Study Agriculture notes on General Agriculture - Land Use for Form 2. Useful for revision, homework, and exam preparation in Zimbabwe.
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FORM 2 AGRICULTURE NOTES GENERAL AGRICULTURE Land use Population growth and land use - Population is defined as the total number of people or organisms occupying an area at any given time - Population growth refers to the increase in the number of people living in an area - Population growth is a result of births and migration of people into an area - As the total of settled people increases, more land is used to build homes, towns, industries, recreational parks and many other human activities Effects of population growth on land use Pressure on resources - Population growth results in increased need for resources such as roads, schools, clinics and hospitals - Demand for natural resources such as firewood also increase leading to high levels of deforestation leaving the soil bare and prone to erosion causing land degradation Increased demand for residential land - As the total number of people living in an area increase, more land is needed to build homes social facilities such as parks, sports facilities, industries and commercial business areas - This will take up potential land for agriculture and some farms leading to reduced cropping and grazing land Increased demand for agricultural land - Population increase results in family land holdings being reduced to smaller units as a result of subdivision of land to younger generations - Each created family unit will have smaller subdivision units with less cropping land - When family units have small land holdings, food production levels are reduced, eventually leading to hunger and starvation Degradation of the environment - Destruction of natural surroundings will result from overuse of some natural resources to levels that impact negatively on the environment - Intensified agricultural activities are carried out while industrial activities increase to meet the increasing demand in agricultural and industrial products - This leads to high levels of erosion and pollution of the environment by agro-chemicals and industrial wastes as well as domestic wastes - Gas pollutants from vehicles and industries can result in the formation of acid rain which is destructive to vegetation resulting in reduced soil cover and reduced evapotranspiration leading to increased erosion and reduced rainfall respectively RODRECK WISEMAN NYAKABAWU 1