PLANT AND ANIMAL DIVERSITY FOR HUMAN SUSTENANCE

CIVILIZATION TOOK ITS  BIRTH WHEN MAN DISCOVERED  FIRE ALONG WITH HIS ENDEAVOUR TO CULTIVATE CROPS AND TO DOESTICATE ANIMALS FOR AN ASSURED SUSTENANCE. THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF MAN'S CIVILIZATION CAN BE TRACED TO THE MANAGEMENT OF ASSURED FOOD. SUPPLY BY DELIBERATE PLANTING OF CROPS AND BY HARVESTING AND STORING THE PRODUCE . THE PRESENT DAY CEREALS, GRAINS, LEGUMES(PULSES) OR OILSEED CROPS ARE MAINLY RAISED FOR A SINGLE PURPOSE, THAT IS FOOD. HOWEVER, EARLY HUMANS GREATLY VALUED PLANTS WITH MULTIPLE USES SUCH AS, COCONUT PALM, DATE PALM, BAOBAB, MULBERRY, AGAVES, AND HEMP. THE COCONUT PALM STILL SUPPORTS PEOPLE LIVING IN COASTAL AREAS DUE TO ITS MULTIPLE PURPOSES.

AGRICULTURE ORIGINATED SOME 7,000 TO 13,000 YEARS AGO,SOMEWHERE IN THE INDUS, TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES AND THE NILE RIVER VALLEYS. THE YELLOW RIVER BASIN OF MODERN CHINA AND THE TEHUACAN VALLEY IN MODERN MEXICO ARE THE OTHER PREHISTORIC SITES OF ANCIENT AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY. ALL EARLY CIVILIZATIONS WHOSE DIETS ARE  KNOWN TO US WERE BASED ON SEED PRODUCTION PLANTS SUCH AS WHEAT, MAIZE AND RICE. NEARLY ALL THE PRESENT DAY CROP PLANTS WERE DEVELOPED IN PREHISTORIC TIMES. WILD SPECIES OF PLANTS WERE CULTIVATED, DOMESTICATED AND SELECTIVE PRODUCTION OF THESE SPECIES WAS MADE. THERE ARE OVER 3,000 SPECIES OF FOOD PLANTS KNOWN TO US, OUT OF WHICH ONLY 150 ARE COMMERCIALIZED OR THAT ONLY LESS THAN 20 SPECIES PRODUCE 85 PERCENT OF THE FOOD OUTPUT. DIFFERENT PARTS OF A PLANT ARE USED IN DIFFERENT WAYS AS FOOD. IN GENERAL, THE SEEDS AND FRUITS ARE THE MOST NUTRITIOUS PARTS BUT THE LEAVES STEMS AND ROOTS OF SOME PLANTS ARE ALSO EATEN.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE REVEALS THAT CEREALS ORIGINATED IN THE MOUNTANIOUS REGIONS OF ASIA, EUROPE, AFRICA AND SOUTH AMERICA. CEREALS, THE GRAIN PRODUCING PLANTS, ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF OUR DIET. THE TRUE CEREALS ARE ALL MEMBERS OF THE GRASS FAMILY. WITHOUT THESE ESSENTIAL CROPS IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO FEED THE WORLD. WHEAT, CORN AND RICE MAKE UP TWO THIRDS OF THE CARBOHYDRATES WE CONSUME. OTHER CEREALS INCLUDE RYE, OATS, BARELY, SORGHUM, MILLETS.

