Business of Agriculture March April 2019 Edition | Page 16

NEW AGE TECHNOLOGY
BOOSTING AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY
By: Rohitt Sharrma *
B
etween 1970 and 2010 the world’s population
doubled, while the amount of farmland
remained the same. Despite a doubling of
the world’s population, the under nutrition rate has
fallen by 39 percent since 1990 and people have
more variety of food to choose from than ever
before. Improved farming technologies have allowed
the world’s farmers to produce more food on the
same amount of land. Technology is the main reason
behind the success of farming and its use will certainly
eradicate hunger and malnutrition completely in the
near future.
Farming began
roughly 10,000
years ago when
human hunter-
gatherers
realised that
they could eat
by cultivating
wheat and
other crops
challenges were presented by agriculture such as: the
human survival was almost completely dependent on
the quality of the harvest; and natural calamities like
droughts when they occurred led to a poor harvest
and starvation for many.
Despite the birth of agriculture nearly 10,000 years
ago, little innovation in agricultural took place until
only a few hundred years ago. Nearly a century ago,
the US, even then the largest economy in the world
was primarily agrarian and most Americans worked on
farms. India is still primarily an agricultural society and
farmers make up a majority of the Indian workforce.
Farming is the Oldest Organised Industry
Farming began roughly 10,000 years ago when
human hunter-gatherers realised that they could
eat by cultivating wheat and other crops. Gradually
agriculture led to the development of settlements
and a rapid increase in human population. Many new
16 Business of Agriculture | March-April 2019 • Vol. V • Issue 2
Innovations in Agriculture
Innovation in agriculture began when human labour
was replaced by tractors, combines, and other farm
machinery. While irrigation techniques and fertilizers
had been gradually used for thousands of years,