The Geography Of Arid Zone Cropping Of Australia And Other...

Forty percent of the earth’s land cover is classified as either arid or semi-arid environment (Clark Davis Kay 1983), in which, billions of people mainly from developing countries, live and work. Many of the arid zone environment is classified as to dry to grow crops (Creswell Martin 1998). Still, crops like sorghum, millets (CONSORTIUM 2011) and cashes (Creswell Martin 1998) are grown with reasonable success, as the plants or farmers have been able to adapt to the dry environment (Creswell Martin 1998). This report, will looked at the history of arid zone cropping in Australia and other countries such as Africa. It will also look at some of the crops grown in the arid zone environment and some of the factors effecting the growth†¦show more content†¦Today, there is less than half of Australian’s arid zone environment used for farming. Majority of the farming in the arid zone of Australia is for either sheep or cattle, with only a few small, irrigated crops scatted throughout the area (Kaul 1971). As a result, this report will focus on other countries such as North, South and Central America, Africa and Asia (Creswell Martin 1998). (Please note, Asia’s arid zones are known as a ‘dry zones’, but for this report the generally term ‘arid zone’ will be used). History in Other Countries Africa In the 1990’s cereals and grain were popular in Africa, with over 60 percent of the land used for these crops (ita 2004). From the 1930’s to the 1990’s Africa saw a reduction of 13 percent in agriculture’s share (ita 2004). During the 1970’s and 1980’s, there was a period of drought that affected both the crops and native plant in the area (Boffa Dixon Garrity 2012), which may have contributed to the decline of agriculture’s share. Also, in 1992 the production of corn fell from 10 million to 3 million tons, due to the drought (ita 2004). Due to laws regarding coloured people, until 1994, almost 80 percent of the population had less than 20 percent of the land to farm, which lead to the over use of the soil and the low yield rate. In the mid 1990’s issues around this law were looked at by the government, with regrades to the reforms of apartheid (ita 2004). America (North, South, Central) Like Australia, North America’s