Economic Geography

Answer : No other commodity of the present day has so close relation with the eco-political affairs of the world than petroleum and its different by-products. Conquest or control of oil - rich regions has been a major objective in the battles of Post-world War era, many of which were closely associated with the Arab nations.

The rapidly expanding production of petroleum and its overgrowing importance in the sphere of industrial world can simply be attributed to a ....

Answer : Agricultural typology of the world presented by D.Whittlesey was based on the functioning forms of agriculture. The regional pattern in any classification of agriculture are basically determined by the interaction between two sets of variables i.e. the physical and non-physical. Hence, following combinations should be considered in this regard:

(1) The combination of natural environment which includes elements like soil, climate, terain, water, etc.

(2) Non-physical factors which includes those which humans use to exploit natural ....

Answer : Agricultural efficiency can be defined as the ratio of output to the inputs into agricultural activities. These inputs may include the amount of manpower, or number of man-hours spent) and the cost of investment in terms of irrigation, fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, machines etc. Agricultural efficiency is reflected in productivity which is measured either in terms of yield per hectare of land or yield per person employed.

Agricultural efficiency is a function of the combined interplay of ....

Answer : Energy consumption is expected to increase dramatically over the next 50 years as the world’s population grows and developing countries become more industrialised. With environmental requirements for zero or low CO₂ emission sourcesand the need to invest in a sustainable energy mix, new energy sources need to be explored. Oil, coal, gas account for more than 80% of the world energy production. These fossil fuels are the largest source of CO₂ emission chief cause of ....

Answer : Resource dilemmas occur when individuals can choose how much to withdraw for personal use from a common pool that will only be maintained if withdrawals are kept to a minimum. Common-pool resources (resources that are available to all users) such as electricity, water, and clean air are increasingly in short supply and these shortages are symptomatic of less-than-optimal utilization. In other words, these shortages exemplify what Hardin (1968) described as the tragedy of the commons.

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• The environmental problems associated with coal production include issues such as:
• Land use, waste management, water and air pollution, caused by the coal mining, processing and the use of its products.
• In addition to atmospheric pollution, coal burning produces hundreds of millions of tons of solid waste products annually, including fly ash, bottom ash, and flue-gas desulfurization sludge, that contain mercury, uranium, thorium, arsenic, and other heavy metals.
• There are severe health effects. According to the reports issued by the World Health Organization ....

Answer : Agriculture not only contributes to overall growth of the economy but also reduces poverty by providing employment and Food Security to majority of population in any country. Therefore a proper planning which is a mix of top down and bottom top approach is required.

Bottom up approach: Bottom up approach model is problem as well as location specific. For example in case of India drought is a severe problem and initiatives such as DPAP (Drought Prone ....

Answer : The global economy has grown continuously since the Second World War. Global growth has been accompanied by a change in the pattern of trade, which reflects ongoing changes in structure of the global economy. These changes include the rise of regional trading blocs, de-idustrialisation in many advanced economies, the increased participation of former communist countries, and the emergence of China and India.

The past few decades have seen important shifts that have reshaped the global trade ....

Answer : Fisheries and aquaculture produced a total of 143.6 million tonnes of fish (FAO, 2009), 81.9 million tonnes from marine capture fisheries, 10.1 million tonnes from inland capture fisheries, 31.6 million tonnes from inland aquaculture and 20.1 million tonnes from marine aquaculture. The Asia–Pacific region dominates both fisheries and aquaculture, particularly in terms of the number of people working in these sectors: 86% of fishers and fish farmers worldwide live in Asia, with the greatest numbers ....

Answer : There are three primary coffee growing and exporting areas throughout the world and all are in the equatorial region. The specific areas are Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. These are the supreme growing areas because the best beans produced are those grown at high altitudes, in a moist, tropical climate, with rich soils and temperatures around 70°F (21°C) - all of which the tropics has to offer.

Similar to ....

Answer : As of March 1, 2011, there were 443 operating nuclear power reactors spread across the world in 47 different countries. In 2009 alone, atomic energy accounted for 14 per cent of the world’s electrical production. Break that down to the individual country and the percentageas high as 76.2 per cent for Lithuania and 75.2 for France. Countries like Ukraine-46 %, Belgium-51%, Hungry-46%, Sweden-38% are heavily dependent on nuclear power.In the United States, 104 nuclear power ....

Answer : Venezuela is the world’s fifth largest oil exporting country and has the world’s largest proven oil reserves at an estimated 296.5 billion barrels (20% of global reserves) as of 2012. In 2008, crude oil production in Venezuela was the tenth-highest in the world at 2,394,020 barrels per day (380,619 m3/d) and the country was also the eighth-largest net oil exporter in the world. Venezuela is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ....

