CHAPTER 1
◦ Major player in research of tropical
agricultural products
◦ Continue enhancement of excellence in
R&D of new agricultural industries and
products from primary commodities and
natural resources
◦ Development of new high value products
from agricultural commodities, wastes and
by-products
◦ Create new markets for products
◦ Pursue integrated agroforestry development and good
sustainable agriculture and forestry practices to ensure
ecological sustainable development
# Sustainability is the process of change, in which the
exploitation of resources, the direction of investments,
the orientation of technological development and
institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both
current and future potential to meet human needs and
aspirations (Wikipedia)
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO), identified the four pillars of
food security as
- availability
- Access
- Utilization and
- stability
Development of human resource in new and
emerging areas of agriscience.
Appointment of professional farm managers to
run large-scale mixed farming enterprises.
Agricultural sector to be private-sector driven.
Private sectors to facilitate and enhance the
delivery of support services.
State governments to support private sector
needs as land is a state matter.
Utilization of natural resource systems to
produce commodities which sustain life
(food, fiber, crops etc. and related
services)
Farming: The art and science of
cultivating soil, systematic production of
crops, raising of livestock etc. and
protect them from deteriorating and
misuse.
Modern agriculture is a business
Involves production and processing of
produce into food and non-food
(pharmaceuticals, biofuel)
Incorporates specialists: scientists, inventors,
engineers, chemists and economists (who do
not work directly with food production)
Incorporates subjects such as agronomy,
horticulture, plant breeding and genetics,
entomology, pathology, soil science, dairying
and animal husbandry
Present-day farming adopts some non-traditional agricultural practices
such as soilless culture or hydroponics
Packing, processing and marketing of agricultural produce are closely
related activities
(1) Provide employment
◦ At least 28% (2 billion) of the world’s
population is employed in agriculture
◦ 80% in Asia (India + China = 60%)
◦ 14% in Afrika
◦ Less than 10% in Europe
◦ 0.7% in USA (highly mechanized
farming)
Importance of Agriculture
(2) Provide enough food to meet family’s needs
◦ Traditional agriculture or subsistence agriculture – practices
particularly in many under-developed countries (majority in the
African continent) where survival can be a day to day affair
(3) Development of industrialized nations
◦ Farming is practiced in an intensive manner
◦ Producing raw materials such as rubber, palm oil, cocoa, livestock
4) Food security
◦ there can be times when food can be very scarce or insufficient
◦ Government will be dependent on agriculture in difficult times
such as drought (low rainfall/ shortage of water) and other natural
disaster to maintain socio-political stability
◦ Country must undertake certain measures of food stock pile
World hunger on the rise
Other unconscionable statistics
by the FAO and the World Food
Programme, include the
following:
◦ Two-thirds of undernourished people
live in 7 countries: Bangladesh,
China, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia,
Pakistan
◦ Over 40% of undernourished people
The estimated number of live in 2 countries: China and India
undernourished people increased ◦ Developing countries account for
from 777 million in 2015 to 815 98% of all hungry people
million in 2016 ◦ Every 6 seconds a child dies of a
hunger-related disease.
#Situations of conflict, in
particular where the food
security impacts of conflict
were compounded by
-droughts of floods,
-linked in part to El Niño
phenomenon
- climate-related shocks.
Severe malnutrition is of major concern in South #Violent conflicts
Sudan due to a lack of nutritious food. At the peak of
the lean season communities depend on wild foods
and humanitarian assistance to survive.
©FAO/Francis Muana
#zeroHunger
Example: Africa
Population increases faster than local food supply.
Over-planting removes soil nutrients.
Trees harvested for firewood.
Overgrazing removes grasses and herbs.
Desertification is a major problem.
◦ The desert has been marching south towards the
sea.
Warfare, ethnic cleansing, cash crops, and global
warming exacerbate the problem.
