Six Pillars in Agriculture

A directive came for us to come up with a paper on agricultural transformation.  We are to discuss it within the confines of six pillars: seeds, land (soil), water, machinery, human resource and climate.  What immediately came to mind was that in my college days it was ingrained upon us that agriculture relied on four production factors: land, physical inputs, capital, and labour.  Surfing the web under 'agriculture production pillars', I was directed to CAAPD (Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme) site which defines the four pillars in agricultural development as:

Pillar 1: Land and water management

Pillar 2: Market access

Pillar 3: Food supply and hunger (food security)

Pillar 4: Agriculture research

Looking at the subject in context, it looks like things have not changed much over the years, locally and globally.  We are very much talking about the same thing still, yet besieged by new challenges to feed the ever expanding world population.

Back to the publication, we got a team to brainstorm the subject.  For a brief sitting we came up with something worth sharing.

1.        Approach:

A coffee table publication that looks at agriculture in a historical perspective showing the modernisation and value change progression with technological injection.  To show agricultural productivity improvement along the value change.

Commodity based:

·    Rice

·    selected fruit types (papaya, mango, starfruit, strawberry, melon)

·    livestock (poultry, goat/sheep) with improved animal feed and husbandry practices – will need inputs from DVS

·    vegetable (chili, tomato)

·    fishery – will need input from DOF

2.        Sample write-up with respect to the six pillars:

2.1      Seed – varietal selection process

·    Traditional on-farm selection and processing as compared to the modern breeding approach in using MAS technology and development of GMO crops/animal breeds; NAEC contribution in developing superior breed/stock

·    The new seed production technology and facilities made available

·    Seed production being developed into an industry

·    Development of hybrid crops

·    Present-day seed trade

2.2      Land

Use of ICT technology in:

·    land use planning

·    determination of soil-crop suitability

·    VRT in precision agriculture

·    Imaging technology in determining soil fertility

Agricultural and getting scarce and in competition with industrial and domestic property development leading to intensification of agriculture in terms of land use:

·    Rainshelter and environmental controlled structures for crop and animal housing

·    Changes in crop culture and animal husbandry practices

·    Tiering structure/crop layering as in strawberry cultivation

2.3      Water

Would relate to climatic change and the need for mitigation measures in economics of water use:

·     Precision agriculture

·     aerobic culture technology

·     drought tolerant crop selection

2.4      Mechanisation

Will be portrayed at the respective value change at the respective production levels:

• field production and management
• harvest
• post-harvest
• processing and product development

2.5       Human Resource

·     Group approach in agriculture for economics of scale

·     More educated, technology savvy and knowledgeable population going into agriculture activities

·     Younger population going into agriculture entrepreneurship

·     Hobbyists going into agriculture and more willing to invest for personal satisfaction.

·     More capital going into agriculture with greater innovations

2.6      Climate

·       Mitigation measures undertaken to combat changes brought about by climatic variants

·       Water saving technologies

·       Crop/animal housings with environmental control

·       Crop architecture modification

·       New crops

·       ICT in agriculture: P&D control, crop surveillance, modeling and prediction,

·       ART technology – precision farming

3.        Title:

THE SIX PILLARS IN AGRICULTURE TRANSFORMATION:

FROM TRADITIONAL TO MODERN AGRICULTURE

4.      Language: English

A path carved, but the writing journey has a long way to go.