Agriculture in Mazara Palani, Wat

Agriculture in Mazara Palani:

Table of Contents:

1.) Foreword
2.) The Environment
3.) Biological Solutions and Zero Waste Agriculture
4.) Permaculture and Networked Biodynamics
5.) Aquaculture and Mariculture
6.) Mazara Agriculture
7.) Keiti Agriculture
8.) Nika Agriculture
9.) Badowe Agriculture
10.) Agricultural Economics
11.) Biotechnology and Agritechnology

1.) Foreword: Agriculture in Mazara Palani is a tricky business. Unlike in many nations with a great deal of flat, well drained land with soil that remains fertile year after year despite a lack of crop rotation and the constant planting of soil damaging cash crops, the peoples of Mazara Palani have to pay a great amount of attention to how, when and where they conduct agriculture. The environment is hostile and arable land scarce, but through careful planning and management, Mazara Palani not only manages to feed its own people, but is a large net exporter of food as well.

2.) The Environment: Mazara Palani is filled with jungles, mountains and brackish swamps. These are generally not locations considered hospitable for human settlement, much less agriculture. However, the environments must be managed carefully in order to prevent soil erosion, nutrient degradation, mudslides or other negative consequence of environmental damage. Biodiversity, soil nutrient levels and soil quality have to be taken into account. Simply slashing and burning jungle would result in severe soil erosion, flooding and mudslides, while attempting to drain and cut the mangrove swamps in the south would mean the next tsunami does far more damage than it otherwise would do. Red tides from excessive phosphate discharge into the environment is also a hazard, especially to aquaculture establishments. The keys to preserving the environment are minimization of agrichemical use and promotion of biodiversity through multitrophic zero-waste farming.

3.) Biological Solutions and Zero Waste Agriculture: Fresh water in Mazara Palani is a surprisingly scarce commodity. The mineral rich soil of the mangrove swamps and coastal forests results in heavy plant growth but water too salty for people to drink, while frequently, in the rainforests to the north, water is contaminated with bacteria and microogranisms. The soil in the rainforest is also low in nitrogenous compounds, making it easy to deplete the soil and cause mudslides. Zero waste agriculture is a necessity in Mazara Palani as far conserving limited potable water supplies and preventing excessive loss of soil nutrients. Also, biological solutions, such as genetically modified crops, multitrophic agriculture, biological weed control and biological pest control.

4.) Permaculture and Networked Biodynamics: Permaculture is the art of mimicking natural relationships in the practice of agriculture and biodynamics is a practice that integrates the farm into the natural environment. This is done via a complex set of design principles that mesh into one another to produce various synergistic effects. A simple example would be stocking rice paddies with tilapia and ducks, which eat insects and weeds. Humans can then eat fish and ducks for added protein. Multiple layers of these relationships are stacked on top of one another in progressively complex chains and units which slots the agricultural network very precisely into the pre-existing ecosystem with minimal disruption. Each individual farm is designed around the principles of a single function mini-biosphere or single organism, which is then integrated with other farms into a network. In the past, this used to be a highly complex task that involved keeping careful records, which were then shared with other farmers in surrounding communities via lodge gatherings. However, with the advent of electronic communications such as the telephone and the internet, networked communication between agricultural units has become much simpler. This not only helps maintain the delicate agroecologic balance of MP to a high degree of precision, but also ensures that both variety and supply are maintained to needed levels.

5.) Aquaculture and Mariculture: With a nation as waterlogged as Mazara Palani, a high degree of aquaculture and mariculture is to be expected. Aquaculture and mariculture networks are integrated into the land based agricultural networks to some extent, but have their own degree of flexbility and independence. Due to a shortage of arable land, of MP's animal protein sources are in fact produced via aquaculture and mariculture. Aquaculture and mariculture networks seek to preserve a healthy and sustainable ocean environment via multitrophic farming. The base usually starts with a kelp or algae farm, which is used to feed shrimp. Some of the shrimp can be used to feed salmon or other carnivorous fish, while any detritus is taken care of by a lobster or shellfish farm nearby. The constant cycling and utilization of available nutrients results in high yields while negating harmful algal blooms or severe disruption to the oceanic environment.

