What are the 4 main reasons for driving agricultural development? Environmental factors that influence the extent of crop agriculture are terrain, climate, soil properties, and soil water. It is the combination of these four factors that allow specific crops to be grown in certain areas. Today, in order to maximize production, most of the cultivated croplands and grasslands for commercial agriculture are in areas where crops and livestock are well suited to local conditions. In the United States, cropland (row crops, closely sown crops (except hay), fruits, nuts, vegetables) occupies about 13 percent of the total land area. Grassland and rangeland occupy another 41 percent of the land area. Describe the current situation of food security in the world. Looking at food security globally, the number of people experiencing food insecurity in the United States and other developed nations makes up only about two percent of the global total (9). The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) states that 925 million (10) people in the world are undernourished. The largest percentage of undernourished people live in Asia and the Pacific Islands, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa (9). Fortunately, there is enough food in the world today for everyone to have the nourishment they need for a healthy and productive life (11). A key factor in addressing the world's food security challenges is improving the availability, access, and utilization of food across global communities. What is agricultural development? Agriculture development means providing assistance to the crop producers with the help of various agricultural resources. Providing protection, assisting in the research sphere, employing latest techniques, controlling pests and facilitating diversity all fall within the purview of agriculture development. It primarily aims to enhance the growth rate of development in agricultural sector by boosting crop production and productivity that would assist in strengthening the farmers economically and enhancing their status and life-style. The certain ways to develop and improve the agriculture would be: 1). Improvement in Irrigation Facilities and promoting smart irrigation. 2). Providing institutional credit to the farmers for encouraging them. 3). Provide technological training to farmers to promote advanced farming methods. 4). Adequate marketing facilities to the farmers for selling their crops. 5). Availing high quality inputs for better yield. What is the difference between the weak sustainability and strong sustainability model? Weak sustainability has been defined using concepts like human capital and natural capital. Human (or produced) capital incorporates resources such as infrastructure, labor and knowledge. Natural capital covers the stock of environmental assets such as fossil fuels, biodiversity and other ecosystem structures and functions relevant for ecosystem services. In very weak sustainability, the overall stock of manmade capital and natural capital remains constant over time. It is important to note that, unconditional substitution between the various kinds of capital is allowed within weak sustainability. This means that natural resources may decline as long as human capital is increased. Strong sustainability assumes that the economic and environmental capital is complementary, but not interchangeable. Strong sustainability accepts there are certain functions that the environment performs that cannot be duplicated by humans or human made capital. The ozone layer is one example of an ecosystem service that is crucial for human existence, forms part of natural capital, but is difficult for humans to duplicate.
