Vegetal On The World: world regions

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African Agriculture

Soil and climatic conditions throughout Africa determine not only agricultural practices, such as which crops can be grown, but also whether plant life is capable of sustaining livestock on the land and enabling fishing of the oceans.

Rainfall—the dominant influence on agricultural output—varies greatly among Africa’s fifty-six countries. Without irrigation, agriculture requires a reliable annual rainfall of more than 30 inches (75 centimeters). Portions of Africa have serious problems from lack of rainfall, such as increasing desertification and periods of drought.

Food output has declined, with per capita food production 10 percent less in the 1990’s than it was in the 1980’s. In most African countries, however, more than 50 percent, and often 80 percent, of the population works in agriculture, mostly subsistence agriculture. Large portions of the continent, such as Mali and the Sudan, have the potential of becoming granaries to much of the continent and producing considerable food exports.

Traditional African Agriculture

Traditionally, agriculture in Africa has been subsistence farming in small plots. It has been labor-intensive, relying upon family members. New land for farming was obtained by the slash-and-burn method (shifting cultivation). The trees in a forested area would be cut down and burned where they fell.

The ashes from the burned trees fertilized the soil. Bothmen andwomenworked at such farming. Slash-and-burn agriculture is common not only in Africa but also in tropical areas around the world. In areas of heavy rainfall, the rainswash out the nutrients from soil and burned trees in a period of two to three years.

The crops grown depend upon the region. In the very dry, yet habitable, parts of Africa—such as the Sudano-Sahelian region that stretches from Senegal and Mali in the west of Africa to the Sudan in the east—a key subsistence crop is green millet, a grain. Ground into a type of flour, it can be made into a bread-like substance.

In moister areas, traditional crops are root and tuber crops, such as yams and cassava. Cassava has an outer surface or skin that is poisonous, but it can be treated to remove the poison. The tuber then can be ground and used tomake a bread-like substance.Other important traditional crops are rice and corn, which were introduced by Europeans when they came to Africa.

Animal husbandry, or seminomadic herding, is another form of traditional agriculture. Problems that have arisen with this type of agriculture are the availability of water and grass or hay for cattle. Regions that are very moist, such as the Gulf of Guinea, which has rain forest, are not good for cattle because of the tsetse fly, which carries diseases such as sleeping sickness.

Crops

Rice field in Africa

The most widely grown crop is rice, which is grown on more than one-third of the irrigated crop area in Africa. Cultivated mostly in wetlands and valley bottoms, rice is the most common crop in the humid areas of the Gulf of Guinea and Eastern Africa. It is also grown on the plateaus of Madagascar.

In the northern and southern regions, rice represents only a small portion of the total crops under water management. Wheat and corn are cultivated and irrigated, mostly in Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, Sudan, and Somalia.

Vegetables, including root and tuber crops, are present in all regions and almost every country. Vegetables are grown on about 8 percent of the cultivated areas under water management. In Algeria, Mauritania, Kenya, Burundi, and Rwanda, they are the most widespread crops under water management.

Arboriculture (growing of fruit trees), which represents 5 percent of the total irrigated crops, is concentrated in the northern region and consists mostly of citrus fruits. Commercial crops (for cash and export) are grown mostly in the Sudan and in the countries of the southern region and consist mostly of cotton and oilseeds.

Other commercial crops in Africa are sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, oil and date palm, bananas, tobacco, and cut flowers. Sugarcane is grown in all countries except in the northern region. The other commercial crops are concentrated in a few countries.

North Africa

olives in african market

In Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, the region’s agricultural resources are limited by its dry climate. Its products are those typical of the Mediterranean, steppe, and desert regions: wheat, barley, olives, grapes, citrus fruits, some vegetables, dates, sheep, and goats.

Agriculture employs less than 20 percent of the working population in Libya and as much as 55 percent in Egypt. From about the middle of the twentieth century, North Africa’s production failed to keep pace with its population growth and remained susceptible to large annual fluctuations.

Cropland occupies about 33 percent of Tunisia but less than 3 percent of Algeria, Egypt, and Libya. Some export crops, such as citrus fruits, tobacco, and cotton, have suffered from strong international competition.

The northern region is not a major contributor to the continent’s fish catch. Morocco, however, with its cool, plankton-rich Atlantic waters and access to the Mediterranean Sea, is one of the world’s largest fish producers.

Sudano-Sahelian Region

This region comprises Mauritania, the western Sahara, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Burkina-Faso, Niger, Chad, and the Sudan. Because of the region’s extreme dryness, mostly subsistence farming and seminomadic herding are practiced. Millet is the primary crop.

In the late twentieth century, this region was devastated by long droughts that caused famine and starvation. Mali and the Sudan have the Niger and Nile Rivers flowing through them. These great rivers provide plenty of water for irrigation of fields.

During the rainy season in Mali—typically June through September—the Niger River widens into a great, extensive floodplain. This area is good for the growing of rice. Similarly, in the Sudan the Blue and White Niles meet at Khartoum to form the Nile River.

Gulf of Guinea

This region comprises Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria. With the exception of Nigeria, agriculture there is dominated by rice cultivation. The percentage of total land area that is under cultivation ranges from 60 percent in Liberia to just 9 percent in Sierra Leone.

The total cultivable area of Ghana is 39,000 square miles (100,000 square kilometers), or 42 percent of its total land area. Only 4.8 percent of the total land area was under cultivation at the end of the twentieth century. Much of the cultivation is subsistence farming of yams and other crops.

Ghana’s efforts in agriculture have been hampered by droughts. Additional problems are that organic matter has been leached out of the soils by heavy rainfall and that increasing deforestation has led to additional erosion. This is the situation in much of the Gulf of Guinea and the central regions.

About half of Nigeria’s available land is under cultivation. Increasing rainfall from the semiarid north to the tropically forested south allows for great crop diversity. Principal food crops are corn, millet, yams, sorghum, cassava, rice, potatoes, and vegetables.

Nigeria was the world’s fourth-largest exporter of cocoa beans in 1990-1991, accounting for about 7.1 percent of world trade in this commodity. However, Nigeria’s share of the world cocoa market has been substantially reduced because of aging trees, low prices, black pod disease, smuggling, and labor shortages.