Answer : Industrial inertia is that condition in which industry is active in its old place though there is reduction in factors responsible for localization such as lack of raw material, cheap labor, land and energy. Factors responsible for the inertia are:

1. Relation with other economic activity of the region.
2. Better facility of transport for backend and frontend integration.
3. Skilled labor force is available.
4. Capital as well as land along with above factors also keeps the industries running in their ....

Answer : Watershed area refers to the river basin which is divided by water divide from where rain water flows in channels or rivers.

These watersheds decide the flow of water, amount of water present in soil, ground water table and biodiversity in biosphere. Watershed based planning is needed to maintain the above.

In last few years, watershed environment is degraded because of deforestation, mining and multipurpose river projects. Unscientific agriculture has led to soil erosion, acidic and saline ....

Answer : Rotterdam is an important port located on bank of Rotte river in Netherland. Its importance is because of following points:

• Netherland imports raw minerals and exports manufactured goods through this port
• Rotterdam has been developed as an important ship building centre for European Union
• Oil refineries are located near Rotterdam
• Engineering and chemical industries are also located near this port
• Hub of diamond cutting centres located in Amsterdam is facilitated by this port city
• Textile industry in Tilburg, Aentov and tin ....

Answer : Food for the world’s population is obtained almost entirely from plants. Of the immense varieties of plants, only a few were domesticated thousands of years ago and they still continue to be the major sources of food. It is interesting to note that the world food supply is dominated by five crops, of these, three are cereal grains i.e. wheat, rice and maize (corn) while other two potatoes and cassava are tubers. In combination they ....

Answer : The first scientific attempt for the demarcation of agricultural system was made by D. Whittlesey in his paper “Major Agricultural Regions of Earth” published in 1936.

Bases of Classification:

1. The crop and livestock association.
2. The methods used to grow crops and livestock.
3. The intensity of application of labour, capital and the yield per hectare.
4. The disposal of products for consumption.
5. The structures and houses of farming operation.

Whittlesey identified the following 13 types of agricultural system.

1. Nomadic Herding: This is practised in ....

Answer : In the distribution of natural resources, capital, technology, etc. a large scale disparity prevails all over the world. Consequently, an imblanced economic development has been visualised world over. The world has been divided into two camps. In one side, there are few developed nations, who have made a large scale progress in the social and economic fields. On the other hand, there are a large number of developing and underdeveloped countries who are very backward ....

Answer : The ultimate aim of development is the well-being of each and every individual. Apart from economic development human development also becomes sine qua non for achieving this ultimate objective. Development as a whole is more than the purely economic and physical. The achievement of development must be seen in terms of:

1. Individual and collective well-being;
2. A safe environment;
3. Freedom from want;
4. Creating an environment in which all people can expand their capabilities;
5. Enlarging opportunities for personal growth and enrichment ....

Answer : A resource is something material or abstract that can be used to satisfy some human want or deficiency, i.e., by definition the existenceof a resource depends on its value to humans. Resources are therefore a cultural concept, and those things considered to be resources by one society may not be considered so by others who lack the knowledge or desire to use them.

On the basis of rate of replenishment, resources are usually subdivided into Non-renewable ....

Answer : Middle of the 19th century was the watershed in the development of agricultural technology. Invention of engine had a revolutionary impact on agriculture which led to marked improvement in the agricultural techniques. Now advanced agricultural technology is employed especially in the western countries where complete mechanisation of agriculture has taken place.

Such advanced agricultural technology includes:

i)Efficient and adequate irrigation facilities.

ii)Chemical fertilizers

iii)Agricultural mechanisation such as tractors, harvesters etc.,

iv)High yielding variety of Seeds (HYV)

v)Insecticides and Pesticides

These advanced ....

Answer : Globalisation means integrating the economy of the country with the world economy. Under this process, goods and services along with capital labour and resources can move freely from one nation to another. The thrust of globalisation has been to increase the domestic and external competition through extensive application of market mechanism and facilitating forging of dynamic relationship with the foreign investors and suppliers of technology. What is striking in the current episode of globalisation is ....

Answer : Farming done without the facility of irrigation in the regions of inadequate rainfall is called dryland farming. The characteristics of dry land farming are as follows:

(1) Dryland farming is practised in those regions where moisture deficiency occurs due to low amount of rainfall. Besides low rainfall, these regions face uncertainty of rainfall.

(2) Dryland farming is characterised by lack of assured irrigation. Hence it is also known as rainfed agriculture.

(3) Mainly subsistence farming is practised in ....