Economic and Environmental Perspectives on Sustainable Agriculture Developments

There is a great deal of concern today to ensure that economic development, including agricultural development, is sustainable. It is being increasingly emphasized that this sustainability requires care to be taken of the natural environment. This is because the natural environment is both the source of important resources that support economic activity and an avenue or sink for disposal of wastes from economic activity. Soil and water are for example, important natural resources used in agricultural production. However, other natural resources used in agriculture include the raw materials from which many fertilisers are produced, fossil fuels and so on. In addition, wild cultars and relatives of cultivated plants and domesticated livestock provide a genetic reservoir that may be very useful in sustaining agricultural production. If attention is not paid to the sustainability of economic production, future generations may be impoverished and even present generations may experience a future drop in their incomes. For example, this result clearly follows when land management or its use results in a rapid rate of soil erosion and loss of the valuable topsoil.