The Characteristics of Tropical Agriculture

Abstract

The area of the world that lies within the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn is generally referred to as the "Tropics". It includes Central America, northern part of South America, much of Central Africa, South Asia, and the northern part of Australia. Most of these regions belong to the tropical climate (or the "A" climate) according to Koppen’s climatic classification. The tropical rainforest; (Af climate) dominates the Equatorial areas, whereas tropical monsoon (Am) and savanna (Aw) climates are found on the poleward sides of it. The A-climate is characterized by high temperature all year round, with minimum monthly temperature in excess of 64.4°F. Areas with Af climate receive at least 2.4 inches of rain in the driest month. Am climate experiences pronounced short dry seasons which are compensated by heavy rainfall during the rest of the year. Aw is relatively dry with an annual rainfall that can, support the growth of grasses. Besides high mean annual temperature and high amount of mean annual rainfall, the tropics also receive the highest amount of solar radiation annually. The humid tropical regions thus have a climate which is favorable for the cultivation of crops throughout the year. For this reason, agriculturists have long been interested in the development of agriculture in order to meet the food requirement of the ever-increasing population. The problems that prevail in these areas include insufficient capital, poor soil fertility, inadequate water supply in the drier regions for irrigation, lack of mechanization, and prevalence of pests and crop diseases; of which insufficient capital is the primary handicap. If the tropical countries have the capital to invest in scientific researches and to purchase more equipment from advanced temperate countries, the other problems can readily be solved. The chief purpose of this thesis is to explore the characteristics of tropical agriculture, and to attempt to identify the major crops that are grown in the tropics. About one-third of the tropics consists of desert and semidesert areas, that is the B-climate, which are agriculturally unimportant and are thus excluded from the thesis.