When farming the land is not a food idea.
Agriculture has been practiced for many thousands of years and is one way for impoverished peoples to take care of themselves.
Producing crops is one of the simplest sustainable and cheap ways to convert energy from the sun into energy fit for human consumption and the sustaining of life.
However subsistence farming should not be practiced just anywhere. Tropical jungles are not great places for widespread farming to become entrenched.
Tropical soils are typically poor and generally not well suited to long term crop production, consequently land resources are quickly exhausted and therefore the subsistence farmer needs to clear more land to meet basic needs.
This had led to rampant deforestation due to slash and burn practices.
Slash and burn agriculture not only destroys virgin forest which help sequestrate carbon dioxide and produce oxygen but it releases carbon dioxide from the burned matter and from the disturbed soil.
Recently, in 2015, it was shown that on many of those days, the forest clearing fires in South East Asia, contributed more to emissions than all of the economic activity in the US on the same day.
More recently however it has been determined that the peatlands in the Congo basin hold huge reserves of carbon dioxide and that should these areas begin to be cleared and drained for farming it could result in a huge Carbon dioxide explosion similar to the types of methane emissions if the permafrost tundra melts rapidly.
Its better if Youths can choose farming as their profession which can definitely change the future .
I would love to plant and grow my own food. But first I need some land doesn't havve to bi huge. Once when I'll buy house with backyard I'll plant some fruit trees, bushes, and some vegetables. It would be great if people plant thier own food. I think it would help to solve a lot of problems.
Hi sme, it's great you write about this. But the issue is complicated in many ways. It's true that tropical soils are shallow due to the rapid decomposition process. But they function in different ways, fed by sugars from plants and trees. The biomass in the tropics is alive rather than covering the ground.
Slash and burn is widely practised here, and it needs to stop. We're working on demonstrating other ways, to just slash and drop. This covers the topsoil and helps protect the organisms in it from fierce sun, heavy rains and evaporation.
You can grow food in the tropics, and it's pretty easy. But to do it in sustainable ways you need crops that thrive in this climate by themselves. Rather opt for trees and perrenials than for european annuals.
2015/16 was an El Niño season. Because it was so dry in much of the region trees and plants stopped growing or died. So there was no net carbon capture and instead a release of carbon.
Still, the problems are mounting here. A lot of poor people still cut forests because they feel they have no choice. Mining and logging companies behave like they have no need to act in a responsible way. If we don't find better ways to protect our tropical forests and to reform agriculture here, we will loose a lot of natures abilities to control our climate. And too much biodiversity will also be lost.
Let's keep shining a bright light on these issues!
Great post!
Thanks for adding to the conversation
Your informative post @sme is quite educative as I am understanding why some areas should be left alone... I can't agree more based on these well informeded points...thanks for sharing.
relay Its better, thanks for information .
Nice post @sme. The rising agricultural surplus caused by increasing agricultural production and productivity tends to improve social welfare, particularly in rural areas
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