to partial shade of (may be) taller plants. Soil should be fertilized with animal manure prior to sowing.

Sowing is performed in late fall and spring in mild to cool temperatures at the depth of 1 inch and 1 feet apart. Better chose seeds of disease resistant variety such as ‘Melody’ as spinach is prone to fungal diseases. Regular watering will aid in quick germination of seeds which usually takes 1 to 2 weeks. Spacing of 12 inches in between the rows facilitates well aeration. To avoid animal interference, it’s ideal to grow spinach in fenced location in the garden. Spinach grows very quickly so harvesting can be performed once leaves have reached appropriate size. If plant is harvested just above the crown, there are fair enough chances that it will regrow sending more fresh leaves.

Small baby leaves are absolutely yum once sautéed with butter. Adding to your food menu ‘Palak paneer’ is a very famous sub-continental dish where cottage cheese is served with spinach. Overheating the spinach will lessen its iron content leaving only fiber behind.

Spinach can be an excellent addition to your kitchen garden. Let’s involve our young ones also in kitchen gardening who usually don’t like veges.

Cite this Article in APA Style as:

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Rahman, M. A. (2019, March 20). How to Grow Spinach At Home in Kitchen Garden [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2019/03/20/how-to-grow-spinach-at-home-in-kitchen-garden/[/box]

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Presentations

What can you do with Agricultural Business Management Degree?

What can you do with Agricultural Business Management Degree

What can you do with Agricultural Business Management Degree?

by Sharjeel Ahmad and Muhammad Abdul Rahman

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Agriculture Corner

Natural Soil Profile

Natural Soil Profiles | Arid Agriculture
Natural Soil Profiles | Arid Agriculture

Introduction to Natural Soil Profile

Natural soil profile means the layers of soil that have been made or accumulated naturally and without any intervention of human being. To make it clearer, let us examine what is soil profile? You might have seen during excavation of land by a bulldozer or soil excavator, that there exist several layers of soil. Some authors and scientist call it soil horizons. The arrangement of soil horizons is actually called soil profiles and if these layers exist naturally then it is declared as natural soil profiles.

Generally, natural soil profiles are divided into four groups. These are;

  • Sedentary Soils
  • Transported Soils
  • Soil Development
  • Top Soil and Sub-Soil

Sedentary Soils

These are developed in the materials that are gradually weathered from the underlying rock. It is important to note that these soils are not common. This is because, most loose rock is eroded. However, some evidence can be seen where great depths of transported material have formed the parent material as in the boulder clays left behind after the Ice Age. If you dug a hole in such soil, it shows gradual transition from un-weathered rock to organic matter rich topsoil.

Transported Soils

After the fragmentation of rock and soil particles are formed as a result, they become easy victim of erosion. These soils are then carried out from the place of their formation to sites that are miles away through the process of erosion and deposition occurs. Interestingly, they can be identified easily by a definite boundary between the eroded material and the underlying rock and its allied rock materials. In case, when more than one soil material is transported to the site, as in many river valleys, several distinct layers can be seen. These soils are very fertile and best medium for rooting of plants in agriculture.

Soil Development

As we know soil is developed from parent material rocks. So the nature of the soil is largely determined by the characteristics of parent material. However, with the passage of time the soil interact with climate, drainage, topography and vegetation. This interaction gives rise to characteristics of soil profile. In this way the soil that develops can be described in terms of characteristics of different horizons which make up the soil profiles.

Different soil horizons

There are 5 horizons in soil. These are O, L, A, B, and C.

The ‘O’ and ‘L’ horizon composed of the organic matter that is found on the top of the mineral soil. It is also commonly referred to as litter layer. In the upper layer of soil, there is horizon ‘A’. It is the horizon where the components are washed downwards. It is usually darker in color. This represents high humus content presence. After that, there is a lighter layer below it. In this layer, fine materials tend to accumulate and are called as horizon ‘B’. Horizon ‘B’ is also called as illuvial horizon. Under cultivation scenario, the horizon ‘A’ gets it self-align with the topsoil while horizon ‘B’ aligns with subsoil.  Below these 4 horizons, there is ‘C’ horizon which is also termed as bedrock. In this horizon, un-weathered layer of rock is present.

Topsoil and Subsoil

Naturally, the organic matter is present more at the topsoil rather than deep soil. Its concentration gets less as we move downward. When cultivation is carried out, the organic matter is reshuffled that creates a distinct layer of topsoil and subsoil. These layers have a boundary at plough depth. As the organic matter is darker due, so the layers get distinct also by darker soil at topsoil level and less darker soil at subsoil level.

Cite this Article in APA Style as:

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Rahman, M. A. (2019, January 22). Natural Soil Profile [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2019/01/21/natural-soil-profile/[/box]

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Agriculture Corner

Loss of Organic Matter in Arid Areas

Loss of Organic Matter in Arid Areas | Arid Agriculture
Loss of Organic Matter in Arid Areas

Introduction

Organic matter deficiency is a problem that is faced by almost entire cultivated lands of Pakistan. Intensive and multiple cropping have rendered the agricultural lands with fewer nutrients. In arid areas, the situation is worse and loss of organic matter and nutrient is high as compared to irrigated lands. The reason is poverty that prevails among the farming community of arid regions that solely dependent on rainwater. The production is less and hence they meet their necessities hardly and left with less finances to replenish the nutrients and loss of organic matter through application of artificial fertilizers.