6.) Mazara Agriculture: The Mazara live in the saltwater swamps and coastal forests of Mazara Palani. The salty, flooded wetlands and mangals provide for soils rich in minerals, which makes agriculture very simple in the forests further inland, as the mangrove swamps filter the saltwater enough to allow plants to grow in a mineral rich environment. However, damage to the mangal tends to result in mineral creep into arable soils, so a healthy level of mangal needs to be maintained in order to keep the soil free of excessive minerals. More importantly, the mangal is the most important source of carbon and nitrogen fixation for human agriculture. Dead biological material from the mangal is used to fertilze and provide nutrients to fields. Mangrove forests and artifically planted mangrove plantations are also important sources of various fish species and crustaceans which provide for protein in the Mazara diet. Another important set of crops for Mazara Palani are palm trees of various kinds, such as the coconut palm, sago palm, jelly palm, breadfruit palm, fan palm, oil palm and salak palm. Careful breeding over many centuries have resulted in many dwarf palm varieties that can be cut year after year, as they regrow quickly. Usually, palms are cut on a rotating basis as not to deplete the soil too rapidly, and alternated with various other crops like taro, banana, cassava, soursop and guava. In order to crowd out weeds, various goosefoot vines and orchids are planted, as well as the famed Mazara Strangler Fig, which is usually planted to take over dead or unused trees.

The most important crop in the Mazara territories is the Mazara Water Lily (Lilium Xileha), the roots and leaves of which are eaten. This saltwater tolerant species of lily is so important to Mazara society and culture, that it represents life and creation in Mazara symbology as well as acting as the national emblem of Mazara Palani.

The Mazara have mastered the use of biological pesticides and herbicides, frequently using creatures like the Jeweled Burrowing Paper Wasp, the Mazara Wandering Spider and the Ruby Throated Finch to control pests and weeds in their fields.

Mazara aquaculture has a strong dedicated infrastructure. In addition to the harvest of various shellfish such as shrimp, crab, oysters and lobsters from the mangroves, another unique Mazara protein source is farmed manatee. The manatee was domesticated by the Mazara in ancient times in order to keep their waterways clear, as they voraciously ate all kinds of plant matter, including otherwise poisonous algal blooms. Spare plant matter was considered stored when fed to manatees, which were slaughtered to provide meat and fat, and their dense bones were used to create carvings. The domesticated manatee breeds faster and more frequently than their cousins in the wild. However, their rates of breeding are still rather slow, so their function as a protein source is complemented by farmed sunfish, barramundi and saltwater gourami. This is complemented by aquaponic growing systems in the swamplands, with plants such as swamp acacia, coconut palms and buttonwood. In order to maintain the ecological balance, various types of trees are planted in mixed clusters and sorted later during harvest. Mariculture is also a popular with the Mazara, especially phytoplankton farms that maintain the base of the oceanic food chain and remove carbon dioxide from the air. Fish raised in open ocean farms are supplemented by carefully managed wild fisheries.

7.) Keiti Agriculture: Keiti agriculture has the opposite problem of Mazara agriculture; its jungle soils are poor in nitrogenous and mineral compounds. Thus the foundation of Keiti agriculture is the nitrogen fixing legume, the vines of which are wrapped around large trees like brazil nuts and peach palms. The opal hyacnith bean vine is especially popular, as the flowers can be used to make distinctive perfumes and its fruits can be either eaten or buried as fertilizer. Other plants like fenugreek, mustard orchid and velvet beans are commonly planted as well. In the mountainous highlands, legumes like lentils and fava beans are planted, alternating with potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, oats, quinoa and rice. In order to prevent soil erosion, a combination of reed beds, tree stands, ponds, drainage ditches and terrace farming is used to hold down the mountain foothills and jungle slopes. Various types of freshwater fish and waterfowl are harvested from various ponds and lakes created by Keiti agri-engineering projects. Usually, the waste from these processes are used as feedstock to grow various types of edible mushroom.

Entomophagy is very commonplace in the Keiti diet. Insects and arachnids have been eaten for thousands of years, and they have far higher protein and micronutrient yields by weight and volume versus traditional western food animals like cows and pigs. Termites, cockroaches, crickets, leaf cutter ants, ambrosia beetles, water bugs, mealworms and many other kinds of arthropod are raised by the Keiti people for food. These are usually farmed off of vegetable and meat scraps that are otherwise inedible by people or other animals and make for a good way to get rid of organic waste other than by turning it into unneeded fertilzer. Insects provide a great deal of the protein for the Keiti people. In the same vein, heliculture is practiced extensively in Keit, especially with tree snails.

Other sources of animal protein in Keit include yak, which is raised in the mountains, and water buffalo, which is raised in the jungle floors. The water buffalo and yaks provide milk which is made into cheese via various plant based enzymes. This is one of the few dairy products available in Mazara Palani. Guinea pigs are raised for their meat, and are a popular food in Keit itself. Furthermore, the Keiti raise pigs as well, although the massively muscled "hogzilla" breeds introduced by Questarian and Juuman settlers are difficult to control and feral packs are usually shot to prevent damage to existing farmlands.

