AGRO-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM

Agricultural food production

dependant on:
1) CLIMATE
2) WATER
3) SOIL
4) HUMAN RESOURCES
CLIMATE
 CLIMATE (4 REGIONS)
A) TROPICS
• High temperature,
• A lot of rainfall
• Many agricultural activities
• Crops : rubber, oil palm, cocoa,
coconuts and sugarcane.
 Picture source:
Picture source: http://www.gjxu.com/free-wallpaper/rain-forest-
http://ssquah.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html
wallpaper.html

Tropics: from left clockwise:

tropical rainfalls, rubber trees
& coconut trees

Picture source:
http://matthewmeierphoto.photoshelter.com/image/I0000cuzQ9SqBuvE
 CLIMATE
B) TEMPERATE
• Neither too warm nor too cold
• Neither too wet nor too dry
• Weather not extreme but changeable
• 4 seasons
• Crops planted in spring, harvested in summer (eg. maize &
wheat)
• Vegetables continuously grown (winter in glass house)
• Livestock farming: most suitable
• Large cattle reared for milk and beef performed best in the
temperate region.
 Temperate: Scenery in
autumn in a farm
(Picture source:
http://www.touristmaker.com/climate/temperate.html)

Dairy cattle performed best

in the temperate region
(Picture source: http://hot100tips.com/pets/how-to-know-if-
livestock-farming-is-for-you/)
 CLIMATE
C) TUNDRA (treeless land)
• very low temperatures (below 0oC)
• Long, cold dark winter (6-10 months)
• little water and sunshine
• short growing season (6-10 weeks)
• dominant vegetation: grasses, mosses and lichens
• crops/livestock hardly grown/raised
• Only in restricted enclosures adequate water supply.
• three types of tundra; Arctic tundra, Antarctic tundra &
Alpine tundra
 Arctic Tundra (Permafrost):
Map of Arctic tundra in orange
colour (top) &
Scenery of Arctic tundra in
Greenland (left)
(Picture source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra)
Antarctic Tundra (Permafrost):
from right clockwise:
Kerguelen Islands, Antarctic
hairgrass & the map of
Antarctica

Picture source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra

Picture source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_hair_grass

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica
 Alpine Tundra (high altitude):
View from the top of the White Mountains, USA
(Picture source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra )
 CLIMATE
D) DESERT
• very little precipitation, < than 250 mm
annually
• vegetation very sparse
• Temperature very high in the day, very low
at night
• Agriculture only possible with sufficient
irrigation
Desert: Hot and dry Namib desert in
Africa (top) &
Satellite view of a desert in Saudi
Arabia (right)
(Picture source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert)
 WATER
• Agriculture activities: Rain-fed or irrigation
• earliest civilization along the river banks eg. The
Nile valley in Egypt & Tigris-Euphrates in
Mesopotamia (Iraq)
• southern peninsular Malaysia: avg. annual
rainfall > 3000 mm, suitable for oil palm
cultivation.
• Kedah-Perlis region: <2000 mm, more suitable
for rubber and mangoes
• Good irrigation suitable for padi
• Eg. Krian (Perak), Sawah Sempadan (Selangor)
 Agriculture irrigation canal in Kedah
(Picture source: http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/Malaysia/photo1268953.htm)
 SOIL
• Important in soil nutrient cycle

Leaf-falls, dead wood

falls as organic matter
& humus

Nutrient elements + water

taken by plants
 TYPES OF SOIL
• Can be based on:
– A) factors of soil formation such as parent
material, climate, topography, vegetations and
time
– B) profile
– C) physical & chemical composition
 SOIL FORMATION BASED ON
TOPOGRAPHY

Location A = acid sulphate soil (along the coastline)

Location B = peat soil
Location C = coastal alluvium soil
Location D = rapidly weathering soil (deep and red)
Location E = easly eroded, shallow soil (esp. when lack of vegetation)
Location F = cool highland soils
 HUMAN RESOURCE
• Agriculture cannot operate without workforce
• scientists who conduct research from production level to processing
and marketing.
• teaching institutions of agriculture to produce graduates in numerous
fields
• supporting specialists such as extension specialist to pass the
knowledge to the operators in the fields, marketing specialists and
the economists.
• Agriculture also often involves human labour
• Human labour: land preparation, planting and harvesting
• Can be replaced with machines (LIMITED)
• Skilled operators needed
• Foreign labour
 Agricultural scientist
(http://organic.about.com/od/careersinorganics/tp/10-Top-
Careers-In-The-Organic-Industry.htm)