In arid areas, the cropping has exposed oils to conditions that are favorable in decomposing and erosion. These conditions increase the pace of loss of organic matter from soil. Changes in carbon and nitrogen that are related to losses of organic matter have occurred with small grains and row crops under both continuous cropping and alternate crop fallow systems.

How to Increase Organic Matter in Soil?

Organic matter elevation in the soil is necessary for optimum crop plant growth for healthy production. The loss of organic matter can be reduced or compensated by adopting some useful measures. These measures can be applied individually or collectively to increase the organic matter in arid areas soil.

  1. Regular application of farm yard manure (FYM) or litter in the agriculture fields of arid areas.
  2. Practicing stubble farming. This can be done by retaining the large portions of crop biomass in the agriculture fields during the time of harvesting.
  3. Keeping the soil covered and cool by mulching techniques to slow down organic matter degradation.
  4. Adopting the habit of green manuring in the agriculture fields of arid areas.
  5. Addition of hydrojels or the industrial organic wastes.
  6. Poultry manure application which is rich in nitrogen and is considered as one of the strongest organic manure.
  7. Planting legumes during fallow periods.

These practices are not only cheaper but also within the financial range of the relatively poor farming community of arid areas as compare to irrigated land farmers to cope with the loss of organic matter from soil .

Cite this Article in APA Style as:

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Rahman, M. A. (2018, September 21). Loss of Organic Matter in Arid Areas [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2018/09/21/loss-of-organic-matter-in-arid-areas[/box]

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Agriculture Corner

Reducing Soil Evaporation in Arid Agriculture

Reducing Soil Evaporation in Arid Agriculture | Arid Agriculture
Reducing Soil Evaporation in Arid Agriculture

Introduction

The second approach in maintaining soil moisture in arid lands is by reducing soil evaporation by applying certain methods. This is important because after securing or preserving the water in the soil of the root zone of plants, it is important to stop this water for maximum time as arid lands or arid agriculture has the characteristics of low rainfall frequency. So till the next rainfall, the previous water of rain should be stopped from evaporation.

There are various methods to reduce evaporation of moisture from soil in arid agriculture. These are;

  1. Soil Mulching
  2. Straw Mulching
  3. Chemical Mulching

Soil Mulching

This method of soil moisture preservation can reduce the evaporation by 50 percent roughly. In this technique, a surface of mulch of soil is created by giving a shallow cultivation. The deepness of soil mulch is 5-8 cm. The advantage of shallow polughing or harrowing helps in breaking capillary link of lower soil with surface soil. Applying this technique is advice by the agriculture experts after every rainfall.

Straw Mulching

It is an artificial sort of a mulching technique. In this technique, straws of crop residues are used instead of soil. It has been proved scientifically that straw mulching reduces soil moisture up to 50-75mm. This is technique is widely practiced in arid lands by the farmers after wheat harvesting.

Chemical Mulching

This is a new technique and is under experimentation. Evaporation of soil water is a severe problem in arid agriculture system and the above two techniques though save considerable amount of moisture evaporation; however, they are not long term approaches. Chemical mulching uses chemical Hexadecanol. During experiments, it showed that when sprayed and mix on the top quarter inch of soil, it reduces evaporation by 43 percent. The advantage of this mulching technique over other two is that this technique remained effective for a year. The surface layer of soil gets dry rapidly than untreated soil. The dry layer creates a buffer to evaporation.

Cite this Article in APA Style as:

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ] Rahman, M. A. (2018, September 20). Reducing Soil Evaporation in Arid Agriculture [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2018/09/20/reducing-soil-evaporation-in-arid-agriculture/ [/box]

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Agriculture Corner

Preserving Rain Water at the Root Zone Level in Arid Agriculture

Preserving Rain Water at the Root Zone Level in Arid Agriculture | Arid Agriculture
Preserving Rain Water at the Root Zone Level in Arid Agriculture

Preserving Water at the Root Zone

The soil present at the root zone of the plants actually acts as the water storage reservoir.  This moisture carrying soil is very for a plant life. To increase the moisture, there is a need to increase the infiltration rate of water into the soil so that water is readily available in the root zone. The water that infiltrates into this reservoir can be stored for a longer period of time for crop use that results in good agriculture production. The preservation of rainwater by this method helps increasing the agriculture production in arid agriculture systems. This article focuses on presenting various methods for preserving rain water at the root zone of plants.

The infiltration rate of water into the soil however, depends upon many factors. These include soil texture, soil cover, soil structure, the degree and dryness of soil. It also depends heavily on the distribution of rainfall along with the intensity of rainfall. The chief enemy of good infiltration of water into the soil is the run-off of water from the fields that results in poor infiltration and thus agriculture production is lost. 