Central Region

This region comprises the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Rwanda, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Cameroon has 14.7 million acres of arable land.

In 1997, 55,000 tons of rice were produced, but the country imported 124,000 tons in 1995. In the central region, the percentage of arable land ranges from 0.4 percent for the Congo-Brazzaville to 47 percent for Rwanda.

Cassava is harvested in Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Corn is harvested in Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, and Burundi. In Rwanda, 17 percent of the harvested land is used to grow sweet potatoes. Agriculture is not important in the economy of São Tomé and Príncipe.

Eastern Region

This region comprises Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Agriculture employs about 80 percent of the labor force in Uganda and Ethiopia. Approximately 2.5 million small farms dominate agriculture in both countries.

About 84 percent of Uganda’s land is suitable for agriculture—a high percentage compared to the majority of African countries, such as Ethiopia with only 12 percent. Food crops account for about 74 percent of agricultural production.

Only one-third is marketed; the rest is for home consumption. In four years out of five, the minimum needed rainfall may be expected in 78 percent of Uganda but in only 15 percent of Kenya. Somalia and Ethiopia receive almost none of the needed minimum.

Tanzania has almost four million farms. Traditional export crops include coffee, cotton, cashew nuts, tobacco, and tea. Major staple foods (corn, rice, and wheat) are exported in times of surplus.

Tanzania’s climatic growing conditions are favorable for the production of a wide range of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Drought-resistant crops (sorghum, millet, and cassava) and other substaples such as onions, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, bananas, and plantains are also produced.

Areas that have 20-30 inches (50-75 centimeters) of rainfall per year rely on a mixture of agriculture and livestock herding. Regions with a smaller annual rainfall or a long dry season can support only drought-resistant crops such as sorghum, millet, and cassava. Over large areas of eastern Africa, rainfall is inadequate for crop cultivation.

The whole of Somalia and 70 percent of Kenya receive less than 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain four years out of five. In these areas, the only feasible use of land is for raising livestock. Agriculture is not an important factor in the economies of Eritrea and Djibouti.

Southern Region

This region comprises Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa. The arable percentage of the total land area ranges from 14 percent in Malawi to just 1 percent in Namibia. With the exception of Mozambique, where cassava predominates, corn is the major crop in the countries in this region.

About 13 percent of South Africa’s land area can be used for crop production. Rainfall varies across the country, and varied climatic zones and terrains enable the production of almost any kind of crop.

The largest area of farmland is planted with corn, followed by wheat, then oats, sugarcane, and sunflowers. The nation is well known for the high quality of its fruits, such as apples and citrus.

Agriculture is the predominant economic activity in Zimbabwe, accounting for 40 percent of total export earnings—about 22 percent of the total economy—and employing more than 60 percent of the country’s labor force.

The main export crops are tobacco, cotton, and oilseeds. Zimbabwe is usually self-sufficient in food production. Its main food crops are corn, soybeans, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables, and sugar.

Mozambique’s agriculture has been badly hindered by civil war. However, the country has considerable potential for irrigation due to the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers. The irrigation potential is estimated to be 7.5 million acres. In the 1990’s, only 110,000 acres were irrigated, growing rice, sugarcane, corn, and citrus.

Agriculture and livestock production employ about 62 percent of Botswana’s labor force. Most of the country has semidesert conditions with erratic rainfall and poor soil conditions, making it more suitable to grazing than to crop production. The principal food crops are sorghum and corn.

Namibia’s cultivated area is only 506,000 acres—only 0.8 percent of the cultivable area. Agriculture makes up approximately 10 percent of the economy but employs more than 80 percent of the population. The major irrigated crops are corn, wheat, and cotton.

Indian Ocean Islands

This region comprises Madagascar, Mauritius, the Comoros, and the Seychelles. During the 1990’s an estimated 8.7 million people lived in the rural areas, 65 percent of whom lived at the subsistence level.

Only 5.2 percent of Madagascar’s total land area (7.4 million acres) was under cultivation. Of the total land area, 50.7 percent supported livestock production, while 16 percent (1.2 million acres) of the land under cultivation was irrigated.

Cassava, planted almost everywhere on the island, is grown as well as corn and sweet potatoes, with smaller quantities of cotton, bananas, and cloves. The fisheries sector, especially the export of shrimp, has been the most rapidly growing area of the agricultural economy in the Indian Ocean Islands region.

Mauritius has 30,000 acres of sugarcane plantations that have had one of the highest sugarcane and sugar yields in the world. The Seychelles have a total land area of only 72 squaremiles (187 square kilometers), of which only 3,000 acres are cultivated.

This 3 percent of the land area accounts for only 4 percent of the island nation’s economy. The Comoros’ agriculture is heavily weighted toward rice, the staple food of the populace.

world regions

African Flora

Hinhvv

7:54 AM

African Flora

With few exceptions, Africa’s flora (vegetation) is tropical or subtropical. This is primarily because none of the African continent extends far from the equator, and there are only a few high-elevation regions that support more temperate plants.

Listed in order of decreasing land area, the three main biomes of Africa are subtropical desert, tropical savanna, and tropical forest. The flora in southern Africa has been most studied. The flora of central and northern Africa is less known.

The subtropical desert biome is the driest of the biomes in Africa and includes some of the driest locations on earth. The largest desert region is the Sahara in northern Africa. It extends from near the west coast of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula and is part of the largest desert system in the world, which extends into south central Asia.

A smaller desert region in southern Africa includes the Namib Desert, located along the western half of southern Africa, especially near the coast, and the Kalihari Desert, which is primarily inland and east of the Namib Desert.

Where more moisture is available, grasslands predominate, and as rainfall increases, grasslands gradually become tropical savanna. The difference between a grassland and a savanna is subjective but is in part determined by tree growth, with more trees characterizing a savanna. The grassland/ tropical savanna biome forms a broad swath across much of central Africa and dominates much of eastern and southern Africa.

Tropical forests make up a much smaller area of Africa than the other two biomes. They are most abundant in the portions of central Africa not dominated by the grassland/tropical savanna biome and are not far from the coast of central West Africa. Scattered tropical forest regions also occur along major river systems of West Africa, from the equator almost to southern Africa.

