Food Processing Industry: Issues and Developments

Report flags growing threat of monoculture in crop production


Mains Paper 3: Agriculture| Transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

Prelims level: FAO report on Monoculture

Mains level: Monoculture: utility and impact on ecosystem


  • The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has flagged the growing practice of monoculture —cultivation of a single crop at a given area in food production around the world.

FAO Report

  1. FAO published its latest report The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture 
  3. Only 9 plant species account for almost two-thirds of total crop production.
  4. These are using large quantities of external inputs such as pesticides, mineral fertilizers and fossil fuels,” the report said.

The report lists drivers of change affecting biodiversity for food and agriculture, including:

  • Population growth and urbanization
  • Over-exploitation and over-harvesting
  • Changes in land and water use and management
  • Pests, diseases and invasive alien species
  • Climate change
  • Pollution and external inputs
  • Natural disasters
  • Markets, trade and the private sector

Various Factors

  1. The first factor contributor majorly towards monoculture as people move to cities they tend to depend more on purchased foods, citing the example of Ecuador.
  3. This pressures producers to continuously grow or keep only a limited range of species, breeds and varieties of crops, livestock, trees, fish, etc.

Impact of Mono Cropping

  1. Such changes often affect the resilience of production systems and their role in biodiversity.
  3. International markets particularly be restrictive for market entry effectively debar the entry into the market of minor crops from developing countries.
  4. The emphasis on meat-based diets and the use of a narrow range of major cereals (maize, wheat and rice) is growing.

The diverse the better

  2. Diversifying crop cultivation, on the other hand, reduces risk of economic shocks.
  4. Also crop diversification including rotation and intercropping and the use of diverse forage plants in pastureland, can reduce pest damage and weed invasions.
  5. The growing exploitation of land and water sources was eating in to integrated aquaculture, which in turn was pushing farmers towards monoculture.

The need of the hour

  • New supply systems
  • Improved public-private partnerships.
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