Agricultural Diversity and Sustainability: General Features and Bangladeshi Illustrations

Clement Tisdell,Md Anwarul Kabir,Md Abdur Rashid Sarker,Mohammad Alauddin

doi:10.3390/su11216004

Clement Tisdell, Md Anwarul Kabir + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su11216004

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Oct 29, 2019
Citations: 11	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Queensland, University of Rajshahi

Abstract

Many scientists have expressed concern that declining agricultural diversity threatens agricultural sustainability. We draw on the available literature to outline and examine mechanisms that reduce agricultural diversity and identify the at-risk attributes of agricultural sustainability. Using a three-pillar concept embodying ecological, social and economic dimensions, this article provides a comprehensive general assessment of the sustainability of agricultural systems. It pays particular attention to consequences for agricultural diversity and sustainability of the increasing dependence of agriculture on the market system and new agricultural technologies. As an illustrative example, it examines changes in the diversity and sustainability of Bangladeshi agriculture by applying a novel index of the diversity of cropping land use, an output decomposition method, and statistical techniques. Crop diversity in Bangladesh is very low and dominated by the cultivation of rice, which now depends very heavily on a limited number of high yielding varieties (HYVs). Higher rice yields in Bangladesh and seasonal changes in rice cultivation have resulted in land sparing, which make room for greater crop diversity. Nevertheless, Bangladesh’s food dependence on its rice output is very high and is critically dependent on groundwater irrigation. We recommend that Bangladesh consider increasing the diversity of its crops as a food security measure and as a hedge against a decline in its agricultural sustainability.

Highlights

Ever since the beginning of the Agricultural Revolution, about 10,000 years ago, most societies that have adopted agriculture to support their existence and economic growth and have had to struggle to sustain and increase their agricultural production
Tisdell has hypothesized that following the Agricultural Revolution, agricultural diversity tended to increase at all geographical levels during a very long time period but that more recently, it has declined [3,4]
We find that the genetic resource base of rice has declined considerably in Bangladesh and that its rice production depends heavily on only two high yielding varieties (HYVs) of rice

Summary

Introduction

Ever since the beginning of the Agricultural Revolution, about 10,000 years ago, most societies that have adopted agriculture to support their existence and economic growth and have had to struggle to sustain and increase their agricultural production. New genetic resources and new agroecosystems play a major role in the loss of pre-existing genetic resources and agricultural systems and create new challenges for the sustainability of agriculture. These challenges have been reviewed recently in Lemaire et al [6]. Bangladesh is the most agriculture intensive (agricultural land as a percentage of total land area) and rice-intensive (rice area as a percentage of net-cropped area) country in South Asia [22] It is characterized by seven distinct zones of climatic patterns ranging from extreme drought-prone areas in the west, northwest and northern parts to very high rainfall areas in the east [23]. Spread of Aus and Aman HYVs of rice broadly reflects the pattern for overall rice—slower pace of adoption in the first two and half decades of the Green Revolution (up to mid-1990s) followed by a rapid pace since

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