Aquaculture in the Keiti territories is centered around a combination of freshwater aquaculture, mostly in the water retention ponds and rice paddies, coastal aquaculture in the fjords. Commonly farmed fish include freshwater carp, catfish and tambaqui, while various types of shellfish are frequently farmed in the fjords. There are some limited aquaponic growth projects, but the climate in the northern mountains is not as hospitable as the mangroves in southern Mazara Palani and are less suitable for growing crops. However, more carnivorous fish, like salmon, tuna and sturgeon are farmed in Keit, vs. what is farmed in the Mazara territories down south.

8.) Nika Agriculture: Nika agriculture is somewhat similar to highland Keiti agriculture in its execution. However, unlike the Keiti, which controlled a large land empire and plenty of space, Nikagard was a city state with little arable land, which meant that the Nika had to adopt Mazara aquaculture methods as well, in order to ensure that enough food got to their people. The Nika rapidly adopted the Keiti practice of terrace farming to cultivate their mountain slopes. Also, the Nika frequently use waste heat from their cities to power thermovoltaics for UV lamps in underground farms. Otherwise, Nika agriculture is mostly a combination of Mazara and Keiti agriculture.

9.) Badowe Agriculture: Agriculture in the freshwater swamps of the Badowe lands is somewhat different from agriculture in the saltwater swamps in the Mazara lands. Without the mangal to hold the soil down, the Badowe have to artificially compact loose soil into floating platforms called cherekwe. Cherekwe are held down by reed grass barriers and anchored by trees planted in the corners of rectlinear platform. Every few growing seasons, each cherekwe is dug up and the soil rotated out in order to pick up certain nutrients derived from bacterial breakdown of rotting vegetable matter that occurs at the swamp bottoms. Since each cherekwe is an indepdent unit, they can be tented with plastic sheeting to keep moisture out and temperature consistent, thus allowing for various sorts of crops not native to Mazara Palani to be grown. This not only increases the variety of diet, but also reduces importation of certain food crops from abroad.
Popular food crops include tomatoes, corn, beans, chilies and chocolate. The last one is especially important as an export crop. Thankfully, due to evolutionary selection in the harsh climates of Mazara Palani as well as more than a small bit of selective breeding and genetic engineering, Badowe cacao is one of the few varieties of chocolate that can stand up to machine harvesting.

Usually the pulp of cacao is juiced and consumed in Mazara Palani as a drink, while the beans are usually graded, fermented and roasted before being sold on the export market. Another common export crop is vanilla, which is usually rotated with corn, chia, choclate, tomatoes and yucca. Mazara vanilla is not only exported as a food product, but also used heavily in designer perfumes as well.

Lastly, cane sugar is grown in Badowe. However, sugar is not a major export, as it is not volume efficient enough to bring in large amounts of cash. Rum has greater volume efficiency and is thus heavily exported, favoring the export of light, mild rums, while the darker, more complex rums are reserved for domestic consumption.

10.) Agrieconomics: The problem with the above models is that the permaculture network has an unpredictable effect on the food available at market. Most people in Mazara Palani will just buy whatever is available or in season at their local farmer's market or food stall, but this creates a problem with Mazara Palani's export market, as the food distribution networks in other nations require more consistency than simply taking whatever is available. Farmers in MP usually get around this by forming farmers' collectives. Each farmer engaging in permaculture coordinates with other farmers doing the same thing. They compare crops and livestock and rotate them so that there is a consistent supply of any one type of plant or animal between the collective at any given time. Each collective grows multiple types of crops and thus can sell to multiple distributorships (which in turn collect from multiple collectives). The farmers in any given collective also ensure each others' financial health, as well as work together to coordinate the complex permaculture network to optimal advantage.

The government of Mazara Palani does not need to subsidize the agricultural industry, as the cost of transport makes the importation of food prohibitively costly, while exports from Mazara Palani are usually items that are rarely grown anywhere else both inter and intra-regionally and thus have less of a competitive disadvantage. For example, vanilla is much less commonly grown than corn or wheat, and thus Mazara vanilla has a large competitive advantage in the regional markets of Antarchon versus Questarian or Khemeti vanilla, while there are reasonable substitutes for both wheat and corn in MP, but Juumans and Spizanians do not have reasonable substitutes for chocolate or bananas.

Agriculture overall forms a fairly substantial part of Mazara Palani's exports in terms of both volume and value, especially valuable crops like cannabis, coffee, tea and vanilla. With cash crops, the emphasis is on quality over yield and price, as transport distances make it infeasible to bring in large volumes of goods over long distances.

