Improving of soil carrying capacity for better living.
Soil is the most important resource for food production. The increase in world population puts pressure on the soil resource to continuously provide food security for the population. The per capita arable land is 0.22 ha per capita and it is expected to reduce due to population increase, land...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
2010
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/15146/1/Improving%20of%20soil%20carrying%20capacity%20for%20better%20living.pdf http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/15146/ |
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| Summary: | Soil is the most important resource for food production. The increase in world population
puts pressure on the soil resource to continuously provide food security for the population. The per
capita arable land is 0.22 ha per capita and it is expected to reduce due to population increase, land
degradation processes and competition for non-agriculture land use. The agricultural sector has been
successful to continuously supply food for the growing population. This is brought about by the green
revolution resulting from technological improvement through advancement in scientific knowledge.
With more constraints and greater challenges the agriculture sector requires more efficient and
productive technology. Since horizontal increase through expansion of arable land is restricted the
increase in food production has to be achieved vertically by increasing soil productivity. The use of
fertilizer for improvement of soil productivity is one of the widely practices worldwide. The use of
fertilizer has no doubt increased the soil productivity; however it has also created serious
environmental problems. As an example, the efficiency of N fertilizer is often low due to losses and
the N that leaks to the environment causes serious environmental problems such as ground water
pollution, emission of greenhouse gases, eutrophication and nitrate pollution. For sustainable
fertilizer management, the loss has to be minimized to subsequently increase fertilizer efficiency.
Application of balanced plant nutrients had been shown to increase soil productivity. Addition of
small amount of micronutrients in certain soils can result in tremendous yield increase. Other
technologies that increase soil productivity and reduce its degradation will enhance the soil carrying
capacity. The public awareness on the importance of soil resource for food production and human
survival should be provided through the education system. Research for public good on sustainable
soil management must be given top priority alongside the market driven research, to ensure the
agriculture sector continues to supply us with food from the growing population. |
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