Subtropical Desert

Subtropical Desert

The subtropical deserts of Africa seem, at first, to be nearly devoid of plants. While this is true for some parts of the Sahara and Namib Deserts that are dominated by sand dunes or bare, rocky outcrops, much of the desert has a noticeable amount of plant cover.

The Sahara is characterized by widely distributed species of plants that are found in similar habitats. The deserts of southern Africa have more distinctive flora, with many species endemic to specific local areas.

Succulents of the Subtropical Desert

To survive the harsh desert climate, plants use several adaptations. Mesembryanthemum, whose species include ice plant and sea figs, is a wide-spread genus, with species occurring in all of Africa’s deserts. It typically has thick, succulent leaves.

Such succulents store water in their leaves or stems, which they retain by using a specialized type of photosynthesis. Most plants open their stomata (small openings in the leaves) during the day to get carbon dioxide from the surrounding air.

Succulents of the Subtropical Desert, Euphorbia echinus

This would lead to high amounts of water loss in a desert environment, so succulents open their stomata at night. Through a biochemical process, they store carbon dioxide until the next day, when it is released inside the plant so photosynthesis can occur without opening the stomata.

To prevent water loss, many succulents have no leaves at all. Anabasis articulata, found in the Sahara desert, is a leafless succulent with jointed stems. Cacti are found only in North and South America, but a visitor to the Sahara would probably be fooled by certain species in the spurge family that resemble cacti.

For example, Euphorbia echinus, another Saharan plant, has succulent, ridged stems with spines. The most extreme adaptation in succulents is found in the living stones of southern Africa. Their plant body is reduced to two plump, rounded leaves that are very succulent.

They hug the ground, sometimes partially buried, and have camouflaged coloration so that they blend in with the surrounding rocks and sand, thus avoiding being eaten by grazing animals. Other succulents, such as the quiver tree, attain the size and appearance of trees.

Water-Dependent Plants of the Subtropical Desert

Water-dependent plants are confined to areas near a permanent water source, such as a spring. The most familiar of these plants is the date palm, which is a common sight at desert oases.

Tamarind and acacia are also common where water is available. A variety of different sedges and rushes occur wherever there is abundant permanent freshwater, the most famous of these being the papyrus, or bulrush.

Ephemerals of the Subtropical Desert

Ephemerals of the Subtropical Desert

Annuals whose seeds germinate when moisture becomes available and quickly mature, set seed, and die, are called ephemerals. These plants account for a significant portion of the African desert flora.

A majority of the ephemerals are grasses. Ephemerals are entirely dependent on seasonal or sporadic rains. A few days after a significant rain the desert turns bright green, and after several more days flowers, often in profusion, appear.

Some ephemerals germinate with amazing speed, such as the pillow cushion plant, which germinates and produces actively photosynthesizing seed leaves only ten hours after being wetted. Reproductive rates for ephemerals, and even for perennial plants, are rapid. Species of morning glory can complete an entire life cycle in three to six weeks.

Tropical Savanna

Tropical savanna ranges from savanna grassland, which is dominated by tall grasses lacking trees or shrubs, to thicket and scrub communities, which are composed primarily of trees and shrubs of a fairly uniform size.

The most common type of savanna in Africa is the savanna woodland, which is composed of tall, moisture-loving grasses and tall, deciduous or semi deciduous trees that are unevenly distributed and generally well spaced. The type of savanna familiar to viewers of African wildlife documentaries is the savanna parkland, which is primarily tall grass with widely spaced trees.

Savanna Grasses and Herbs

African Savanna Grasses

Grasses represent the majority of plant cover beneath and between the trees. In some types of savanna, the grass can be more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) high. Although much debated, two factors seem to perpetuate the dominance of grasses: seasonal moisture with long intervening dry spells and periodic fires.

Given excess moisture and lack of fire, savannas seem inevitably to become forests. Activities by humans, such as grazing cattle or cutting trees, also perpetuate, or possibly promote, grass dominance.

A variety of herbs exist in the savanna, but they are easily overlooked, except during flowering periods. Many of them also do best just after a fire, when they are better exposed to the sun and to potential pollinators.

Plants such as hibiscus and coleus are familiar garden and house plants popular the world over. Vines related to the sweet potato are also common. Many species from the legume or pea and sunflower families are present. Wild ginger often displays its showy blossoms after a fire.

Savanna Trees and Shrubs

Savanna Trees and Shrubs

Trees of the African savanna often have relatively wide-spreading branches that all terminate at about the same height, giving the trees a flattopped appearance. Many are from the legume family, most notably species of Acacia, Brachystegia, Julbernardia, and Isoberlinia. With the exception of acacias, these are not well known outside Africa.

There is an especially large number of Acacia species ranging from shrubs to trees, many with spines. A few also have a symbiotic relationship with ants that protect them from herbivores. The hashab tree, a type of acacia that grows in more arid regions, is the source of gum arabic.

Although not as prominent, the baobab tree is renowned for its large size and odd appearance and occurs in many savanna regions. It has an extremely thick trunk with smooth, gray bark and can live for up to two thousand years. Many savanna trees also have showy flowers, such as the flame tree and the African tulip tree.

Tropical Forest

Tropical Forest

The primary characteristics of African tropical forests are their extremely lush growth, high species diversity, and complex structure. The diversity is often so great that a single tree species cannot be identified as dominant in an area.

Relatively large trees, such as ironwood, iroko, and sapele, predominate. Forest trees grow so close together that their crowns overlap, forming a canopy that limits the amount of light that falls beneath them. A few larger trees, called emergent trees, break out above the thick canopy.

A layer of smaller trees live beneath the main canopy. A few smaller shrubs and herbs grow near the ground level, but the majority of the herbs and other perennials are epiphytes, that is, plants that grow on other plants.

On almost every available space on the trunks and branches of the canopy trees there are epiphytes that support an entire, unique community. All this dense plant growth is supported by a monsoon climate in which 60 inches (150 centimeters) or more of rain often falls annually, most of it in the summer.