11.) Biotechnology and Agritechnology: The role technology plays in Mazara Palani's agricultural sector is not simply limited to pumping out as many pesticides and herbicides into the fields as possible. The incorporation of various methodologies to increase yield is balanced with long term needs in terms of sustainable agriculture and the maintenance of soil fertility. Genetic modification is a highly popular solution to agricultural problems as specialist varieties of plants and livestock can be bred for optimizing permaculture networks. Another popular method of increasing yield are hydroponic mediums, terrace farming and development supported farming where suburban and urban areas are utilized for certain types of agricultural production.

The primary method of sharing information is Mazara Palani's AgriWiki, where farmers, biologists, agrieconomists and food distributors can come together to share information and provide an open source forum for sharing the information required to maintain the complex permaculture networks used in Mazara Palani.

You should use NEWater to help you with your water. Plus a good system of reservoirs, canals, etc. like Singapore to collect your rainwater.

Lern from Singapore we had to do water management too and we r exporting our tech to other countries! xD

You had algae blooms in ancient times?

Some other stuff for your unfertile soils which you can explore:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/soil/mann-text/6 (zai, stone line)
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/soil/mann-text/7 (terra preta for tropical Amazonian-esque soils)
Yeh and the rest of the article.

It happens naturally sometimes. A good number of scientists reckon that the biblical thing about the Nile turning to blood was a 'red tide' algae bloom.

Terra Preta is not needed in most of MP, due to sufficient presence of microorganisms in the soil. In the Keiti regions, vegetation is allowed to rot and breed bacteria, before it's plowed back under. The extensive root networks of legumes as well as the presence of carbon and mineral rich algal filters helps greatly as well.

I don't think people realize this. Trees are part of agriculture. In fact, privatizing forests guarantees the maintenance of said forests.

And, you can do "dry farming". Many of my parcels of lands and vineyards are "dry farmed". We do not have potable water sources that we can use.

Catalan: Are you referring to me when mentioning trees in agriculture, because I explicitly mention the role of trees several times. As for privatization, I mention that farmers in my nation do not receive any government subsidies, so public landownership is not really an issue.

Dry farming can be done, but water used for agriculture can be far dirtier, saltier or chemical loaded than water used for potable consumption by humans, and it's not a lack of fresh water that's the issue so much as it is a lack of uncontaminated fresh water.

I read that.

If housing in MP rents at $210 per square metre per floor per month, why do people waste their land on such a low value added industry as agriculture?

I mean, an acre of 20 storey appartment buildings at these rates, even assuming 50% wastage due to walkways, stairs &c., which seems unreasonable given how cramped the living space is, but giving benefit of the doubt, would gross $4.2m per month even at 50% occupancy! Agricultural land otoh is lucky to return in the triple digits per year.

However, agriculture can take place on land with softer, water laden soils that don't require extensive prep work before I can sink in foundations for high density housing.

If people drain swamps to sell at Florida prices, why wouldn't they do extensive ground preparation to rent shitty cubicle farms at apparently 15x central London prices?

In hindsight, I think I need to lower property taxes in MP to a reasonable level. I drew the tyrannyhousing pictures before planned the layouts of my cities, and it turns out I have far more space than I thought I had. Land should rent at $50 per square meter, per month in downtown Aulowe and much less in other areas of the country.

Also, having 2-4 harvests a year really helps increase the value of farmland vs. residential property.

Only to the extent that it shoves agricultural prices down and beats them repeatedly, and reduces the size of agricultural land.

Plus having a smaller dormant phase reduces crop productivity over all bearing smaller and less nutrient crops.

Not necessarily, there are certain crops, especially legumes, that restore nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil, while still remaining edible. Also, four growing seasons means that I can rotate crops out more quickly as well, which lets me restore nutrients to the soil faster etc.

In terms of depletion and repletion, it's proportionally the same time period, since you also deplete the soil faster. No Endorse is also right; more seasons will shove prices down, ceteris paribus, since there would be greater production. This would result is less land being cultivated, which would lead to what Praetonia is describing.

In regards to your response to me:

1. I'm not sure what subsidization has directly to do with privatization. Land in Spain is privatized, but still subsidized.

2. I'm not talking about using trees to harvest foods. I'm talking about timber farming, and the use of forests as hunting grounds, et cetera, which are other forms of agriculture. And, none of what you wrote says anything about privatization of forests (I quoted where it says that forests are not cultivated; perhaps your definition of cultivation is different from a farmer's, since you can cultivate trees [as I do]).