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In this lesson we are going to discuss on introduction to agriculture

Answer Text:
Agriculture
- The practice of cultivating crops and rearing of animals
Factors Influencing
Agriculture
1. Physical Factors
a) Climate
i) Temperature
- Some domestic animals do well in hot and warm areas e.g. goats and camels while others do well in cool areas
e.g. exotic breeds of cattle such as Guernsey.
- Some crops do well in cool areas e.g. tea and wheat while some others do well in warm areas e.g. sisal and cotton.
- High temperatures increase the rate of evaporation of moisture which causes crops to wither and eventually die.
- Night frosts damage tender leaves of some crops e.g. tea and bananas.
ii) Sunshine
- Needed for photosynthesis process in which plants manufacture food for growth and formation of fruits and seeds.
- Sufficient sunshine is required during ripening of crops to ensure that they have high sugar content.
- Sunshine is required during harvesting to prevent crop from rotting and also for drying harvested crops.
iii) Winds
- Winds accelerate evaporation and transpiration which may cause crops to wither and eventually die.
- Hot and dry winds damage crops such as cocoa by causing them to ripen prematurely.
- Wind is important for pollination necessary for fruit and seed formation.
- Violent wind may cause falling of tall varieties of crops like maize and bananas.
iv) Moisture
- Inadequate moisture causes failed germination and retarded growth of crops.
- Too much water causes root and fruit rot.
- Livestock rearing is realised in areas which receive moderate to abundant rainfall
- Insufficient rainfall leads to shortage of pasture for animals causing poor quality and low production
b) Soil
- Deep soils favour growth of deep rooted crops while shallow soils favour growth of shallow rooted crops.
- There is retarded growth of crops in infertile soils.
- Clay soils are suitable for growing of rice because they retain water for a long time.
- Volcanic soil favour growth of crops requiring acidic soils e.g. coffee and tea.
- Soil water is required for germination and facilitating uptake of minerals in solution.
c) Topography/relief
i)Altitude
- Influences temperature determining type of crops and animals to be reared.
ii) Terrain
- Most crops do well on sloping land as it is well drained e.g. coffee and tea.
- Rolling plateaus and plains are suitable for large scale mechanized farming and irrigation.
- Gentle terrain eases cultivation and favours animals as they can graze with ease.
iii) Aspect
- Slopes facing the sun can support crop growing and livestock rearing because they are warmer while those facing
away tend to be cooler and are dominated by forests and grasslands.
- Windward slopes are wetter than leeward slopes and more suitable for growing crops and rearing animals while leeward slopes are dominated by
grasslands and more suitable for beef livestock rearing.
2. Biotic factors
a) Weeds
- Compete with plants for moisture, nutrients and sunlight leading to low and poor quality yields.
- Can choke pastures on which animals feed.
- Can increase the cost of agriculture as a lot of money is spent on hiring labour to weed the farms and buying chemical herbicides.
b) Insects
- Locusts and army warms eat green leaves and stems on their way destroying everything.
- Tsetse flies and ticks transmit livestock diseases i.e. trypanosomiasis and East Coast Fever.
- Some insects such as bees and butterflies are useful to crop farming because they aid in pollination.
- Bees give us honey.
- Controlling pests increases cost of agriculture.
c) Small Animals
- Squirrels eat newly planted maize.
- Rats and mice destroy harvested grains.
- Quelea birds feed on rice while on the farm reducing its yield.
d) Diseases
- Diseases weaken and eventually kill plants and animals.
- Diseases also weaken and kill humans which cause labour shortage increasing labour costs.
- Controlling diseases also increases cost of agriculture.
3. Human/ Social factors
a) Traditions
i) Gender
- In some communities, food production is a sole responsibility of women and children so the produce and land under cultivation will
depend on women and children labour input e.g. W. Africa.
ii) Traditional foods
- Types of crops grown in most parts are traditional/staple foods of those communities.
iii) Prestige
- Maasai value cattle and whoever has the most cattle is regarded in high esteem.
b) Land Tenure System
- Cash crops such as coffee can’t be grown on leased land.
- Large scale farming can’t be practiced on excessively fragmented land.
- Nomadic pastoralism and shifting cultivation can be practiced in communally owned land.
c) Religious Beliefs
- Hindus don’t practise commercial cattle rearing because they treat cow as a sacred animal.
- Pig rearing isn’t practiced in regions with large presence of Muslims such as Arabic countries because Koran terms pig as unclean.
4. Economic Factors
a) Operating Costs
- If capital isn’t available he will farm on a smaller piece of land and vice versa.
- A farmer may decide not to grow a type of crop such as those easily perishable to avoid incurring cost in transporting and storing of
produce to maintain their freshness.
b) Price Fluctuations
Price fall discourage some farmers causing some to neglect or uproot their crops and venture in other areas such as horticulture and dairy
farming.
- When prices are favourable farmers may expand acreage under production.
c) Govt Policy/Political
Factors
- Govt may encourage productivity by subsidies and guaranteeing prices.
- May tackle overproduction by withdrawing the same.
- May affecting acreage under particular types of crops e.g. by encouraging growing of cash crops or food crops.
Trade Restrictions
- Quota system ensures production doesn’t greatly exceed demand since a country won’t be able to export more quantity than it
has been allocated.