Lianas and Epiphytes

Lianas are large, woody vines that cling to trees, many of them hanging down near to the ground. They were made famous by Tarzan movies. Many lianas belong to families with well-known temperate vine species, such as the grape family, morning glory family, and cucumber family. Other, related plants remain intimately connected to the trunks of trees. One of these, the strangler fig, is a strong climber that begins life in the canopy.

The fruits are eaten by birds or monkeys, and the seeds are deposited in their feces on branches high in the canopy. The seeds germinate and send a stem downward to the ground. Once the stem reaches the ground, it roots; additional stems then develop and grow upward along the trunk of the tree.

After many years, a strangler fig can so thoroughly surround a tree that it prevents water and nutrients from flowing up the trunk. Eventually, the host tree dies and rots away, leaving a hollow tube of mostly strangler fig. Other climbers include members of the Araceae family, the most familiar being the ornamental philodendron.

The most common epiphytes are bryophytes, lower plants related to mosses, and lichens, a symbiotic combination of algae (or cyanobacteria) and fungus. The most abundant higher plants are ferns and orchids. As these plants colonize the branches of trees, they gradually trap dust and decaying materials, eventually leading to a thin soil layer that other plants can use.

Accumulations of epiphytes can be so great in some cases that tree branches break from their weight. Epiphytes are not parasites (although there are some parasitic plants that grow on tree branches); they simply use the host tree for support.

Tropical Forest Floor Plants

Grasses are almost entirely absent from the forest floor; those that grow there have much broader leaves than usual. Some forest-floor herbs are able to grow in the deep shade beneath the canopy, occasionally being so highly adapted to the low light that they can be damaged if exposed to full sunlight.

Some popular house plants have come from among these plants, because they do not need direct sunlight to survive. Still, the greatest numbers of plants occur beneath breaks in the canopy, where more light is available.

ecosystems , world regions

Antarctica Flora

Hinhvv

3:32 AM

Antarctica

The harsh climate of Antarctica makes it one of the most inhospitable places on the earth, allowing only a relatively small number of organisms to live there. Permanent terrestrial (land) animals and plants are few and small. There are no trees, shrubs, or vertebrate land animals. Native organisms are hardy, yet the ecosystem is fragile and easily disturbed by human activity, pollution, global warming, and ozone layer depletion.

The Antarctic continent has never had a native or permanent population of humans. In 1998 the United States, Russia, Belgium, Australia, and several other countries signed one of an ongoing series of treaties to preserve Antarctica. The continent is used for peaceful international endeavors such as scientific research and ecotourism.

Terrestrial Flora

There are only two types of flowering plants in Antarctica, a grass and a small pearlwort (Deschampsia antarctica). These are restricted to the more temperate Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic hairgrass (Colobanthus quitensis) forms dense mats and grows fairly rapidly in the austral summer (December, January, and February). At the end of summer, the hairgrass’s nutrients move underground, and the leaves die. Pearlwort forms cushion-shaped clusters and grows only 0.08 to 0.25 inch (2 to 6 millimeters) per year.

Numerous species of primitive plants, such as lichens, mosses, fungi, algae, and diatoms, live in Antarctica. Lichens are made up of an alga and a fungus in a symbiotic (interdependent) relationship. They can use water in the form of vapor, liq uid, snow, or ice.

Lichens grow as little as 0.04 inch (1 millimeter) every one hundred years, and some patches may be more than five thousand years old. Mosses are not as hardy as lichens and also grow slowly; a boot print in a moss carpet may be visible for years. Fungi are found in the more temperate peninsula, and most are microscopic.

Algae grow in Antarctic lakes, runoff near bird colonies, moist soil, and snow fields. During the summer, algae form spectacular red, yellow, or green patches on the snow. Bacteria are found in lakes, melt water, and soils. As elsewhere on the earth, bacteria play a role in decomposition. Because of the extreme conditions, they are not always as efficient in Antarctica as they are in warmer climates, and carcasses may lie preserved for hundreds of years.

agriculture , Economic botany and plant uses , food , world regions

Asian Agriculture

Hinhvv

9:18 AM

Asian Agriculture

Land constraints and growing population and urbanization throughout Asia underscore the need for environmentally sound technologies to sustain agricultural growth.

The first agricultural revolution occurred in Asia and involved the domestication of plants and animals. It is believed that vegeculture first developed in Southeast Asia more than eleven thousand years ago. In vegeculture, a part of a plant—other than the seed—is planted for reproduction.

The first plants domesticated in Southeast Asia were taro, yam, banana, and palm. Seed agriculture, now the most common type of agriculture, uses seeds for plant reproduction. It originated in the Middle East about nine thousand years ago, in the basins of the two major rivers of present-day Iraq, the Tigris and the Euphrates.

Wheat and barley were probably the first crops cultivated there. Although many plants were domesticated simultaneously in different parts of the world, rice, oats, millet, sugarcane, cabbage, beans, eggplant, and onions were domesticated originally in Asia.

Asia supports about 60 percent of the global population on only about 23 percent of the world’s agricultural land. As a result, Asian agriculture is far more intensive than on any other continent. Despite the population pressure on arable land, Asia has made remarkable progress in agricultural productivity.

Between 1966 and 1995, wheat production grew 5.5 percent annually, and rice production 2.2 percent. In Asia as a whole, food production has out-paced the growth of population. In most Asian countries, particularly in the low-income countries of South Asia, per-capita food availability has risen.

Agrarian Structure

Most people in Asia are farmers, owning an average of about 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of land per family. Topographic and climatic conditions, to a large extent, determine farm size. Agricultural potential is limited in Nepal, for example, because of the Himalaya Mountains, and in Saudi Arabia because of the Arabian Desert. In these countries, average farm size is larger relative to countries like Bangladesh, which contains a vast, fertile floodplain and receives abundant rainfall.

Another feature of Asian agrarian structure is the inequitable distribution of farmland. For example, in India more than 25 percent of cultivated land is owned by less than 5 percent of farming families.

Farm holdings in most Asian countries are highly fragmented, and tenancy is widespread. Fragmentation of farms inhibits agricultural mechanization, and land consolidation efforts have had limited success in most Asian countries.

