What are the Long Run Effects of Current Trends in Cropping Pattern?

List of Long Run Effects of Current Trends in Cropping Pattern:

Increased use of Fertilizers and Pesticides:

We are using more and more fertilizers and pesticides of the inorganic type while growing crops which has two main disadvantages: One is that our health is being affected due to the fruits and vegetables becoming so toxic that our body cannot tolerate and we fall ill very often. Secondly, the tolerance of pests to the pesticides develops, and slowly they become ineffective.

Use of Hybrid and High Yielding Varieties:

We were earlier using our indigenous seeds to grow crops, and those had better nutrition value. Now the hybrid seeds are being used after the onset of the green revolution. They are not so nutritious and this awareness has lead to the growing importance of organic farming, but it is not been done on a very large scale, so it does not have a significant impact on total production. This calls for the development of a new system in which the traditional methods and the modern scientific technique is combined to reap the advantages of both and minimize the drawbacks.

Increased Water Demand:

New production techniques require the usage of ore water. In fact, we are using 10% of our water in the agricultural sector, and the need would increase if intensive cropping is done. The result is that our ground water resources are used up. More and more irrigation projects have to be undertaken by the government, which have adverse effects on the environment, and also use of agricultural land, for non-agricultural purposes.

This is however a project that the government has to undertake, but an additional step of water conservation needs to be undertaken, as agriculture cannot generate so many jobs as industry and is also less productive. That is why industrial development is all the more important.

Depletion of Forest Areas:

There is need for a minimum forest area to be maintained, the specification being 33%, for the ecological balance to be maintained. Increasing the cropping intensity reduces the forest cover. We have tried to maintain a reasonable forest cover by afforestation methods and maintenance of the existing reserves. In many areas this ecological balance has been disturbed because of increase in agricultural activities, which needs to be take care of.