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The importance of agriculture to China
Environmental changes impact
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Chinese Rice Farming
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An ancient Chinese proverb reads, “Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook.” In a comical manner, this proverb illustrates an important point - rice serves an essential function to the people of China. As the pivotal mediator between the Chinese people and the rice they consume, the weather, climate, and environment has played an integral role in rice’s production and utility, as well as the importance it plays within the culture. Ironically, something so integral to Chinese society may not indeed be sustainable for the future.
Before discussing the important inter-dynamics between rice, people and the environment, it is necessary to briefly review the importance of rice in China. Rice is the staple food source of China, a country containing over 1.3 billion residents. Chinese officials report that the per capita energy intake of food is around 2,600 calories, where ¾ of their protein and 5/6 of their caloric intake come from grain – primarily rice.28 The government has gone to great lengths to feed their ever burgeoning population and it is a monumental undertaking. China produces 35% of the world’s total rice production, ranging from 171 million to 191 million metric tons annually over the past decade.29
Chinese mythology has expounded upon many of the critical elements that pertain to human existence: the division of the heavens and the earth, the creation of man, and the origins of rice. According to legend, rice’s origin is begins during the aftermath of a devastating storm thousands of years ago.30 The lands and rivers were flooded and food sources were scarce; every type of plant life was destroyed and no animals could be found. Seeing the hardships the...
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...the fields during the monsoons would be almost impossible, and highly expensive. Other proposed remedies have their own specific costs and benefits, but as of yet no comprehensive, realistic solution has been developed.37 Until this occurs, the situation in China, and the world at large, gets worse by the day.
At this point in time, there are no signs suggesting that China will abandon their “rice culture”, and weather and climate will both influence and be impacted by rice production for years to come. Scientific research is advancing by the day and we will eventually find a solution to this rice methane problem. Hopefully, this paper has been able to illustrate how important the dynamic relationship between rice, the weather and climate, and Chinese society, and how a subject that on surface may appear to be dull to some can be rather exciting and educational.
In the first chapter of the book the author discusses a brief world history and evolution of rice crops. It is interesting to see that even though parts of Africa had their own rice crop variety, the globalization of rice crop Oryza Sativa has been slowly replacing the African variety. The author also starts
Climate change is causing problems all over the world. One of the largest examples of this is the desertification of the Northern China. The loss of valuable land is displacing over thirty thousand people. Edward Wong, the another of all three articles discusses three different elements of Chinas problem. Wong uses the different tones in his three articles to convey different messages. The contrasting tones allow him to tailor his writing to fit different themes throughout each article.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1980, China: Multiple Cropping and Related Crop Production Technology, report on the fao/undp study tour or the People's Republic of China, 25 June- 22 July 1979: Rome, United Nations Publishing.
While the Green Revolution increased food grain productivity and improved food security, further innovation is necessary to increase a sustainable food supply in the face of climate change. The impact of climate change on rice production in Asia is of particular policy interest, according to Gardner, as rice is the most important component in millions of Asians’ diets (133). As the seventeen Asian countries that produce the majority of the rice supply are located at different latitudes and terrains, climate change impact on rice production is diversified and uncertain at this point. The most at-risk region of South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) contains 23 percent of the world’s population, but generates only 2 percent of global income. This region has 40 percent of the world’s poorest people and the greatest number of hungry people. Gardner emphasizes that this region of the world is clearly the most vulnerable, in terms of the number of people likely to be affected, to any depressing effect of climate change on agricultural production
Until now, genetically engineered crops were created to resist insect pests or to control the growth of weeds by using herbicides. However, in this circumstance the genetically engineered rice not only benefits the farmers who grow it, but primarily the consumers who eat it. These consumers include at least a million children who die every year because they are weakened by vitamin-A deficiency and an additional 350,000 people who go blind. In addition to this concern, there is another. It is prospected that by the year 2020, the demand for grain, both for human consumption and for animal feed, is projected to go up by nearly half, while the amount of farmable land will probably dwindle, thus introducing a whole new series of problems.
There were numerous agricultural advancements in imperial China, and they all had huge impacts on society. The first impact was the introduction of a new type rice. The old rice was often destroyed due to the frequent droughts and violent storms, called typhoons. Also, the rice took 5 months to fully mature. The new rice was brought in the 11th century. It was drought resistant and took only 2 months to mature instead of 5. This had a huge impact on society because it allowed farmers to plant 2 crops a year instead of just one. This caused the rice business in China boomed. With the increased rice production, better farming techniques were developed. These included an improved plow and harrow which were used to plow and level the ground. This
In Japan, various birds and mammals have exhibited trends towards larger body size due to increasing food availability with regionally increasing temperatures. However, the major concern dealing with climate change is rice yields; they are projected to decrease up to 40% in irrigated lowland areas of central and southern Japan. The impact of rising temperatures on the world’s food supplies was a key issue for climate experts that met in Japan because a changing climate is one of a number of issues pushing Japan towards a food crisis. Dr. Raquel Moreno Panaranda, from the United Nations University in Yokohama said, “The whole food system is not secure at all.” Japan is working to counteract the effects of climate change, not only regionally, but also worldwide to ensure that a food crisis does not occur in the immediate future.