Most Asian farmers are subsistence farmers, cultivating crops for family consumption. Almost all farm operations are done manually or with the help of draft animals. Exceptions are found in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, where small-scale equipment similar to garden tractors is widely used.

Only recently have Asian farmers started to use chemical fertilizer; for water, they largely depend on rain. As a result, yields are low, which compels farmers to cultivate the land intensively. Double-cropping is the norm; some farmers grow three crops a year.

Therefore, only a small fraction of the arable land in humid regions of Asia remains fallow. Farming is labor-intensive, and the extended family is the main source of labor. This helps to explain why family size is generally large in agrarian countries of Asia.

Rice and Wheat

Rice fields

The coastal areas and inland river valleys of East, Southeast, and South Asia are the agricultural cores of the continent. More than half of the crop area of these regions is used to cultivate food crops such as rice and wheat. Rice is the principal food crop of all Asian countries located east and north of India and for the people of southern and eastern India.

Rice is the staple food of more than half of the world’s population, and 90 percent of it is grown in coastal and deltaic plains and in the river valleys of Monsoon Asia. This region encompasses a broad geographic area characterized by a distinctive climate, stretching from Japan in the east, through Indonesia in the south, and west to Pakistan. Rice farming there is practiced mostly at the subsistence level, using traditional methods.

Wheat is the primary food crop of northern and western India and all Asian countries located west of India. People of the wheat-producing region consume rice as a secondary staple. Eighteen of the twenty-five top rice-producing countries of the world are in Asia. India has the largest area devoted to rice cultivation of the world’s countries, but China is first in total production. Indonesia and Bangladesh rank third and fourth in world rice production.

With the exceptions of Japan, South Korea, China, and Taiwan, yields of all crops—particularly rice and wheat—are low in Asia compared to world standards. Although crop yields increased significantly after 1970, typical yields in Asia remained low for several reasons: Fertilizer use and the area under irrigation are among the lowest in the world.

Also, most Asian farmers practice traditional farming methods, where high yields are a typical. Another major obstacle to increasing crop yields is the preponderance of small farms. Because small farms do not have access to assured irrigation and cannot afford modern agricultural inputs, their average yield is generally much lower than that of medium and large farms.

Slash-and-Burn Agriculture

Slash-and-Burn Agriculture

In the tropical rain forests of Southeast Asia, the mountainous and hilly parts of South Asia, and in southern China, a type of primitive agriculture known as shifting cultivation or slash-and-burn agriculture is practiced. Shifting cultivators plant different crops, such as rice, corn, millet, yams, sugarcane, oilseeds, potatoes, taro, vegetables, and cotton, on one site.

These farmers must abandon their fields and establish new ones every few years. As a result, a large area of land is required to support a small population. The land devoted to shifting cultivation is declining at a rapid rate worldwide because of the demand for forest resources for other uses.

Dry Agriculture

Dry Agriculture

Farmers in the colder, drier parts ofAsia (northeastern China, northern Japan, southeastern East Asia, northeastern Southeast Asia, and the western half of South Asia) and the river valleys of the Middle East practice a system of intensive subsistence agriculture called peasant grain-and-livestock farming, or dry agriculture. The dominant grain crops are wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, oats, and corn, while cotton, tobacco, and sugarcane are grown as cash crops.

In arid areas, such as the Middle Eastern river valleys, irrigation helps support dry farming. Traditional water-lifting devices, such as the shaduf (a counterweighted, lever-mounted bucket), and the naria (waterwheel), permit limited double-cropping in the dry season near the rivers of the Middle East.

In the arid and semiarid parts of South Asia and the Middle East, and in the dry and cold western two-thirds of East Asia, nomadic herders graze cattle, sheep, goats, and camels. Nomadic herders move from place to place with their livestock in search of forage. As in other places, nomadic herding is declining in Asia.

Mediterranean Agriculture

A distinctive type of subsistence agriculture, called Mediterranean agriculture, is practiced along the Mediterranean coast of the Middle East and in the northern part of Turkey that borders the Black Sea. Traditional Mediterranean agriculture is based on wheat and barley cultivation in the rainy winter season. Farmers of this region also cultivate vine and tree crops, such as grapes, olives, and figs, and raise small livestock.

Export Crops

Export Crops

Plantation crops such as tea, rubber, coconuts, and coffee are grown in Asia. Tea is indigenous to China, which is the world’s largest producer, followed by India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Tea is Sri Lanka’s largest export crop, accounting for about one-third of annual exports by value.

Tea is grown in the central highlands of Sri Lanka and in the hilly regions of northeastern India and Bangladesh. Rubber is grown in Malaysia and Indonesia—which account for about 75 percent of total world production—and Cambodia, India, and Sri Lanka. Malaysia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka are world-leading exporters of coconuts and coconut products.

Green Revolution

A dramatic growth in food production in Asia began with the Green Revolution in the late 1960’s, particularly for wheat and rice. Cultivation of the new varieties of rice and wheat caused an impressive increase in the use of fertilizer and the expansion of irrigation, particularly the exploitation of groundwater through tube wells. With proper and timely application of fertilizers and water, yields of wheat can be tripled, and yields of rice can be doubled.

Critics of the Green Revolution have concentrated on the negative impacts of increased use of fertilizer and pesticides, which causes surface water pollution.With high-yield seeds, three crops a year can be cultivated.

Adopting this practice has two consequences: It causes overuse of land, a major source of soil degradation, and it leads to increasing monocultures of rice and wheat, reducing the genetic diversity of food crops.

Without the Green Revolution, feeding current Asian populations at prevailing nutritional standards would have been impossible. New agricultural practices enabled Asia to avoid the famine that was widely predicted in the 1970’s. The new rice and wheat varieties also have stimulated agricultural employment, because more people are needed to cultivate, harvest, and handle the increased production.

Throughout Asia, agricultural growth and the increase in food production were somewhat slower in the 1990’s than in the 1980’s. The opportunity for bringing more land under cultivation has largely been exhausted. Therefore, any increase in crop outputwill have to come largely from an increase in yields.

Rice and wheat yields are still relatively low in many Asian countries, primarily because of low use of modern agricultural inputs. For example, the use of chemical fertilizer in South Asian countries has not reached the levels of neighboring regions.