Importance of Agriculture
(5) Source of income
◦ Transformation of wastes into feed and fertilizers (organic farming),
and oil palm wood press and high value wooden tiles (water proof)
A briquette is a compressed block of coal dust or other
combustible biomass material such as charcoal, sawdust, wood
chips, peat, or paper used for fuel and kindling to start a fire
Issues: Environmental pollution
◦ Negative aspects of agriculture
◦ Since 1950s – soil conservation and nutrient management is a concern
◦ Increasing contamination of soil and environment e.g. pollution of
waterways and wetlands with:
nitrogen and phosphorus from the usage of inorganic fertilizers and
animal wastes
At present 50-80% of the nitrogen and phosphorus fed to animals are not
utilized but are excreted via manure and urine to the environment (Baidoo,
2003)
pesticides which affect biodiversity of plants and animals
Practices in agriculture can be broadly
categorized into:
a. Subsistence farming
b. Commercial farming
Characterized by low input with low
yield and inter-cropping
Practices involve slash and burn
(nomadic) and more progressive
stationary cultivation
Involves working on a plot of land to
produce only enough food to feed the
family working on it
Success highly dependent on soil
fertility, climate, tools and techniques,
agricultural practices and available
crop types
No food surplus produced
Does not promote
accumulation of capital but
entails fewer working hours
Provides the family with the
necessities to live a healthy
and comfortable life without
the stress incurred in modern
day living
Most primitive form of subsistence
farming and still practiced in the tropics
Farmers abandon the plot once the soil
fertility wanes for a considerable
amount of time
Improvement → family works
permanently on a plot of land
Practiced on land that has undergone
slash and burn
Soil nutrient quality is inherently poor
thus offering poor and limited yields
Repeated poor and limited yields/harvest can
result in food shortage and possibly famine
May lead to a reduction in farm plot size as
inheritance tradition requires a plot be split
among the children
Government policy dictates large-scale
farming with external inputs thus
undermining the social fabric of rural society
→ migration to cities
New approach → Integrated Farming System
Places still practicing subsistence farming (as of 2006) :
◦ South East Asia – Sarawak, Kalimantan, Laos, Cambodia
◦ Polynesia – Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu
◦ Europe – Yugoslavia, Albania
◦ South and Central America – Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia
◦ Africa – Benin, Botswana, Congo, Guinea, Rwanda, Madagascar, Sierra
Leone, Zambia
Characterized by monoculture or a cultivation of a combination of a few
crops
Involves the usage of:
◦ high yielding modern varieties
◦ large chemical inputs (pesticides, fertilizers and animal feeds)
◦ High technology and extensive mechanization
◦ Solely a monocropping system
◦ Dominated by perennial crops i.e. rubber,
oil palm, cocoa, coffee, coconut and tea
◦ Suitable for a humid-tropical climate
exemplified by a forested environment
◦ Produce typically utilized as raw material
in industrialized nations
◦ Shortage of raw materials necessitates
import from other countries
Cocoa imported from Indonesia and New
Guinea
Labour intensive
Involves specialized cultivation in rows and
blocks (beds), open or enclosed
Use of machinery increase efficiency and
output
Crop diversity – use of various techniques to
optimize yield
◦ Eg: Hydroponics which is growing plants without
soil
Demand for fresh vegetables – development of
ripening technologies and refrigeration
Fruit and flower farms face similar challenges
Involves crop rotation where
dissimilar crops are grown on the
same plot in sequential seasons
to avoid building up of pests and
diseases
Rotation helps to balance the
fertility demands of various crops
and avoid excessive depletion of
soil nutrients
Technique of growing plants without soil
Takes advantage that plants:
◦ absorb nutrients as simple ions in water
◦ Grown in a controlled environment can
produce more since planted at higher
density
Higher plant quality can be produced in
lesser time
Less susceptible to soil-borne diseases
and less need for weeding and tilling
It is a water efficient-system → require less
water
Plants are grown in
medium such as
perlite, vermiculite,
peat moss, cocopeat
etc.
Hydroponic Systems
include the water
culture, drip feeding,
nutrient film technique
(NFT) and aeroponics.
The simplest system where plant roots are suspended and allowed
to hang down on floats into an aerated nutrient solution
Most widely used system
Plants in the growing medium are
flushed with a nutrient solution
delivered in a drip cycle,
Often timer-control operated
Plants are grown in channels into which the nutrient solution is
pumped constantly
Plants are kept moist by the thin film of nutrient solution as it passes
by
Susceptible to power outage and pump failures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfxnChhmmXg
The most high-tech system
Plants are grown with their roots
suspended in a mist of nutrient
solution delivered by a mist
sprayer
Controlled by a short cycle timer
The cultivation of aquatic organisms
under controlled condition
◦ Freshwater: tilapia
◦ Brackish: sea bass (siakap)
◦ Marine: grouper (kerapu)
Includes mariculture (in the ocean),
algaculture (production of kelp/seaweed
and other algae), fish and prawn farming
(in net-pans/pond/tanks) and growing of
oysters and cultured pearls
In special cases, semi aquatic animals
such as crocodiles, frogs and snails are
also raised in tanks and ponds
Involves raising livestock (domesticated
animals intentionally reared in agricultural
setting) to make products such as food or
fibre or for its labour
Raising animals (animal husbandry) is an
important component of modern agriculture
Domesticated animals include goats, cows,
pigs, sheep, and poultry
Livestock are kept in enclosure or free-
ranged
The Third National Agricultural Policy
(NAP3) emphasized on the
development of biotechnology
products, extraction of specialty
natural chemicals from biological
resources and utilization of oil palm
biomass to create new higher value
industries
Examples include recreational
fishery, agroforestry, herbal farming,
mushroom cultivation and
agrotourism
Food and industrial processing are downstream activities of primary
agriculture
Can be examined from the viewpoint of their primary sources, whether
plants or animals
Plant origin
◦ Processing of fruits for their juices,
cordials, jems and jelly, herbal and
health products and as pickled and
hydrated.
◦ Other sources include rice, sugar,
spices, cereals, tomatoes, chillies and
cocoa
◦ Food could be packed, canned or
bottled i.e candies, ketchup/sauce,
cookies and crips
Animal origin
◦ Meat are processed into
burgers, sausages and
nuggets.
◦ Fish are dried, salted or
canned such as sardines
◦ Dairy products can be
processed as powders,
canned milk, cheeses
and fermented
beverages
Plant origin
◦ Timber → furniture and building
materials;
◦ Rubber latex → tyres, gloves and
shoes
◦ Palm oil → toiletries, cosmetics,
carotenes and biofuel
◦ Cotton and linen → apparels
Animal origin
◦ Leather and silk are made in apparel, footwear, belts, handbags and
wallets
◦ Honey and medicines, food additives, natural dye, ornaments from
horns etc.
