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Unlock This CourseIn the lesson Rural Change in a Developing Country you saw that rural India has faced pressure from a growing population, heavy farming and natural hazards. This lesson looks at the answers. We use rural India again as our developing country example.
Rural living is sustainable when people can meet their needs now without harming the land, water and air that future generations will need. The spec asks you to know a range of strategies that make rural living more sustainable and improve quality of life. This lesson covers four of them: soil quality, air quality, water supplies and crop yields. The next lesson covers health, employment and housing.
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Farmers who grow the same crop year after year, and rely on artificial fertiliser, can wear out their soil. In parts of Punjab and Haryana, where wheat and rice have been grown on the same land for decades, soils have lost nutrients and structure.
Crop rotation (as in organic farming), using pulses such as lentils that put nitrogen back into the soil. Manure and compost also help. Testing the soil so that farmers add only the fertiliser it needs. Planting trees and grass strips to hold soil in place.
Healthier soil grows better crops for longer and needs less bought fertiliser, so it saves money. But a poor farmer needs training and advice, and rotating to pulses can mean giving up a more profitable crop for a season.
After harvest, many farmers in north India burn the straw left in the fields to clear the land quickly for the next crop. The smoke harms people's health and adds to air pollution. Indoors, many rural families cook on open fires or simple stoves burning wood or dung, which fills the home with smoke.
Machines such as the Happy Seeder sow the next crop straight into the straw, so it does not need to be burned. The straw can instead be used as animal feed or to make energy. Biogas plants turn animal dung into gas for cooking. Cleaner, improved cooking stoves send less smoke into the home.
Cleaner air means fewer breathing problems. Biogas also gives free fuel. But machines are expensive for small farmers, and a family needs enough cattle to supply a biogas plant.
India's monsoon brings most of its rain in a few months, and farmers pump groundwater to irrigate crops in the dry season. In places, pumping has lowered the water table so wells run dry. In dry regions such as parts of Maharashtra, droughts make the problem worse.
Collecting rain in ponds, tanks and small dams called check dams. The stored water soaks into the ground and refills wells.
Pipes with small holes drip water straight onto the roots of the plants. Much less water is wasted than when fields are flooded.
Growing crops that need less water, such as millet or pulses, in dry areas, instead of rice.
Some villages have worked together on water-saving projects, building small dams and planting trees on hillsides so that rain is held in the landscape. Villages in Maharashtra such as Hiware Bazar are well known for this. A project needs the whole community to agree and to share the water fairly, and it can take years before the wells fill.
Higher yields mean more food and more income from the same land. The Green Revolution raised yields a great deal, but it also used a lot of water and fertiliser. Sustainable strategies aim to raise yields without causing that damage.
The limit is cost. Small farmers often cannot afford new seeds or equipment, so help from government, charities and the community is needed. You will study the role of these groups later in this topic.
Question: Suggest how a drip irrigation system could make rural living more sustainable in a dry part of India.
Answer: Drip irrigation puts water straight on the roots, so less is wasted. This means less groundwater is pumped, so the water table and wells last longer for future use. It can also raise crop yields because the plants get steady water, which gives farmers more food and income. The limit is that the pipes cost money, so poor farmers may need support.
(a) What is meant by the term sustainable? [1 mark]
(b) For a rural area in a developing country you have studied, explain how strategies to improve soil quality and water supplies can make rural living more sustainable. [4 marks]
(c) Suggest one reason why a strategy to improve crop yields may not work for every farmer. [1 mark]
(a) Meeting the needs of people today without damaging the environment for future generations (1).
(b) In rural India, crop rotation with pulses and adding manure puts nutrients back into worn out soil (1), so crops grow well for longer and farmers need less costly fertiliser (1). Rainwater harvesting in ponds and check dams refills wells (1), so there is water for farming and drinking in the dry season without using up the groundwater (1).
(c) Small farmers may not be able to afford new seeds or equipment (1).
In a 4 mark "explain" question, name your place and give two strategies, then add a result to each one. Two strategies with no result usually score only half marks.