The abundance of plant pests in the tropics, including weeds and disease, makes agriculture successful mainly in the plantation system, where needed control measures can be financed. The alternative is to move from deteriorated land to newer fields; this practice of shifting agriculture has also been common, because tropical soils lose their productive capacity so rapidly.However, the social impact of the consequential rural depopulation has not been adequately addressed. The second most important advance in technology has been the ready availability of rural electricity to power a multiplicity of items of farm equipment including lighting, heating, ventilation, milking, pumping, drying, milling, conveying and mixing. Furthermore, the automation of both mechanically and electrically powered equipment is now a dominant feature of mechanization developments in the developed regions and will inevitably impact to an increasing extent on the developing regions as labor costs increase. The rapid penetration of telecommunication and information technologies will provide a further layer of sophistication to the mechanization capability and strategies in agriculture.
Sponsored
The abundance of plant pests in the tropics, including weeds and disease, makes agriculture successful mainly in the plantation system, where needed control measures can be financed. The alternative is to move from deteriorated land to newer fields; this practice of shifting agriculture has also been common, because tropical soils lose their productive capacity so rapidly.However, the social impact of the consequential rural depopulation has not been adequately addressed. The second most important advance in technology has been the ready availability of rural electricity to power a multiplicity of items of farm equipment including lighting, heating, ventilation, milking, pumping, drying, milling, conveying and mixing. Furthermore, the automation of both mechanically and electrically powered equipment is now a dominant feature of mechanization developments in the developed regions and will inevitably impact to an increasing extent on the developing regions as labor costs increase. The rapid penetration of telecommunication and information technologies will provide a further layer of sophistication to the mechanization capability and strategies in agriculture.
Sponsored