Powerful techniques to solve crop failure

Crop failure is such a common thing for farmers and agriculture business people. Many countries lost because of it. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), natural disasters affecting the agriculture sectors of developing country economies caused a whopping $96 billion in crop and livestock output harm or destruction between 2005 and 2015. ABC News reports one of the Indonesian farmers claimed she lost 700 million rupiahs. Due to prolonged droughts linked to climate change and complex water sources. Natural disasters have become a significant part of crop failure. Some of them are human activity and lack of skills, as described in the first article. For further, let's see another factor that can cause crop failure and solve this part.

Geographical location

The geographical location of the land determines the fertility of the soil and the success of the harvest. The condition of the land that is far from water sources causes irrigation to be blocked, resulting in a lack of water supply for plants. In a dry situation, wells or water points may recede. Irrigation will not work because there is no water flow. Meanwhile, the water can overflow in the rainy season and cause flooding to the fields.

Wrong seed variety

Another factor that causes crop failure is the wrong choice of seed varieties. Farmers often use seeds not by regional conditions to attack pests and diseases more quickly.

Using of pesticide 

Excessive use of pesticides can lead to pest resistance. It can cause a pest explosion which will follow by crop failure. There are still many people who think that the more pesticides, the fewer pests there are. It can reduce soil fertility because it kills beneficial microorganisms and prevents the breakdown of nutrients in the soil.  

Pathogenic

Anthracnose is one of the most virulent and difficult to overcome that attacks chili cultivation. In 2014, India, the biggest chili producer, had a crop failure because of these pests. India lost 29.5 percent or 491.67 million US dollars. Besides India, chili-producing countries are also experiencing this impact, such as Korea and Vietnam. The intensity and duration of rainfall, humidity and light in tropical countries are factors of this pest type. It is also possible that in non-tropical countries, there are pests that can cause crop failure.

Weed plants

Weed plants naturally have stronger resistance than cultivated ones will produce allelopathic substances through their roots. This allelopathy is a substance that inhibits the growth of the main plant, so that weed plants will freely control the nutrients for their benefit.

Soil physical

Problems with soil physical changes, hardening of the soil texture make roots challenging to develop. It can cause a loss of soil fertility. It results in a lack of oxygen, density, or particle density that causes poor drainage, loss of water absorption, or holding water for too long. The problem of soil chemical properties is related to unstable soil pH, lack of available soil minerals and nutrients, low cation exchange capacity, and C/N ratio imbalance.

In this digital era, technology assists farmers and agriculture business people to minimize crop failure. Sensors and drones, tractors are the only piece tools that can use. Besides, modern farming styles can also be used as a backup to create other crops.

Sensors and drones

Today, drones are available commercially and used for aviation and the military. Industry can use drones, including plantation and farming. Drones technology can help farmers to spray massively and effectively. It is dozens faster than conventional ways since farmers do not need to on floor spraying pesticides. In addition, they can monitor and execute through smartphones. Plantation companies have also used drones to reduce the side effects of pesticide contamination on the human body.

As previously discussed, one of the factors for crop failure is the geographical condition of the soil. It can use sensors and drones to analyze soil fertility and map based on contours and soil moisture suitable for planting.

In the harvest maintenance process, drones can also help maintain plant health to avoid pathogens and pests. Before these pathogens and pests spread, drone sensors can detect these pest points. Farmers and business people can immediately minimize losses due to pathogens and pests.

Hydroponics

Hydroponics is a way of growing plants using a solution of nutrients and minerals in water and without using soil. You can do this technique in a narrow area, but the size of the cultivated plants must adjust. Planting large fruits is not a good idea. The advantage of this technique is that the harvest is more abundant and saves water. This technique can use as another means of growing additional crops. Urban farming is also very suitable for millennials who want to learn to thrive on limited land.

Long storage 

Long storage is a water storage building with an elongated shape that stores an overflow of surface runoff and rainfall as supplementary irrigation during the dry season. Long storage is usually built along a drainage channel or river of water to accommodate.

Long storage can function as a water harvesting building during the rainy season. Then it can reuse during the dry season. Long storage construction can make other water storage supporting structures such as pumps, diesel engines, geomembrane irrigation canals, and ferrocement tanks. Farmers will no longer experience crop failure due to floods and prolonged droughts with this long storage.

Improved genetic resistance

Modern plant breeding has focused on enhancing the genetic resistance of main staple crops to critical pests and diseases to reduce losses. It permits an endless number of valuable characters to combine in an infinite number of connections, with high selection pressure applied to keep the best. It safeguards vulnerable farmers against the unpredictability of pest infestations and the resulting losses.

Since wheat's domestication, stem and leaf rusts have been the most difficult to eradicate illnesses. At least once every ten years, Indian farmers endured severe rust epidemics in the nineteenth century. Before the widespread introduction of better, rust-resistant cultivars, annual losses due to rusts averaged 10% of the crop's value. During the 1960s and 1980s, developing countries made a concerted effort to improve primary food crops' disease and insect resistance like rice and wheat.

To sum up, innovation and technology can minimize crop failure caused by natural disasters and chemical or human activities. You can implement not all techniques on your land, but you already know factors and several ways to solve crop failure.