Demand for fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, milk, and eggs is likely to grow with the increased urbanization and industrialization of Asia. This will reduce the demand for cereal crops. In Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, consumption of rice has already begun to decline. Increased crop production is required to feed the growing populations of most Asian countries.

While increasing agricultural production, Asian policy makers must also promote environmentally sound technologies and implement effective land reforms to address the problems of inequality and poverty caused by landlessness. Better crop management and better management of irrigation water are also needed to sustain agricultural growth in Asian countries.

Forestry

Forests of significant economic importance are found primarily in northeastern East Asia and Southeast Asia. The softwood forests of northeastern East Asia cover most of Japan and parts of North Korea. Trees grown there are used for construction lumber and to produce pulp for paper. Tropical hardwood forests cover all Southeast Asian countries and the south central part of China, several places in India, and the northern part of Iran.

Trees grown in those forests are used primarily for fuel wood and charcoal, although an increasing quantity of special-quality woods are cut for export as lumber. Nearly 80 percent of the world’s hardwood log exports in the early 1990’s came from Malaysia. Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Myanmar export large quantities of forestry products.

Overexploitation of hardwoods and conversion of forest lands for other uses have become serious concerns. Rates of forest conversion are most rapid in continental Southeast Asia, averaging about 1.5 percent a year. Deforestation has important local, regional, and global consequences, ranging from increased soil and land degradation to greater food insecurity, escalating carbon emissions, and loss of biodiversity.

Small-scale, poor farmers clearing land for agriculture to meet food needs and the gathering of wood to be used for cooking account for roughly two-thirds of the deforestation in Southeast Asia.Commercial logging and urban expansion account for most of the remaining deforestation.

world regions

Asian Flora

Hinhvv

5:42 AM

Asian Flora

Asia has the richest flora of the earth’s seven continents. Because Asia is the largest continent, it is not surprising that 100,000 different kinds of plants grow within its various climate zones, which range from tropical to Arctic.

Asian plants, which include ferns, gymnosperms, and flowering vascular plants, make up 40 percent of the earth’s plant species. The endemic plant species come from more than forty plant families and fifteen hundred genera.

Asia is divided into five major vegetation regions based on the richness and types of each region’s flora: tropical rain forests in Southeast Asia, temperate mixed forests in East Asia, tropical rain/ dry forests in South Asia, desert and steppe in Central and West Asia, and taiga and tundra in North Asia.

Tropical Rain Forests

The Asian regions richest in flora, tropical rain forests, are found in the island nations of Southeast Asia, which extend from Kinabalu in the north to Java in the south, and from New Guinea in the east to Sumatra in thewest. In this vast archipelago, the longest island chain between Asia and Australia, are thirty-five thousand to forty thousand vascular plant species.

Tropical rain forests grow there year-round because of the region’s warm temperatures and plentiful rainfall. The forests contain great varieties of tall trees, some towering 148 feet (45meters) high.Within any 1-square-mile area, one can see as many as one hundred tree species with no single species dominant.

The rain forests have mostly broad-leafed evergreens,with some palm trees and tree ferns. The upper most branches of the trees form canopies that cover and protect the earth below. Because little sunlight penetrates the dense canopies, few shrubs or herbs grow in the rain forests. Instead, many vines, lianas, epiphytes, and parasites are twined on tree branches and trunks. Mangroves fringe the tropical rain forests along the coasts.

Temperate Mixed Forests

Temperate Mixed Forests

Second in floral richness, East Asia’s temperate mixed forests contain thirty thousand to thirty- five thousand plant species. This region ranges from Japan in the east to the Himalayan nations (Bhutan, Sikkim, and Nepal) in the west, and from Russia’s Amur River Valley in the north to China’s Hainan Island in the south.

East Asia’s temperate weather is similar to the climate of eastern North America, with hot summers and cool winters. From south to north and from the east coasts to lower elevations in mountainous areas in the west, the vegetation changes from evergreen to deciduous broad-leafed forests, with dense shrubs, bamboo, and herbs in different layers beneath the forest canopy.

The major tree species are of the magnolia, oak, tea, laurel, spurge, azalea, and maple families. Herbs include members of the primrose, gentian, pea, carrot, foxglove, composite, buttercup, and rose families.

The Himalayan range is the point where the regions of South Asia, East Asia, and Central and West Asia join. From the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in southwest China to the lower areas of the Himalayas, elevation usually is between about 5,000 and 13,000 feet (1,500 and 4,000 meters).

Mountains with deep valleys showcase complex, multiple vegetation types—from mixed forests and dense shrubs to alpine meadows in mountain plains. Many primary seed plants (gymnosperms and flowering plants), grow there.

Untouched native vegetation in East Asia is usually found only in mountainous or remote areas.On mountains at high elevations, the points where the temperatures are so cold that trees cannot grow form what is called the tree line.

Near the tree line, only plants related to coniferous and alpine species grow. Above about 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) in high mountain areas, no vegetation grows. Instead, snow caps or icebergs exist year-round.

Tropical Rain/Dry Mixed Forests

Tropical Rain/Dry Mixed Forests

The third-richest region, tropical rain/dry forests, is found in South-Asia, which reaches from the Philippines in the east to Pakistan in the west, and from the Himalayas in the north to Thailand in the south. Twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand species of plants grow there.

This region has both tropical rain forests and tropical seasonal dry forests. The tropical rain forest is mainly found in the region’s lowlands and the seasonal dry forests in the highlands or mountainous areas. More often, these two types of forests are combined.

The tropical seasonal dry forests usually grow in a climate with wet and dry seasons or under a somewhat cooler climate than the tropical rain forests. The canopy, formed from primarily deciduous broad-leafed species, is much thinner than the canopy in the tropical rain forest, so more sunlight reaches plants below.

Many different plant species live together, forming tropical jungles. Tall, thick-trunked trees, colorful orchids, ferns, dense mosses, and twined vines and lianas dominate this vast region.

The major components of these kinds of forests are members of the dipterocarpas, sweetsop, laurel, piper, fig, dissotis, akee, gardenia, periwinkle, milkweed, African violet, palm, and aroid families. In central and southern India and in some areas of Pakistan there are tropical grasslands, called the savanna. Because of the savanna’s hot, dry weather, mainly coarse grasses grow there.