FROM THE EARLIEST OF TIMES CERTAIN PLANTS HAVE PROVIDED OIL FOR COOKING AND LIGHTING. TODAY A WIDE RANGE OF CROPS ARE GROW N FOR THEIR OIL SUCH AS SOYABEANS, COCONUT SEED, PEANUT, SUNFLOWER, MUSTARD, GRAPE SEED, SESAME, SAFFLOWER AND OIL PALM AND WIDELY USED. THE COMMERCIAL FARMING OF OIL PRODUCING PLANTS RECEIVED A TREMENDOUS BOOST WITH THE INVENTION OF MARGARINE, TOWARDS THE END OF THE 19th CENTURY. DURING THE LAST TWENTY YEARS, VEGETABLE OILS HAVE RECEIVED FURTHER BOOST AS WE BECOME MORE CONSCIOUS OF MAINTAINING OUR HEALTH. IN TROPICAL REGIONS OF AFRICA AND ASIA, ESPECIALLY IN INDONESIA AND MALAYSIA, OIL PALM IS WIDELY CULTIVATED FOR COOKING OIL. THE MEDITERRANEAN REGIONS ARE THE MAIN PRODUCERS OF OLIVE OIL.

ONLY A FEW SELECTED SPECIES OF ANIMALS ARE IMPORTANT IN TERMS OF ANIMALS ARE IMPORTANT IN TERMS OF AGRICULTURE. CATTLE PROVIDE US WITH MORE THAN EIGHT TIMES AS MUCH FOOD IN THE FORM OF MILK THAN IN THE FORM OF MEAT. PIGS ARE THE MOST EFFICIENT MEAT BREEDERS. SHEEP AND GOATS ARE THE MOST VERSATILE LIVESTOCK, PROVIDING MEAT, MILK AND WOOL. POULTRY HAS LONG BEEN A SOURCE OF MEAT AND EGGS. IN TERMS OF INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY, CHICKEN IS THE FASTEST GROWING FOODSTUFF IN THE WORLD AND DOMINATES THE WORLD'S POULTRY POPULATION; 98 PERCENT OF ALL FARMED BIRDS ARE CHICKEN.

FISH REPRESENTS THE ONLY SIGNIFICANT SOURCE OF HUMAN FOOD THAT STILL RELIES ON NATURAL FOOD CHAINS. OUR ATTITUDE TO THE SEA IS STILL THAT OF A HUNTER-GATHERER. MODERN FISHING METHODS ARE EXTREMELY EFFICIENT AND OVER FISHING IS NOW THE INDUSTRIES GREATEST PROBLEM. MOST OF THE FISH WE EAT STAND FAIRLY HIGH IN THE IN THE OCEANS FOOD CHAINS. THEY OCCUR IN THE GREATEST NUMBERS IN THE COASTAL WATER WHICH IS WARM AND HENCE PLANT LIFE IS MOST ABUNDANT. THIS AREA ALSO ACCUMULATES RUN-OFF OF NUTRIENTS FROM THE LAND.

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES NOT ONLY PROVIDE VARIETY TO OUR DIET BUT ABOUND IN VITAMINS AND MINERALS. SOME FRUITS ARE GROWN FOR SUBSISTENCE, SOME AS STAPLE CROPS LIKE, POTATOES AND CASSAVA, WHILE PINNAPLES AND BANANAS ARE GROWN AS CASH  CROPS AND TURNIPS AS WINTER FEED LIVESTOCK. THE MOST USEFUL VEGETABLES ARE PULSES, ALSO KNOWN AS LEGUMES. THIS IS A GROUP OF PLANTS THAT INCLUDES PEAS, BEANS, LENTILS AND SOYABEANS. THEY PROVIDE MUCH MORE PROTEIN THAN CEREALS AND THEY ALSO PUT BACK NUTRIENTS INTO THE SOIL. FUTURE ADVANCES WILL PROBABLY INVOLVE MAKING USE OF NEW CROPS. THESE INCLUDE THE WINGED BEAN, OF WHICH ALL PARTS CAN BE EATEN. SUGARCANE WAS INTRODUCED INTO AMERICA 300 YEARS AGO AND PRIOR TO THAT HONEY WAS THE MAJOR SOURCE OF SUGAR AND BEES WERE WIDELY KEPT. 66 PER CENT OF THE WORLD'S SUGAR COMES FROM  CANE, THOUGH SUGAR BEET IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT ESPECIALLY IN EUROPE. BROWN SUGAR FROM DATE PALMS AND OTHER PALMS ARE USED FOR LOCAL CONSUMPTION.