Agricultural lecturer in one

of the agriculture teaching
institution
(http://mustangdaily.net/agriculture-lecturer-speaks-on-
sustainability/)
 Agricultural extension meeting
between extension staff and
farmers
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bartlett_-_Extension_Meeting_-
_Nepal_2002.jpg)

Agriculture involves human

labour
(http://www.whatthebleep.com/herald13/cuba.shtml)
 Agriculture needs
skilled workers
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/07/f-
migrant-workers-rules.html)

Agriculture usually needs

foreign labour
(http://www.panglima.my/?m=20110921)
 ENVIRONMENT
• World Agroecological Zones - according to
climate, soil and vegetation.

• (a) Tundra
– very cold, low biotic diversity, simple
vegetation of mosses and grasses, dwarf
trees

• (b) Grasslands (the American Prairies, Russian

Steppes, African Savannah and Argentinean Pampas)
– low fertile land, mild climate, field crops such
as soybean, wheat, maize, and livestock
(c) Deserts (African Sahara and Kalahari,
China’s Gobi, and Arabian ).
- very little precipitation, extreme diurnal
temperatures, barren (gersang), plants are
xerophytic (dry plants)

(d) Tropics
- rain and sunshine all year round, rainforest,
rubber, oil palm, cocoa, coconut and
breadfruit).
 From left clockwise;
Tundra, Grassland, Desert & Tropics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Konza1.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara

http://www.rainforestoutdoor.com/2010/06/rainforest-
malaysia.html
IMPACT OF CLIMATIC CHANGE
1) GLOBAL WARMING
CAUSE: fossil fuels in industries and
transportation releases greenhouse gas
such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide
and methane
EFFECT: increased world temperature
and caused climatic instability:
i) melting polar ice cap (inundation)
ii)rise of sea level (flood)
(a) (b)

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/breast-cancer-
risk-factors/prevent-breast-cancer-PAHs-exhaust-47100120

(http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-
warming/gw-causes/) (c)
Causes of global warming;
a) from industries
b) transportation release
c) greenhouse gases

(http://www.koshland-science-
museum.org/exhibitgcc/causes02.jsp)
 http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2080-2089.htm

(a)
Effects of global
warming;
a)melting of polar ice cap
b)rise of sea level

(b)

http://environment-clean-generations.blogspot.com/2011/08/effects-of-
global-warming.html
IMPACT OF CLIMATIC CHANGE
2)DESERTIFICATION
CAUSE: expansion of desert area due to
climatic changes, agric. Mismanagement

EFFECT: less arable land available for

agriculture
 Cause of desertification:
Mismanagement of
agriculture activity. eg.
overgrazing of dryland area in
Chile
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertification)

Effect of desertification:
Less lands area for
agriculture
(http://www.nocere.com/famine/tibet-experience-climatic-
challenge/)
 IMPACT OF POLLUTION
• Extensive commercial agricultural activities
created polluting byproducts

• EFFECTS:
A) ACID RAIN (low pH)
- polluting gasses sulphur dioxide and
nitrogen oxides  into the atmosphere 
acid rains.
- impact on forest, fresh water and soil, killing
off life forms, and affecting crops and animal
production.
 IMPACT OF POLLUTION
2) HEAVY METALS
– areas of intensive industry and with
automobiles
– Zinc, copper and lead
– easily transported and available to plants
and animals
– EG: Continuous use of fertilizer that
contain cadmium contained in phosphate
rocks will pollute the soil and render the
crops toxic.
• EXCESSIVE CHEMICAL PESTICIDE
– AFFECT BIODIVERSITY
– AFFECT CONSUMERS HEALTH

• EXCESSIVE CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS

– HIGH LEVEL OF NITRATE
– NITRATE FROM SOIL WATER ECOSYS.
 RAPID ALGAE GROWTH LESS O2
LESS AQUATIC LIFE
THANK YOU