Desert and Steppe

Desert and Steppe

The desert and steppe region in Central and West Asia has twenty to twenty-five thousand species of plants. This region stretches from north and northwest China and Mongolia in the east to Turkey in the west, and from Kazakhstan in the north to the Arabian Peninsula in the south. This region’s vegetation changes from semi desert or desert to the temperate grassland called the steppe.

Central and West Asia contains the largest desert-steppe landscape in the Northern Hemisphere. Few plant species grow in the steppe and nearly none in the desert. The herbs and fewwoody plants that grow in these dry areas are members of the grass, pink, mustard, pea, saxifrage, stonecrops, lignum vitae, forget-me-not, and lily families. Because the desert environment is so dry, plant species must be able to survive in the arid weather for long periods of time.

Central and West Asia—with its steppe between the desert in the south and coniferous forests in the north—forms one of the world’s largest foraging areas, providing food resources for both wild and domestic animals, such as camels, sheep, goats, cows, and horses.

Taiga and Tundra

Taiga and Tundra

The poorest region in floral richness, with only about five thousand vascular plant species, is North Asia. This region is primarily Siberia, the eastern part of Russia, reaching from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Bering Strait in the east and fromthe Arctic Circle in the north to Mongolia and Kazakhstan in the south.

The region’s weather is temperate, with short, mild summers and long, cold winters. The predominant vegetation in North Asia is coniferous (boreal) forest. This region, called the taiga, contains mainly pine, spruce, fir, larch, and some species in the birch, aspen, and willow families.

Because the trees there are straight and tall, the taiga provides timber for Russia’s forestry industry. Small, perennial herbs and a few types of shrubs grow in the taiga’s swamps or marshes. Farther north is the cooler Arctic area called the tundra. Plants that grow in tundra are resistant to the cold climate.

During the summer they complete their life cycle quickly, before winter comes. Tundra plant species are members of such common families as composites, peas, grasses, and reeds. Far beyond the tundra is Arctic ice.

Asia’s native plant species provide shelter and food for animals. For example, arrow bamboo and umbrella bamboo, found in the forests of central to southwest China, are the main food of the giant panda. Many plants in Asia also provide food, ornaments, or medicine for humans.

Food Crops

Rice is the main food for humans in Asia, especially in the tropics. In temperate Asia, wheat—one of the world’s main food sources—joins rice as a primary food source. Various beans and peas provide plant protein in the human diet and are eaten with vegetables and grains.

Asia has many tropical fruit plants, such as the mango, banana, litchi, citrus fruits, and breadfruit. Pears, apples, grapes, peaches, and strawberries are temperate fruits. The kiwi, one of the most nutrient-rich fruits, is cultivated in New Zealand but originally came from central China. The Chinese not only eat kiwi but also make kiwi wine.

Palm dates are another important fruit in West and Southwest Asia (the Arabian Peninsula). Vegetables grown in Asia include various cabbages, lettuce, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, soybeans, cucumbers, and squash. Ginger originally came from Asia.

Soybean oil is the major cooking oil in Asia. Although soybeans are native to Asia, they have become the biggest crop grown in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 1999 U.S. farmers harvested 73.3 million acres of soybeans, 2.3 million acres more than corn and 18.6 million acres more than wheat.

Another oil plant, the sunflower, is grown in temperate Asia. In tropical Asia, people use mustard oil, palm oil, cotton oil, and peanut oil. In Central and West Asia, the most popular oil is olive oil. Many other foods people enjoy throughout the world are native Asian plants, for example, tea and coconuts. Black pepper and sugarcane also are grown in tropical Asia.

Ornamental and Medicinal Plants

rafflesia

Many of Asia’s plant species have great ornamental value. Azaleas, dogwood, primroses, camellias, peonies, roses, lotus, daisies, cherries, and begonias are frequently planted in gardens. Ornamental conifers from Asia include pines, spruces, cedars, junipers, umbrella pines, and yews.

Thousands of wildflowers originating in Asia include poppies, snapdragons, slippers, columbine, trillium, marigolds, buttercups, gentian, lilies, bluebells, and violets. Europeans who explored Asia centuries ago brought ornamental plants back to their home countries.

As a result, many of these plants are now grown throughout the world. The world’s largest flower, rafflesia, grows in the tropical rain forests of Sumatra. In full bloom, the flower’s diameter is about 3 feet (1 meter).

Plants make up a large part of traditional Chinese medicine, which has been practiced for thousands of years. Today, some of these plants are used in alternative medicine in the West. They include ephedra, eucommia, cinnamon, ginseng, sanqi, and ginkgo.

Scientific Value

Ginkgo tree

Botanists view the region ranging from central China to the Himalayas to the northern part of South Asia as a key area for research into the origin of flowering plants. Native plant species in Asia are numerous; botanists also study Asian plants that are relics of ancient times, from millions of years ago, as well as fossils.

Ancient species include such gymnosperms as the dawn redwood of central China. Dawn redwood is similar to California’s redwood and giant sequoia. Another fossil-like tree is East Asia’s ginkgo. This species not only has great ornamental value but also has great commercial value as an alternative medicine.

Ginkgo trees are also dust- resistant, which makes them a favorite in urban landscaping and the ornamental industry. Other Asian plants such as the magnolia and its allied families may represent the most primitive flowering plants.

Introduced Plants

Asian flora today also includes introduced plant species from other parts of the world that play important roles in people’s lives. For example, the rubber tree of South America is cultivated in tropical Asia.

This tree produces raw material for the natural rubber industry, in which Asia is the largest producer in the world. Cacao, a tree species that provides the basis of chocolate, was introduced from tropical America. Corn, one of the most common crops in Asia, was introduced from America several thousand years ago.

Several vegetables, including the tomato, potato, eggplant, green pepper, hot pepper, and chili (all from the nightshade family), were introduced to Asia long ago. Peanuts, originally from Brazil, are also cultivated in Asia.

