Farming though the most important aspect of the domestic and of the foreign economy, yet it is a very complex process. The farming does not simply imply that it involves a large number of steps but it also refers to the intermingling processes of monetary investment . To heighten the income, the farmers have often turned out to venture into raising orchards of various fruits like apples and oranges . The orchards being able to raise exotic crops usually in turn not only generate high income for the farmers but also for the country’s export revenues .
While growing a single type of crops like be it either only rice or only apples is different from the current farming method termed as mono culture . As the name suggests, the method of mono culture implies an unnatural process. It is a process which involves the culturing or the raising of genetically modified crops . By this method of raising crops, the farmers can entirely control the potential and thus the overall quality of the crops . The farmers try to grow such crops at least once in a respective season.
Some researchers are of the notion that the mono culture destructs the natural rule of biodiversity . Here in, in greater deal we have analysed the various notions of the mono culture and thereby have tried to understand whether it is better for the average growth of the crops or not.
Understanding the pros and cons of the simple mono culture in relation to the overall crop growth
1) What are the major benefits of the simple mono culture ?
The mono culture has gained high popularity in the recent years. Owing to the fact that the mono culture can raise one type of one crop, hence, in no time, the farmers gain a deft hand in raising the respective crop . The crop yield also increases when only one crop as the farmer entirely focusses on just one crop . The farmers once again buy the necessary fertilizers and the organic manure only of one crop only . With the higher yields of the crop, the monetary involvement also gets balanced.
Apart of the excess crop yields, the yield through mono culture gets optimised . The crop yield optimisation refers to the fact that the plants are regulated genetically to be resistant to any natural calamities like drought or to pests or diseases . By making the crops duly resistant, the extra cost levied on procuring the pesticides and insecticides further shrivels . All the more, when the farmers introduce mono culture, they are fortunate enough to make use of only one type of agricultural equipment. In addition to it, this method of farming does not involve much labour . Thereby by simply using only one type of the farm machinery, the crop growth definitely increases.
The mono culture requires very little land as compared to the traditional type of farming. They also yield high profits for the farmers . It is needless to mention that with the various advantages, there are certain cons related to this type of farming as well.
2 ) What are the most common disadvantages of the mono culture farming ?
The mono culture undoubtedly increases the crop growth but the farmers have to incur certain losses meanwhile. Likewise, by growing just one type of crops, the soil tends to lose its nutrition. The deficiency in the soil occurs primarily due to the curtailed growth of a variety of micro organisms which otherwise could have happened had there been crop rotation .
Various types of nitrogen fixing microbes die due to the growth of just one type of crop. Since, the natural microbes die, the farmers try to introduce more and more amount of chemical fertilizers. In a way, the crop growth by the method of mono culture is just a temporary phase . In the longer process, the fields will suffer and the crop yield will get reduced in a very fast pace . On the whole, due to the massive input of chemical fertilizers and pest killing sprays, the ground water is being massively affected as well . With the consequent soil erosion and the ensuing leaching processes, the mono culture method tends to hamper the ecological balance in the whole.
Conclusion
The farmers have been trying to implement various new methods so as to make the crop yield increase in a short span of time. It is important to understand that though for a short time, the crop yield might increase but the long term hazards related to it are very dangerous. Hopefully, through these pros and cons, the farmers swill be able to judiciously implement this method of farming.