Agriculture

WHAT IS AGRICULTURE?

Agriculture is the practice of cultivating and farming animals, food and other life forms that are used to sustain life. It is a science and was key to the rise of  human civilizations as agriculture enabled man to be able to feed himself and produce surpluses.

DIFFERENT  TYPES OF AGRICULTURE

1.) Shifting Cultivation

It is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned and allowed to revert to their natural vegetation while the cultivator moves on to another plot.

Shifting Cultivation

 2.) Intensive Pastoral Farming

It deals with the raising of  livestock such as cows, sheep, pigs, cattle, etc.

Intensive Pastoral Farming

3.) Subsistence Cultivation

It is a self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families.

Subsistence Cultivation

4.) Commercial Cultivation

It is a large scale production of crops for sale, intended for widespread distribution to wholesalers or retail outlets.

Commercial Cultivation

5.) Mixed Crop Cultivation

It is growing of two or more crops simultaneously on the same piece of land. It is also known as multiple cropping.

Mixed Crop Cultivation

6.) Dairy Farming

It is a business that sells milk. Dairy farmers have several cows that they raise and use to provide our milk, cheese and other dairy products.

Dairy Farming

7.) Dry Farming/ Dry land Farming

It is the cultivation of crops without irrigation in regions of limited moisture, typically less than 20 inches of precipitation annually.

Dry Land Farming

8.) Intensive Arable Farming

It is farming done on arable land which is the land that is good for farming.

Intensive Arable Farming

9.) Market Gardening

It is intensive production of high value crops from a small area of land. Market gardeners will on most cases sell their products at places like farm markets, restaurants and small local grocery stores instead of commercial markets.

Market Gardening

10.) Silk Farming

It is the rearing of silkworms for the production of silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Bombyx mori is the most widely used and intensively studied silkworm.

Silk Farming

11.) Plantation or Tree Farming

It is the process of planting of large number of saplings and waiting for them to grow into trees. These trees are then harvestedfor wood and more saplings, which can be used to grow another generation of trees.

Tree Farming

12.) Extensive Pastoral Farming

It most commonly refers to sheep and cattle farming in areas with low agriculture productivity. It is found in the mid-latitude sections of most continents. The nature of extensive farming means it requires less rainfall than that of intensive farming.

Extensive Pastoral Farming

2 CATEGORIES OF AGRICULTURE

    1.) Conventional Agriculture

              It refers to a method of farming in which the use of GMO’s, chemical pesticides herbicides and chemical fertilizers is allowed.

    

    2.) Sustainable Agriculture

         It is the act of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment. It can be understood as an ecosystem approach to agriculture.

AGRICULTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines is still primarily an agricultural country despite the plan to make it an industrialized economy by 2000. Most Citizens still live in rural areas and support themselves through agriculture. The country’s agricultural sector is made up of 4 sub sectors: farming, fisheries, livestock and forestry, which together employ 39.8% of the labor force and contribute 20% of GDP.

             

The country’s main agricultural crops are rice, corn, coconut, sugarcane, bananas, pineapple, coffee, mangoes, tobacco and abaca ( a banana-like plant). Secondary crops include peanut, cassava, sweet potato, garlic, onion, cabbage, eggplant, calamansi, rubber and cotton. 

IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE TO THE PHILIPPINE ECONOMY

Agricultural sector plays an important role in the economic progress of a nation. The materials needed and economic activities come from this.

1) Agriculural sector provides food.

The Philippine soil is best suited for root crops such as rie, corn, sugar cane, potatoes and many others. Mangoes, pineapples, coconuts, and bananas also abound. It also provides seafood for mineral and protein needs.

2) Agricultural sector provides raw materials needed to create another products.

Natural materials from forests, fields, and seas can be made into different variety of handicraft products.

3) Agricultural sector contributes to the economic progress through export.

An important source of income for the government is the exportation of agricultural products. Agricultural products that are exported to other countries include sugar, flowers, fruits, seafoods and many others.

4) Agricultural sector provides employment to a large number of Filipino.

Those on the countryside depend on agriculture for their livelihood such as farming, fishing, mining and raising livestock.

5) A progressive agricultural sector can support other sectors of the economy like manufacturing, trade and services by supplying the needed raw materials.

AGRICULTURE IN BICOL

In 2002, a total of 487.8 thousand household members (42.4%) were engaged in agricultural activities. Of this number, about 417.6 thousand (85.6%) household members were engaged in own holding, 47.6 thousand (9.7%) both in their own holding and in the holding of others, and 22.7 thousand (4.6%) in other holdings.

About 35.4% of the agricultural operators  in Bicol Region (136.3 thousand), belonged to the 40-54 years age group. Nine out of 10 agricultural operators 

were males (87.3%).

The major temporary crop of the region is palay, which was grown in 250.0 thousand hectares. The next major temporary crop was corn, covering 66.2 thousand hectares.

The major permanent crop in the region is coconut with 54 million trees. Next is abaca and pineapple.

Among livestock reared and tended in Bicol Region, hogs accounted for the largest share. Second is carabao, cattle, goats and horses.

Bicolanos also raised poultry animal like chicken, ducks and quails.

Ornamental and flower gardening (excluding orchids) was also predominantly practiced in Bicol Region aside from the common agricultural activities like planting palay, corn, etc.

AGRICULTURE IN BULAN, BICOL, PHILIPPINES

Farming is one of the most important works in the world. The foods that were consuming are the product of farming or agriculture. So we better support and give importance to the agriculture.

I had interviewed an old man who was living in Brgy. Taromata, Bulan, Sorsogon. He was Mr. Modesto Peralino, one of the residences in that barangay. He is living with his wife and his son. He’s the tenant of that land that was owned by Mrs. Gimena.

They are living there for almost 12 years. At first, the only plant in that place is coconut trees. But Mang Modesto or Desto planted other kinds of plants such as ampalaya, okra, squash, monggo, chili, eggplant, and root crops like sweet potato, and cassava. And also, they planted banana, papaya, mango and cacao trees.

He said that the seeds that he was planting came from the Local Government of Bulan. The LGU will give you seeds if you are a member of their organization. But he is also buying other seeds of plant when the LGU gave him few of it because sometimes there are few variety of plants/seeds that was available in LGU.

  

 

The land where he planted his seeds is almost one hectare. Every three days, he is harvesting his vegetables. His plants were very healthy because he’s also applying fertilizers on it. That’s why, when he’s harvesting his vegetables, he can harvest 200 kilos of it. Then he will bring them to the “Bagsakan” near the market wherein he’s selling it and his income from it is almost 8,000 pesos.

No one will suffer from poverty if your industrious. If you have a land, either wide or small, and if you know how to make it productive, you will not suffer because of too much poverty.

Be wise! If you don’t have enough knowledge in farming, ask those who knew and they can help you a lot. You can provide your family’s needs and you are a  big help in our economy. You don’t only provide for your family but also the people in your country.

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