This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
How is farming different in less economically developed countries (LEDCs)?
In less economically developed countries, farms are usually smallerand worked primarily to provide food for the farmer and his family.
Farmers in LEDCs usually have almost no money to invest in their farms. They cannot afford things like pesticides, artificial fertilizers or agricultural machinery.
As a result, their yields are usually low compared to farmers in more economically developed countries (MEDCs).
All the rain falls between May and September. Seven months of the year are usually completely dry.
The cattle graze further north during the rainy season and move south, closer to the water holes in the dry season.
Sometimes the rains don’t
come at all, and many cattle die.
The cattle herders are subsistence farmers, however many of them sell some of their meat and milk at market, and use the money to buy vegetables and cereal crops.Some grow a few crops to add to their income from herding. This means staying in the same place for part of the year.
Subsistence farmers only just grow enough food to survive. This makes them vulnerable to famine if conditions are bad.
1. Flooding – for example in Bangladesh.The rivers Brahmaputra and Ganges cause flooding in Bangladesh every year. In particularly heavy years, it is devastating.
Thousands of people are drowned, or die of diseases spread by the dirty water.
Entire crops are wiped out.
Cattle and other livestock are drowned.
Farmers have no insurance or savings to help them cope. LEDCs have little money to spend on flood defences.
Soil erosion is when the fertile top layer of the soil is blown or washed away.
In the Sahel, low rainfall has led to a loss of vegetation. With no roots to hold it together, the dry topsoil is easily removed by the wind, or washed away when the rains finally do come.
The growing population of the region also contributes. Grazing and arable fields are overused and become less fertile. More trees are also cut down for firewood.
Soil erosion can lead to desertification – ‘semi-arid’
There is now evidence that long term use of high-yielding crops and the extra chemicals they need, may lead to a decline in soil fertility. This means that more and more fertilizer is required to get the same yield.
Was the Green Revolution a success?
However, India now produces enough food to make sure that tragedies like the Bengal famine of the 1940s, are unlikely to be repeated.
How successful do you think the Green Revolution was in solving India’s food production problems?
FairtradeSmall producers of goods like coffee, are often at the mercy of global commodity prices. Sometimes prices fall so low that they don’t even cover the cost of production.
Fairtrade organisations buy goods directly from growers, who receive a fair price, or from plantations that pay decent wages and do not exploit their workers. The goods are then marketed to consumers as being ‘Fairtrade’.
CharitiesMany charities and NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) work with farmers in LEDCs on projects to improve agriculture, like irrigation and tree planting.