NCERT Class 9 Science Improvement In Food Resources

IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD RESOURCES

We know that all living organisms need food. Food supplies proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals, all of which we require for body development, growth and health. Both plants and animals are major sources of food for us. We obtain most of this food from agriculture and animal husbandry.

We read in newspapers that efforts are always being made to improve production from agriculture and animal husbandry. Why is this necessary? Why we cannot make do with the current levels of production? India is a very populous country. Ourpopulation is more than one billion people, and it is still growing. As food for this growing population, we will soon need more than a quarter of a billion tonnes of grain every year.

This can be done by farming on more land. But India is already intensively cultivated. As a result, we do not have any major scope for increasing the area of land under cultivation. Therefore, it is necessary to increase our production efficiency for both crops and livestock.

Efforts to meet the food demand by increasing food production have led to some successes so far. We have had the green revolution, which contributed to increased food-grain production. We have also had the white revolution, which has led to better and more efficient use as well as availability of milk. However, these revolutions mean that our natural resources are getting used more intensively. As a result, there are more chances of causing damage to our natural resources to the point of destroying their balance completely. Therefore, it is important that we should increase food production without degrading our environment and disturbing the balances maintaining it. Hence, there is a need for sustainable practices in agriculture and animal husbandry.

Also, simply increasing grain production for storage in warehouses cannot solve the problem of malnutrition and hunger. People should have money to purchase food. Food security depends on both availability of food and access to it. The majority of our population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Increasing the incomes of people working in agriculture is therefore necessary to combat the problem of hunger. Scientific management practices should be undertaken to obtain high yields from farms. For sustained livelihood, one should undertake mixed farming, intercropping, and integrated farming practices, for example, combine agriculture with livestock/poultry/fisheries/ bee-keeping. The question thus becomes – how do we increase the yields of crops and livestock?

15.1 Improvement in Crop Yields

Cereals such as wheat, rice, maize, millets and sorghum provide us carbohydrate for energy requirement. Pulses like gram (chana), pea (matar), black gram (urad), green gram (moong), pigeon pea (arhar), lentil (masoor), provide us with protein. And oil seeds including soyabean, ground nut, sesame, castor, mustard, linseed and sunflower provide us with necessary fats (Fig. 15.1). Vegetables, spices and fruits provide a range of vitamins and minerals in addition to small amounts of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. In addition to these food crops, fodder crops like berseem, oats or sudan grass are raised as food for the livestock.

15.1.1 CROP VARIETY IMPROVEMENT

This approach depends on finding a crop variety that can give a good yield. Varieties or strains of crops can be selected by breeding for various useful characteristics such as disease resistance, response to fertilisers, product quality and high yields. One way of incorporating desirable characters into crop varieties is by hybridisation. Hybridisation refers to crossing between genetically dissimilar plants. This crossing may be intervarietal (between different varieties), interspecific (between two different species of the same genus) or intergeneric (between different genera). Another way of improving the crop is by introducing a gene that would provide the desired characteristic. This results in genetically modified crops.

For new varieties of crops to be accepted, it is necessary that the variety produces high yields under different conditions that are found in different areas. Farmers would need to be provided with good quality seeds of a particular variety, that is, the seeds should Fig. 15.1: Different types of crops all be of the same variety and germinate under the same conditions.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 9 Science Improvement In Food Resources