Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract

Most of the problems that Asian agriculture faces today are those met by yesterday because the problems faced by both ancient agriculture and modern agriculture all merely involve the heaven, the earth and the people. In ancient agriculture, the influence of such natural factors as the heaven (climate) and the earth (soil) is stronger, whereas in modern agriculture, with the advance of science and technology and rise of level of the productive forces, the factor of people gets more influential. For instance, the wide application of chemical fertilizer, agricultural chemicals and machinery has to a great extent influenced the harvest. However, some fundamental problems that agriculture faces do not change accordingly; lack of land resources, decrease of land capability, flood and drought as well as insect damage and crop smothering caused by animals and plants still remain the main problems that beset agricultural development. At such a moment, a retrospect to the problems faced by the development of traditional Asian agriculture and their solutions will be enlightening for and drew lesson from by the agricultural practice of today.