China has approximately 20% of the world’s population, which is around 1.3 billion people (Morris, 2009, p. 111). Also, China has become one of the worlds biggest manufacturing countries within 30 years (Fawssett, 2009, p. 27). However, such rapid development has come at a cost, which has created various environmental problems. Coincidentally, China has 16 cities on a list of the 20 worst polluted cities in the world (Fawssett, 2009, p. 15). Therefore, this essay will explain the reasons for China’s environmental problems, then evaluate the claim that the Chinese government and people, are tackling these environmental problems. First, crop farming techniques over the last hundred years, and their consequences will be explained. Followed by, how peoples choice in food has changed over the last hundred years, and how this indirectly affects the environment. Then, how a capitalist economy is linked to agriculture, and finally what the Chinese government and people are doing to tackle these problems.
In this essay, the effects of climate change on agriculture and how to manage it shall be discussed. Climate change has and will greatly affect agriculture. As time progresses, the effects of climate change will worsen and become detrimental. Mendelsohn and Dinar (2009:1) state,” if future climate scenarios lead to a widespread reduction in food supply, there could be massive problems with hunger and starvation”. Climate change is a change in global climate patterns which is mainly caused by the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels. The writer chose this topic because climate change is a global problem that will pose a threat to people’s lives around the world and must be dealt with sooner than later.
...rtino, Z. Cai, D. Gwary, H. Janzen, P. Kumar, B. McCarl, S. Ogle, F. O’Mara, C. Rice, B. Scholes, O. Sirotenko (2007): Agriculture. In Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [B. Metz, O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer (eds)]. IPCC. [Online] p.499-532. Available from: http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-chapter8.pdf. [Accessed: 13th March 2014]
This final report is going to analyze the different opinions of people, who come from different nations, about the influence of climate change on food security. The research will focus on 40 students at International Pacific College (IPC). They are both males and females who come from New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam. The primary data, which was collected from the quantitative questionnaires with 21 questions, was used in this study. The main factor that will be discussed in this research is how aware people are about the influence of climate change on food security, people’s concern when they choose food and the attentiveness of people about food security. Different nationality and gender were included in this research to notice the different thoughts from people who come from different nations in the world about climate change and food security because the climates are not similar in different countries.
It’s impossible for poor rural women and their communities to cope with the effects of climate change when both are perpetually in crisis mode. Their capacity to adapt must be strengthened. Compared to men in poor countries, women face additional cultural, social and economic barriers that make them more vulnerable to climate change. They have limited access to productive assets such as land, credit, and extension services, and they continue to lack voice and decision-making power on agriculture policies and programs. As a result, they are in many cases the first casualties of volatile climate conditions, falling into food insecurity and malnutrition. This reality demands a gender analysis toward climate change mitigation” (Hunger report 22) This being said, our increase in involvement improving women’s rights for education, ability to voice their opinions and breaking cultural norms that restrict them will result in less stress as well as more food. This will break the cycle of poverty. Educating women agriculturally will benefit them and increase their involvement in growing and cultivating produce, which will lead to them selling what they make and gives in increase in their home’s
A new global climate model predicts that in the coming decade, the surface air temperature is likely to exceed existing records (Smith et al., 2007). Growing season temperatures in the tropics and subtropics by the end of the 21st century will exceed the most extreme temperatures recorded in the history (Battistic and Rosamond, 2009). Agriculture is considered to be one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. Although at present, the overall impact of climate change on global agricultural productivity is not reliably estimated (Gornall et al., 2010). Many studies show serious implications on agricultural productivity, for instance IFPRI(2009) projects that in South Asia by 2050 climate change will reduce production of rice, wheat and maize by 14%, 44% to 49% and 9%-19% respectively relative to no climate change situation.
The global population in the year 2050 is expected to be nine billion and the agricultural demand is expected to double. With the current population already over seven billion people, there are hunger issues all around the world (“New” par. 1). How are we going to deal with food shortages in the future? With less land to work with, strains on the soils, and the lack of water, it is getting harder for the farmers of the world to support our growing population. These complications are making it harder for farmers to produce quality, affordable food. To help the crops grow better, farmers use fertilizers and chemical sprays to enhance growth and control the weeds. Farming in the United States is a relevant business because it supplies people with food, provides people with jobs maintaining the used equipment with the new equipment being much more expensive, and it provides research for more efficient ways on how to feed the world.
Today agriculture is the livelihood of most poor underdeveloped nations. This communal life blood provides a majority of the population with a source of employment, nourishment and income. It is considered to be an invaluable skill, that is taught down from generation to generation along with a sense of respect for the environment. However as a nation begins to undergo development, so do their food production systems. The country's newfound development causes significant restructuring of their agricultural production practices. This restructuring leads to poor environmental practices, and adverse agriculture methods. Increased economic development/production negatively affects a country's environmental and agricultural health.