EFFECTS OF MODERN

AGRICULTURE

 Agriculture has been considered as a

way of life. Ever increasing population
places greater demands on agriculture
to increase the production, to match the
increasing demands for food supply.
With agricultural development though
food production has successfully
increased nearly everywhere but it has
failed to match with the growing
population in many areas - specially
developing countries of Africa, Asia and
Latin America.

Over the period of time, the

development of agriculture was
achieved in terms of:
Expansion and /or conversion of
agricultural lands
Increased agricultural productivity
Multiple-cropping pattern
Conversion of single-cropping
system to two tier / or three
tiercultivation
Expansion of natural limits.

In due course of time, agricultural

development became possible due to
Development of modern scientific techniques
Advanced technology
Expansion of irrigational facilities
Use of chemical fertilizers
Use of pesticides and insecticides
Development and use of high yielding
varieties of seeds
Changed agricultural practices
Mechanization of agriculture
Varying crop sequences and
Land ownership and the land tenure.

Expansion and Conversion of

Agricultural Land
Conversion and expansion of
agricultural land and forest areas
changes in their natural limits.
Thousands of millions of tons of soil
is lost annually due to large-scale
deforestation and/ or poor land
management records chain reaction
in the broad areas.

Application of Chemical Fertilizers,

Pesticides and Insecticides

Fertilizer application in South Asia

including India has multiplied with
widespread introduction of the Green
Revolution. Not only the number of
fertilizer plants has gone up but also
the production has multiplied,
resulting in many a disorder.

The High Yielding Varieties

Programme
The introduction of high yielding
varieties has changed the
agricultural environment by creating
a variety of pest problems. Many of
these either were unknown or were
of minor importance in the early
sixties.
The increased irrigational facilities,
higher use of fertilizers and the high
yielding varieties led to the

Development of Irrigational
Facilities
The multiple cropping and intensive
uses of chemical fertilizers and
heavy watering of the agricultural
land result in the rise of the water
level. As a result, such areas have
developed the problem of water
logging, ultimately damaging the
standing crops, microorganisms,
animals and even the human
population.

Intensive and Extensive

Cultivation
The introduction of intensive
cultivation to get the maximum
production and the variety of crops
through multiple cropping, croprotations, changing crop-combination
from the same unit of land has
resulted in the decline of the
productivity and total production due
to critical limit of the soil.

Mechanisation
The use of tractors, combined with
harvesters increased with suitable
machinery to work on difficult soils
became practicable and has brought
such lands under plough. Increasing
use of machinery arid tractors with
the development of two-tier and/or
three-tier cultivation system has
pulverized the land.

FERTILIZERS &
INSECTICIDES

 Substances which are added to the

soil to increase its fertility are called
Fertilizers.
Many natural substance like leaves,
cow dung, bone meal compost etc
are used to make up the deficiency
of nitrogen , phosphorus and
potassium in soils. These substance
are known as natural fertilizers.

Artificial inorganic fertilizers (Synthetic fertilizers)

Nitrogenous fertilizers:
Important nitrogenous fertilizers are
1) Ammonium sulphate
2) Ammonium phosphate
3) Calcium Cyanamid
4) Urea

Phosphatic fertilizers:Important phosphatic fertilizers are

1) Super phosphate of lime ( Calcium

super phosphate)
2) Triple super phosphate
3) Ammonium superphosphate

Mixed fertilizers: A fertilizer which contains more than one

plant nutrients is called mixed fertilizer.

Mixed fertilizer Containing nitrogenous,

phosphatic and potash fertilizers in
definite proportions.
Such fertilizers are called NPK fertilizers

Impact of excessive use of

fertilizers on environment
The increased use of fertilizers to
expand food supplies have come at a
large cost to our environment.

Modern agricultural techniques are

typically wasteful in their use of
fertilizers.

 Often, many farmers add large

amounts of fertilizer or manure at
the time of sewing in order to cover
and protect the young plants.
This technique is inefficient, since the
young plants are unable to absorb
most of the nitrogen.
Therefore, much of the nitrogen is

lost to the environment in a number

BIO FERTILIZERS:

Biofertilizers are ready to use live

formulates of such beneficial
microorganisms which on
application to seed, root or soil
mobilize the availability of
nutrients by their biological
activity in particular, and help
build up the micro-flora and in turn
the soil health in general.

Benefits from using biofertilizers

Increase crop yield by 20-30%.
Replace chemical nitrogen and phosphorus
by 25%
.
Stimulate plant growth.
Activate the soil biologically.
Restore natural soil fertility.
Provide protection against drought and
some soil borne diseases.

Advantages of bio-fertilizers
1.Cost effective.
2.Suppliment to fertilizers.
3.Eco-friendly (Friendly with nature).
4.Reduces the costs towards fertilizers use,
especially regarding nitrogen and
phosphorus.

PESTICIDES

Pesticides are chemical substances

used to kill insects, fungi,
rodents,weeds or other living things
which are harmful to plants, animals or
foodstuffs.
Pesticides function as poisons for the
important biological process of
insects, fungi etc which lead to the
death of these organisms.

Classification of pesticides
Depending upon the purpose for which
the pesticides are used, they are
classified as
follows.

i) insecticides
ii) herbicide
iii) fungicides
iv) rodenticides
nematocides.

v) algaecide
vi) molluscicides
vii) miticides
viii)

Insecticides:Chemicals used to kill the insects are

called insecticides. Insecticides are
further classified into Stomach poisons,
contact poison and fumigants .
Herbicides
Herbicides are used to destroy weeds
(destroy the growth of plants).

eg: 2,4 D (2,4 dichloro phenoxy acetic

acid)

Fungicides:Fungicides are are chemicals which

are used to prevent the growth of fungi
or eradicate fungal diseases of plants.
Eg: Lime, sulphur, formalin etc
Rodenticides:These are chemicals used to kill rats
and mice which destroy crops and
spread deseases.
Eg: Sodium fluoroacetate, Zinc
phosphide etc

Algaecide:-

These are chemicals added to water

to destroy algae.
Eg: copper sulphate
Molluscicides:These are chemicals used to destroy
mollusks like snails , slugs etc
eg: Copper sulphate, metaldehyde etc

Miticides:Chemicals used to destroy mites are

called miticides .
eg: organo phosphates.
Nematocides:These are chemicals used for the
distruction of nematodes like round
worms, thread worms etc .
eg: dimethoate

ironmental impact of pestic

The excessive use of pesticides have created

tremendous adverse effects on environment

1) Environmental pollution:Pesticides drained to water bodies

causes water pollution . hence water in
river, lakes and seas gets polluted which
becomes hazardous to aquatic animals
like fishes.
Pesticides may also washed down to
ground water which pollute drinking
water. During the spraying of pesticides it
may reach in to atmosphere and pollute

 Certain pesticides such as DDT, BHC etc

persisted in the environment accumulated
in blood,milk and fat of animals.Beyond
certain permitted levels, they are very
dangerous to human beings and animals
) Pesticides may kill the friendly insecticides

along with the inimical insects during its

action
) Different herbicides used for destroying

weeds can destroy the vegetation in the

neighboring areas also.

Repeated use of pesticides may

produce immunity or resistance in
insects. Resistance has been observed
in houseflies, mosquitoes etc.

Effect on human health ;- Pesticides

cause several harmful effects in
human body. Pesticides are proved to
be lethal if their intake exceed a
maximum limit.