Coffee, an increasingly popular beverage in Asia, came originally from Africa. An introduced fruit is the pineapple, which came from tropical America but now is popular in tropical Asia. The sweet potato, from Central America, is also cultivated in Asia. Tobacco is another crop introduced to and cultivated in Asia. It originally came from tropical America, but its yield in China has made that nation a leading producer.

Impact of Human Activity

Asia’s highly diversified flora have contributed positively to the daily lives of people around the world, but the demands of a rapidly growing population are a constant threat. Deforestation, overgrazing, and urbanization have become major reasons for heavy losses of Asian flora, especially in South and East Asia.

In China alone, eight key plant species were added to the first-class protection list in the Red Book of 1992 (equivalent to the U.S. endangered species list). Among the mare the Chinese silver fir, dawn redwood, and ginseng.

These plants only grow in several isolated locations and are rare in their original range. As natural vegetation is cut for farming, grazing, or simply for cooking and heating fuel, fewer plants remain. Although scientists from around the world have worked on this problem for decades, the situation has not improved.

agriculture , Economic botany and plant uses , food , world regions

Australian Agriculture

Hinhvv

6:24 AM

Australian Agriculture

Agriculture is an important part of Australia’s economy. Australia’s exports were overwhelmingly agricultural products until the 1960’s, when mining and manufacturing grew in importance.

Agriculture occupies 60 percent of the land area of Australia, but much of this is used for open-range cattle grazing, especially in huge areas of the states of Queensland and Western Australia. Only 5 percent of Australia’s agricultural land is used for growing crops.

Western Australia and New South Wales have the largest areas of cropland. The limited area suitable for growing commercial crops is limited mainly by climate, because Australia is the world’s driest continent.

Annual rainfall of about 20 inches (500 millimeters) is necessary to grow crops successfully without irrigation; less than half of Australia receives this amount, and the rainfall is often variable or unreliable.

Years of drought may be followed by severe flooding. High temperatures throughout most of Australia also mean high evaporation rates, so rainfall figures alone are not a good guide to the feasibility of agriculture.

Australian soils usually require the application of fertilizer to grow crops successfully. The east coast of Australia is suitable for growing sugarcane, while the cooler southern parts are suited to growing wheat.

Irrigation has opened up large areas of drier land to agriculture, especially for growing fruit, but salinization (the buildup of salt in the soil) has become a major problem in some areas, especially near the mouth of the Murray River. Major agricultural plant exports from Australia are wheat and sugar. Other important agricultural exports are fruits, cotton, rice, and flowers.

Wheat

Wheat field

Long the most important crop of Australia, wheat is produced in the Wheat Belt, a crescent of land just west of the Eastern Highlands, or Great Dividing Range, which extends from central Queensland through New South Wales to Victoria, as well as in the south of South Australia and southwest Western Australia.

More than 120,000 farms in Australia grow grains, and wheat is the principal crop on some 25,000 farms. The average Australian wheat farm is family-owned and has an area of 3,700 acres (1,500 hectares). Crops are rotated, usually because of low soil fertility.

Australian wheat is planted during the winter, which is much milder than winter on the prairies of North America. Harvesting begins in September in the warm state of Queensland and moves south to Victoria and Western Australia by January.

Australian wheat is high in quality and low in moisture, so it is easy to mill. Wheat crops are frequently affected by drought; another problem is Australia’s markets, because the nation competes with the United States in wheat export.

When the British first came to Australia, convicts planted wheat on a government farm in what is now inner Sydney. They had difficulty growing wheat because of poor soils, unfamiliar climate, and inexperience, causing fear of widespread hunger.

As settlement spread beyond the coastal plain and into the interior, wheat production rose dramatically. The rapid increase in population after the gold discoveries of the 1850’s also led to increased demand for wheat. Australia began exporting wheat in 1845 and is now the world’s fourth-largest exporter of wheat.

Sugar

Sugarcane field

Sugarcane is grown in a series of small regions along the tropical coast of Queensland, extending slightly across the border into northern New South Wales. A warm, wet climate is required for successful cultivation of sugarcane, so it is confined to parts of the coastal plain with good, deep soils and reliable rainfall.

Australia is the world’s third-largest exporter of sugar. Sugar is grown on more than six thousand small, individually owned farms. Until the 1960’s, cane was cut by hand. Now it is harvested mechanically and taken by light rail to a nearby mill. There are twenty-five mills in Queensland and three in New South Wales.

Fruit

Fruit growing has a long history in Australia and is strongly influenced by climatic considerations. In Queensland, tropical fruits such as bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and papaya (called paw paw in Australia) are cultivated. In the cooler south, apples, peaches, apricots, cherries, and grapes are grown.

Grapes are grown for eating and are dried as raisins, but more important is wine production, especially in the BarossaValley (South Australia), Hunter Valley (New South Wales), Margaret River area (Western Australia), and the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and Riverina.

John Mac arthur, the founder of the Australian wool industry, established the first commercial vineyard, in New South Wales. Later European settlers planted vineyards in Victoria and South Australia.

In the 1960’smodern plantings and production methods were introduced. Australia has 242,060 acres (98,000 hectares) of vineyards and more than one thousand wineries. Wine is an important export for Australia, with the European Union purchasing 60 percent of wine exported.

Other Agricultural Products

Cotton is grown in drier interior parts of northern New South Wales and in part of central Queensland. Cotton is usually grown in conjunction with sheep farming, on family farms. Indonesia is the major customer for Australian cotton. Rice has been grown commercially in Australia since 1924, using irrigation.

New South Wales is the main producer, where the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area dominates rice production. Australia exports most of its rice crop and in 1999was theworld’s eighth-largest exporter of rice.

Oats are grown where the climate is too cool and too moist for wheat. In Australia, this is in the interior southeast with a small area in Western Australia. This state and New South Wales are the biggest producers of oats, which is used mainly for livestock fodder.

Other agricultural products of Australia include barley; grain sorghum; corn, called maize in Australia; vegetables, including potatoes, peas, tomatoes, and beans; oil seeds such as sunflower; soybeans; and tea and coffee in northern Queensland.

Australia is a major producer of honey, with more than eight hundred commercial apiarists. Blossoms of the eucalyptus tree produce distinctive-tasting honey, which is sold mainly to European Union countries.

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