Improvement in Food Resources

India's population keeps growing, but farm land cannot grow with it. So the only honest answer is to make each hectare give more, while keeping the soil, water and our health safe - this is called sustainable agriculture. Food comes from two sources: crops grown as plants, and animal husbandry, the scientific rearing of cattle, poultry, fish and bees. Crops are grouped by season: kharif crops (rice, maize, soyabean) grow in the rainy months, and rabi crops (wheat, gram, mustard) grow in winter.

Crop variety improvement means breeding new varieties that give a higher yield, resist diseases and pests (biotic resistance), tolerate drought, heat or salt (abiotic resistance), and ripen quickly so a field can be reused. This is done mainly by hybridisation (crossing two different plants) and by selecting desirable plants. Farmers also arrange crops cleverly: mixed cropping grows two crops together to reduce the risk of total failure; inter-cropping plants them in set rows for better use of light and nutrients; and crop rotation grows different crops in successive seasons - putting a pulse in the rotation lets nitrogen-fixing bacteria restore the soil.

Plants need sixteen nutrients. Three (carbon, oxygen, hydrogen) come from air and water; the remaining thirteen come from the soil. Of these, six are needed in large amounts (macronutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and seven in tiny amounts (micronutrients). Two ways replace what crops take out. Manure is organic matter from decomposed dung and plant waste; it works slowly, adds humus and improves soil texture and water holding. Fertilisers are factory-made chemicals rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium; they act fast but add no humus, and overuse damages soil and pollutes water. Good farmers use both. Irrigation then supplies water on time through wells, canals, tanks or rainwater harvesting.

Growing food is only half the job - it must be protected. Weeds, insect pests and diseases are controlled by weeding, pesticides and resistant varieties. After harvest, grains are dried and stored carefully against moisture, insects, rats and fungus, or huge amounts are lost. The animal side, animal husbandry, raises cattle for milk (dairy) and draught work, poultry for eggs and meat (broilers and layers), fish through fisheries (capture from the sea, or culture in ponds and composite fish culture), and bees through apiculture for honey and wax. In every case, good breeds, clean shelter, balanced feed and disease control raise both quantity and quality.