Essay: Water Conservation and its Impact on the Agricultural Community

This essay examines the critical issue of water conservation within agricultural communities, highlighting the complex interplay of environmental factors. It argues that while water conservation is important, other factors such as weather patterns and soil quality have a more significant impact on cro...Read More

Running head: WATER CONSERVATION ISSUE IN AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY
Water Conservation Issue in Agricultural Community
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1Water Conservation Issue in Agricultural Community
Topic- WATER CONSERVATION ISSUE IN AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY
The farming industry is facing various kinds of problems environmentally. The basic
problems are related to water, soil, weather,sunlight. The increasing demand for water
consumption globally has threatened the biodiversity and water supply. Although it is true that
along with the population and economic growth, the demand for water has also grown. However,
there are more major causes affecting the growth of plants in agriculture community. Water
conservation is not the most important issue facing the agricultural community today. It is
expected that if there is no measures taken for water conservation then there will be a huge
scarcity of water in the future. The essay discusses about the major issues affecting plantation in
agricultural community that are more important than water conservation. They try to hi-light that
the agricultural community will face a huge scarcity of water if appropriate measures are
not taken from now onwards.
Atmosphere plays a vital role determining the agricultural success. Most of the crops
depend on the weather to provide them with life-sustaining energy and water. If the weather is
not suitable for the growth of crops then it can negatively affect the livestock and crops. The
climatic changes including rainfall, storms and drought highly influence the agricultural
productivity. According to Teixeira an extreme weather condition with enhanced green house
effect can result to drought or torrential rain can affect the soil growth for a large scale. It also
mentions that intense rain can reduce the capacity of soil for water consumption and create
suitable condition for fungal infestations on leaf, tuber crops and roots. The sudden changes in
temperature effect the plant growth. Imbalance in rainfall, snowfall or heat can give birth to
bacteria’s that damage the crops (Eitzinger).Crops also get rotten due to the excess temperature

2Water Conservation Issue in Agricultural Community
changes taking place. According to Peltreand Clément the drought that had occurred in Canada
has affected 27000 farmers and 6 million cattle. The article shows how the farmers are getting
affected due the dry temperature.
Soil is the basic need for plant growth. Plants respond to the soil condition and sends
signals to the shoot to modify the plant structure based on soil condition. There are various types
of soil like sand, clay and silt. Depending upon the plant requirements, they grow on the soil.
Soil is a major threat for agriculture nowadays as soil pollution and deforestation is leading to
soil erosion. According to Osman acids like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are
contaminating the soils. Human activities as if acid drainage and mining are damaging the soil
and making them unfit for plantation. Acid are killing the micro organisms present in the soil,
which enhances the crop growth and agriculture. According to Thomaz South Americans
believed in slashing and burning agriculture that led to washing of nutrients from the soil. They
followed this method and left the soil to recover, but in such cases the soil taken a huge time (50
years) to regains it capacity of growing crops. Thus, soil is a major factor for plantation and steps
for soil conservation must be taken to prevent soil degradation. It is obvious that if there is no
soil there cannot be any plantation.
Along with weather and soil, water is also another major factor for crop cultivation.
Although water conservation is not the most important factor for agriculture as water is available
from rainfall and water bodies but sometimes water conservation can save the farmers in the
period of crisis. Water conservation can be a saviour during droughts and water scarcity. The
growing industry and agriculture is intensifying the limitation of water supply. Water
conservation is a major way out for agricultural community to save water for their use. Water
consumption helps the farmers to save money as during the crisis period many times water is

3Water Conservation Issue in Agricultural Community
supplies in exchange of money. Water conservation minimizes water pollution. It also saves
energy that would be used to pump or treat the water (Abdulai, Awudu, and Wallace).
Thus, it can be concluded that water conservation is a issue faced by the agricultural
community but there are few other important issues which influences the agriculture field in a
huge scale. The weather and soil condition plays a vital role for crop growth. The weather
condition determines the favourable time, quantity and quality of crop growth. Due to global
warming, the weather condition is effecting crop growth. At the same time, soil is the bed for
plantation. Favourable soil condition is the most vital thing for plant growth. Soil pollution and
contamination are making the soil unfit for cultivation. Crop cultivation will end if the soil
conditions are not made suitable for crop growth. Although water is a major factor for crop
cultivation and waterconservation, is a saviour in a crisis period but there are few more important
factors at threat and are becoming a major issue for agricultural community.

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References:
Abdulai, Awudu, and Wallace Huffman. "The adoption and impact of soil and water
conservation technology: An endogenous switching regression application." Land
Economics 90.1 (2014): 26-43.
Eitzinger, J., et al. "Sensitivities of crop models to extreme weather conditions during flowering
period demonstrated for maize and winter wheat in Austria." The Journal of Agricultural
Science 151.6 (2013): 813-835.
Osman, Khan Towhid. "Soil pollution." soil degradation, conservation and remediation.
Springer, Dordrecht, 2014. 149-226.
Peltre, Clément, et al. "Repeated soil application of organic waste amendments reduces draught
force and fuel consumption for soil tillage." Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 211 (2015):
94-101.
Teixeira, Edmar I., et al. "Global hot-spots of heat stress on agricultural crops due to climate
change." Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 170 (2013): 206-215.
Thomaz, Edivaldo Lopes. "Slash-and-burn agriculture: establishing scenarios of runoff and soil
loss for a five-year cycle." Agriculture, ecosystems & environment 168 (2013): 1-6.