Any practice, aimed at increasing the infiltration rate of water into the soil helps increasing the storage of rain water into the soil. There are several agronomic practices that can increase the infiltration of rainwater into the soil and thus helps in increasing the agriculture production in the arid lands. These are;

  1. By leveling the agricultural fields equally so that no slope is available to the water to run-off. Digital land leveler can serve the purpose greatly here.
  2. By avoiding creation of compactness in the soil. This can be reduced by occasional ploughings in agriculture fields.
  3. By establishing high alleys or bounds around the agriculture fields.
  4. By increasing the vegetative cover over the soil.
  5. By creating terracing.
  6. By doing strip cropping along the contours.

Cite this Article in APA Style as:

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ] Rahman, M. A. (2018, September 20). Preserving Rain Water at the Root Zone Level in Arid Agriculture [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2018/09/20/preserving-rain-water-at-the-root-zone-level-in-arid-agriculture/ [/box]

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Agriculture Corner

Arid Agriculture and Moisture Deficiency

Arid Agriculture and Moisture Deficiency | Arid Agriculture
Arid Agriculture and Moisture Deficiency

Introduction

In arid lands of Pakistan and India, water is the chief limiting factor in optimum crop production. On the other hand, unfortunately, it is also the most wasted factor of production in arid land agriculture system.  The water resources are not uniformly distributed in arid agriculture system.  In many parts of Pakistan and India, water resources are abundant where they are required least and areas where there requirement is most, they are scarce and hence no or less production is achieved from agriculture sector. Moisture deficiency in arid lands is thus a growing issue.

It is also a fact that the chance of having a bumper crop of wheat depends largely on the healthy production of wheat in arid lands whether it is Pakistan or India. This is because; the irrigated agricultural lands are already producing the crops at their full potential. Those areas have abundant water along with optimum supply of fertilizer as the farmers there have good financial resources to supply fertilizers to their lands. On the other hand, arid agriculture has not only limited supply of water that results in less production and less profits to the farming community and that is why production of crop depends highly on good supply of rain water in arid lands.   

The current moisture deficiency in arid regions doesn’t mean that they have lack of water resources. In many dry regions of Pakistan and India, there are several potential water resources that could be developed and additional water can be made available by increasing efficiency of existing water resources and by improving water conservation practices. These practices can be clubbed together under two main approaches. More detail about these two approaches for improving moisture deficiency in arid regions can be accessed from below two links. These are;

  1. Preserving rain water at the root zone level in arid agriculture
  2. Reducing soil evaporation in arid agriculture

Under these two approaches, there are several methods that can be adopted. To learn more, click above two links.

Cite this Article in APA Style as:

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ] Rahman, M. A. (2018, September 20). Arid Agriculture and Moisture Deficiency [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2018/09/20/arid-agriculture-and-moisture-deficiency [/box]

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Agriculture Corner

Objectives of Adult Education in Agriculture

Objectives of Adult Education in Agriculture | Arid Agriculture
Objectives of Adult Education in Agriculture

Introduction

Without designing proper objectives on paper, success rate of any educational program is minute. In the case of adult education in agriculture, the responsibly of extension officer or adult education agent increases manifolds. This is because of the reason that it is somewhat tricky and slightly difficult to teach adults than the children due to less accepting attitude and lack of interest in learning and adopting new technologies and innovations. In the light of this, the objectives of adult education in agriculture are needed to be based on specific needs or precisely should be based to address demand driven problems.

Before going to deliver adult education, extension officer should equip himself with the demands and solutions of the farmers in the targeted area, so that objectives of adult education in agriculture are addressed optimally.   

Objectives of Adult Education in Agriculture

Below is the list of 9 important objectives of adult education in agriculture that should be given due importance while designing any adult education program for farmers.

  • First and foremost objective of adult education is to convince and encourage them to adopt new and improved technology in farming operations. The communication skills and convincing power of adult education expert is of utmost importance here.
  • Develop abilities in the farmers that can enhance their managerial skills so that farming is turned from ‘just farming’ to successful business.
  • Teach them such techniques that increase their abilities to make farm a better living place.
  • Adult education program should be up to date and provide farmers with latest and innovative farming techniques and information.
  • Democracy is vital in making any business of life successful. Adult education program should develop awareness of the value of democracy to farmers.
  • The program should develop and maintain favorable social environment in the farming community.
  • Increase the farmer’s interest in farming by incorporating such knowledge and understanding about care, well being and physical fitness on the farm.
  • The program of adult education should use such tools that are easy to understand for farming community.
  • The adult education program should be designed and deliver in local language of the targeted area. This will increase the overall efficiency of the program.

Cite this Article in APA Style as:

[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ] Rahman, M. A. (2018, May 31). Objectives of Adult Education in Agriculture [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://aridagriculture.com/2018/05/31/objectives-of-adult-education-in-agriculture/ [/box]

 

Picture Source: http://blogs.edf.org/climatetalks/author/kritee/