Effects of agricultural practices on the environment

Some of the effects of agricultural practices on the environment are summarised in this post.

• Soil erosion
• Deforestation
• Destruction of natural homes of plants and animals
• Displacement of wildlife due to cleared land
• Desertification caused by cutting down of trees
• Pollution caused by burning

Soil conservation measures and sustainable agricultural practices

• Contour ploughing – to retain moisture and avoid erosion.
• Strip cultivation – protects the soil from erosion.
• Crop rotation – to restore and replace nutrients.
• Terracing – to retain moisture and check the flow of water downhill.
• Mulching – covering the soil to retain moisture.
• Ploughing – across the slope to avoid erosion.
• Controlled grazing – to allow for land regeneration.
• Soil additives – adds nutrients to the soil.
• Cover cropping – retains moisture and protects soil from erosion.
• Afforestation – replaces cut down trees.
• Fallowing – Allows soil to regenerate
• Irrigation – Supplies additional water especially during droughts.
• Organic farming – Use of leguminous plants to fertilise soil e.g. velvet beans, peas and other
legumes.

Government measures to improve subsistance farming

• Provision or creation of co-operatives.
• Creation of resettlement schemes.
• Provision of extension services to educate the farmers.
• Construction of feeder roads.
• Use of drought animals e.g. donkeys in the southern province.
• Provision of rural information services.
• Distribution of inputs like fertilizers by government agents e.g. NGOs.
• Purchasing and collection of harvested crops by Zambia Army and ZNS.
• Fixing of purchase price of maize to avoid briefcase traders.

Ways to improve food security

• Improve marketing and storage facilities by Food Reserve Agency.
• Production and distribution of seed by such as Zamseed, Pana Seeds.
• Increase food production.
• Improve crop research to have improved varieties of seeds e.g. drought resistant.
• Improve transport especially feeder roads.
• Providing credit facilities to small scale and emergent farmers.
• Educating the farmers on sustainable methods of agriculture.

Commercial agriculture

• This is the growing of crops and raising of livestock for sale.

Characteristics of Commercial Farming

• Involves inputs such as fertilizers, certified seeds, pesticides e.t.c
• Involves large capital investment
• Large farms
• Mainly monoculture type of farming is done annually.
• Uses large labour force both skilled and unskilled
• Uses machinery e.g. tractors, combine harvesters e.t.c

Types of Commercial Farming

a) Plantation farming (Estate)
b) Mixed farming
c) Market gardening
d) Horticulture
e) Irrigation farming
a) Plantation farming (Estate)

Plantation or Estate farming is concerned with the growing of tree crops such as cotton, tobacco, sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, tea, rubber.
The main Estates include:

a) Nakambala sugar Estate in Mazabuka
b) Ngoli coffee Estate in Kasama
c) Kawambwa tea Estate in Kawambwa
d) Mununshi Banana Scheme in Luapula
e) Dunlop rubber plantation at Nchelenge.

Characteristics of estate/plantation farming

• Plantations are usually foreign owned by large companies.
• Processing of produce is done on site
• They are labor intensive, meaning they employ a lot of people
• They are usually export-oriented, meaning they mainly export their produce
• They require large capital
• They require large scale irrigation
• They require long term investment

b) Mixed Farming

• This is the cultivation of different crops and the rearing of livestock at the same time on the same farm.
• Crops grown are maize, wheat, Soya beans e.t.c
• Livestock reared are cattle, goats, sheep e.t.c

c) Market garden Farming

• This is the intensive growing of vegetables and mainly for sale near urban areas.
• It is also called Truck Farming (transportation)
• This is carried out near urban areas where transport is available and ready market for the products.
• The chief vegetables grown are potatoes, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, beans, egg plants, carrots, beet roots, lettuce and chili pepper.
• Fruits such as bananas, mangoes, avocado, guava and pineapples are produced seasonally.

d) Horticulture

This involves the production of ornamental plants e.g flowers for sale locally and for export.

e) Commercial Livestock farming

It deals with the keeping of animals and poultry for meat and eggs on large scale. It includes:

• Dairy farming for milk and milk products
• Ranching for beef and beef products
• Pig rearing for pork and pork products
• Goat rearing for meat and milk
• Poultry for meat and eggs

Factors influencing commercial livestock farming

• Diseases and pests
• Poor pasture especially during the dry seasons
• Water scarcity
• Market
• Traditions
• Thefts of livestock

Irrigation Agriculture

• This is the growing of crops in the dry part of the year by supplying water from rivers, boreholes, reservoirs e.t.c

Importance of Irrigation

• Irrigation transforms bare land into areas of green vegetation.
• It enables the farmers to use a piece of land to produce crops two three times in a year.
• It is one way of increasing food production to achieve household and National food security (self-sufficiency)

Methods of Irrigation

• Sprinklers
• Canals
• Flooding
• Over-head irrigation Areas of Irrigation
• Areas around Lusaka for green maize, vegetables, flowers and wheat.
• Chisamba area for green maize, vegetables, wheat and flowers.
• Mpongwe area mainly for wheat but also coffee.
• Mazabuka area for wheat and sugarcane.

Factors which makes necessary to undertake Large scale Irrigation in Nakambala

• Its flat land which gently slopes towards the river is ideal for irrigation.
• The presence of Kafue river and its tributaries as fallows are made from there.

Crops grown by Irrigation

• Maize (sweet corn), cabbage, tomatoes, onions, Irish potatoes, rape, carrots and green pepper for local market.
• Also roses, gladioli, fillers and vegetables such as baby corn, paprika, green beans, peas and asparagus for the export market are grown.

Positive effects of Irrigation

• It transforms bare land into an area of green vegetation
• If the land is planted with tree crops like coffee, bananas and tea, this increases the land’s retention of rainwater as ground water.
• Large scale growing of tree crops aided by irrigation makes the climate wetter in the long run.
• Growing crops twice or three times in a year increases food and raw material production in the country.

Negative effects of Irrigation

• Salination: when the land ids continuously used for irrigation, the fertilizer used make it saline and this reduce productivity.
• Water diseases: Irrigated areas have an increase I snails and mosquito populations which transmit bilharzias and malaria respectively.
• Fertilizers used on agricultural lands next to the river under irrigation will be washed into the river. This will lead to the growth of aquatic plants which may sometimes be obstacles to navigation on rivers.

Location of Commercial farms

Most commercial farms are located in the following areas:

• Along the line of rail: Areas near Livingstone, Choma, Monze, Mazabuka, Lusaka,
Kabwe, Mkushi and also Copperbelt.
• Eastern Province from Petauke through Chipata to Lundazi.

Reasons why commercial farms are located along the line of rail

• The presence of large urban market e.g. Copperbelt and Lusaka has large number of people which translate into high demand for agricultural goods.
• There is suitable climate for farming as the areas experience moderate temperatures of between 15°C to 24°C and an average rainfall of about 1000mm. This type of climate is ideal for human settlement.
• Much of the line of rail is a plateau and free from tsetse flies.
• The soil along the line of rail is fertile as the area has loam soils.
• Availability of Hydro-Electric Power reduces the cost of farm production.
• There is availability of cheap railway transport.

Reasons why some commercial farms are located in Eastern Province from Petauke to Lundazi.

• Soils in Eastern Province are fairly fertile rich in humus.
• Road transport network is also fairly good as most roads can be used throughout the year.
• There is ready market.
• Favorable rainfall.

Environmental Effects of agricultural practices on the environment

• Pollution through the use of chemicals
• Increased soil erosion
• Deforestation
• Displacement of people and animals