Agriculture: Growing plants and rearing

animals for food, clothing and other useful

products is called agriculture.

Agriculture is the world's largest economic

sector. On a worldwide basis, more people are
involved in agriculture than in all the other
occupations combined.

Presentation Made by :
Meghna Dhere
 Steps of agriculture (Crop
production)

1.Soil preparation- Ploughing, levelling,

applying fertilizers.
2. Selection and sowing of seeds
3. Irrigation (watering of crops)
4. Weeding and crop production
5. Harvesting and storage
Land grading: reshaping the surface
of land to planned grades for irrigation
and subsequent drainage.
 The process of loosening and turning the
soil is called ploughing or tilling. Agricultural
implements help large-scale production.
 Bed preparation: Preparation of the
seedbed is one of the most important steps.
Proper preparation will reduce weeds, facilitate
planting, and provide a suitable bed for seed
germination.
 Sowing seeds: It can be done manually
or using seed drills. Selecting best
seeds will result in best yield.

To study types of sowing refer:

http://www.agriinfo.in/default.aspx?page=topi
c&superid=1&topicid=337
 Seed drills help even distribution of
seeds & place the seeds at correct depth.
Seed drill putting seeds in soil
 Irrigation (supplying water to the
crops)
Water requirements differ from crop to crop.

Traditional methods: Canal, furrow, chain

pump, pulley system, dhekli (water wheel)

Modern methods: Drip and sprinkler irrigation

 Paddy (rice crop) needs constant
supply of water.
 Traditional methods of
irrigation
Traditional methods of irrigation often include
pulley systems that are used to deliver water
to soil, vegetation, flowers, and/or other forms
of plant life.
Pulleys are used to carry buckets of water
where they are needed. Pulley systems for
irrigation are designed to cut down on the
amount of manual labour needed to take care
of gardens or farmland.
Irrigation types :
1. Furrow flood Irrigation
2. Miao (rahat) irrigation system
 3. Agricultural drip irrigation
system
Drip irrigation system: video
4. Sprinkler irrigation
Sprinkler irrigation system: video
 Weeding: The process of removing
weeds manually or with weedicides.
Weeding
 Pesticides are chemicals used to
protect crops from insects
(insecticides), weeds and fungal attack
(herbicides and fungicides) and
rodents (rodenticides).
 Risk factor
Most chemicals used as pesticides
however are toxic and the major
argument against their use is the health
risk factor and the danger of
environmental pollution.
 Harvesting:
Harvesting crops involves getting the
crop out of the field and transported
to market.
Field crops are harvested by machine,
while small fruits and other food crops
are typically harvested by hand,
although in certain cases, they may
be harvested by machine.
Combines - are farm machines used to
harvest grain and seed crops. The
major functions performed by a combine
include cutting and/or gathering, feeding,
threshing, separating, cleaning, and
grain handling operations on-the-go in
the field.

Source:http://www.
epa.gov/oecaagct/
ag101/cropharvest
.html
 Storage

Crops need to be stored, so that they can

be used during adverse conditions.
Factors affecting crops are moisture,
temperature, insects, rats and micro-
organisms. Fresh crops harvested
usually contain more water in them and
hence they need to be dried properly in
sun. This also protects the crops from
micro-organisms.
 Storage
The crops need to be stored safely in
jute bags so as to avoid the attack of
rats and other insects. The bags of
crops are then stored in large
granaries which are dark and usually
cool. The granaries are treated with
certain chemicals so as to keep away
pests and rats.
Silos and lorry
Refer for storage-
ttp://www.fao.org/WAIRdocs/x5403e/x5403e09.htm

Cold storage
 Modern techniques in agriculture
The use of selective breeding
techniques, fertilisers, herbicides,
pesticides and fungicides in farming
has dramatically increased the
efficiency of food production. These
modern production methods have
reduced the cost and increased the
variety of foods available.
organically-produced food
Organically produced food is defined as
the product of a farming system,
which avoids the use of man-made
fertilisers, pesticides, growth
regulators and livestock feed
additives. Instead, the agricultural
systems rely on crop rotation, animal
and plant manures, some hand
weeding and biological pest control.
 The main principles used in the
production of organic foods
include:
• The use of minimal "inputs" such as
fertilisers and pesticides. Use of manure.
• The use of some "natural" pesticides
(synthetic pesticides are not permitted);
• The establishment of standards for
allowable materials, restricted materials
and prohibited materials.
 About Organic food
There is no evidence that organically
produced food is any safer, more
nutritious than its conventionally
produced counterpart.
Because organic food production is a
specific system of production, it is
essential to ensure that there is a
credible guarantee of authenticity of
organic production methods from
primary production to consumption.
 Biotechnology (genetic
modification)
Biotechnology is any technique, which uses living
organisms to make products, to improve plants
or animals, or to develop microbes for specific
uses. This definition includes the traditional
methods of plant breeding, animal husbandry
and fermentation, which can trace their roots
back thousands of years. It also covers the
methods of modern biotechnology such as the
industrial use of recombinant DNA
(deoxyribonucleic acid), cell fusion and novel
bioprocessing techniques.
An important part of modern biotechnology is
the understanding, transferring and
modification of genes. (The units that allow all
characteristics to be inherited, whether this
be the maximum yield of a crop, the colour of
a fruit or the enzymes produced by a strain of
yeast.)
For example, the gene for a bacterial protein
that kills insect pests has successfully been
introduced into a range of crops, reducing the
need for chemical insecticides.
Source:http://www.eufic.org/article/
en/expid/basics-agriculture/
 Modification of genes

In addition to transferring genes between

species, it is also possible to "switch off"
undesirable traits. For example, this
technique has been used to switch off the
gene for softening in the tomato, giving a
product with improved keeping qualities.
Sustainable agriculture is the act of
farming using principles of ecology,
the study of relationships between
organisms and their environment.
 Continuous work is going on for
improving the field of agriculture