Asia Economic Level

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On the basis of, for example, GDP per capita. For example, countries can be divided into three economic levels: rich, middle-income and poor countries.

The rich countries have “European level”; this applies to the strongest industrialized countries and the oil countries. Among the first are Japan, Israel and the so-called Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) such as Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore (the “Little Tigers”). They have all developed an extensive industry. The production apparatus is modern with widespread automation, well-trained manpower and it is supported by research. A large part of employment is in the service sector. This development can be found in selected industrial areas in India, China etc.

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Oil countries include Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran) as well as Brunei. The vast majority of these countries’ income comes from the huge oil production: the Gulf states alone cover a quarter of the world’s production and a large part of world trade.

The middle-income countries, Turkey, Thailand and some of the former Soviet republics (eg Uzbekistan, Armenia and Georgia) are predominantly agricultural countries that have developed some industry. The same applies to a certain extent for eg Iran, Iraq and Syria. Countries such as Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Kazakhstan also belong to this group. Most of the industry in these countries produces home-grown groceries with simple, often old-fashioned technology and high labor consumption.

The poorest group includes the major countries China and India; in addition, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma) and the poorest: Bangladesh and the poor inland states of Afghanistan, Bhutan and Nepal. In China and India, at the same time, the industry comprises fairly primitive and the most advanced productions, such as aerospace and nuclear power. The latter are often state-run; they can give prestige but are consistently deficit companies.

The rapid economic growth of a number of countries in East and South Asia was interrupted in the second half of the 1990s when a major financial crisis broke out in the region. The crisis revealed the structural weaknesses in the countries’ economies and has triggered economic reforms. China was less affected by the economic crisis than the other countries in the region, and integration into the international economy continued. with China’s membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which was established in 2001.

The continent ranges from the tropics to the Arctic Arctic Ocean and has widely varying rainfall conditions; therefore, almost all useful plants can be grown in Asia. For the distribution of cultivation, climatic conditions play a major role. Among other things. the growth period in the temperate zone is rather short, often limited by both temperature and precipitation conditions. Subtropical climate is usually exploited by using two crop systems. The summer-dry subtropical Mediterranean type (in West Asia) is utilized by a drought-tolerant summer crop, for example for olives, if there is no irrigation – and a temperate winter crop, for example wheat. In East Asia, summer monsoon rains possibility of rice cultivation. Winter is cool and dry; often barley is grown. In the tropics, the growing season is not limited by the cold, but, with the exception of the equatorial areas and certain mountain areas, by water shortages. In large parts of South, Southeast and East Asia, the relatively stable monsoon rain is used for one or two crops, which are often supplemented by one in the dry season. The tropical year-round rainy climate in principle allows for continued cultivation year-round.

An estimated 2/3 of the world’s food is produced in Asia, including the vast majority of the world’s rice and a large proportion of wheat, maize, millet and sorghum, legumes (beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, soybeans) and dates. Furthermore, oil plants (including coconut and oil palm), cotton, tea, tobacco and silk. Furthermore, most of the world’s stock of pigs, chickens and cattle is found in Asia.

Asia could in the 1990s provide its large population with its own production of food, but the task requires up to 2/3 of the workforce.  According to Countryaah.com, the current Asia population is 4.463 billion.

Asian Countries

Country Population growth (percent) Mortality / death rate (per 1000 residents) Nativity / birth rate (per 1000 residents)
Afghanistan 2.5 (2017) 6.7 (2016) 33.2 (2016)
Bahrain 4.6 (2017) 2.4 (2016) 14.8 (2016)
Bangladesh 1.0 (2017) 5.3 (2016) 19.0 (2016)
Bhutan 1.2 (2017) 6.0 (2016) 18.2 (2016)
Brunei 1.3 (2017) 3.6 (2016) 15.9 (2016)
Burma 0.9 (2017) 8.1 (2016) 17.8 (2016)
Philippines 1.5 (2017) 6.5 (2016) 23.2 (2016)
United Arab Emirates 1.4 (2017) 1.6 (2016) 9.6 (2016)
India 1.1 (2017) 7.3 (2016) 19.0 (2016)
Indonesia 1.1 (2017) 7.1 (2016) 19.0 (2016)
Iraq 2.8 (2017) 5.0 (2016) 33.2 (2016)
Iran 1.1 (2017) 4.5 (2016) 16.5 (2016)
Israel 1.9 (2017) 5.1 (2016) 21.2 (2016)
Japan -0.2 (2017) 10.5 (2016) 7.8 (2016)
Yemen 2.4 (2017) 6.5 (2016) 31.6 (2016)
Jordan 2.6 (2017) 3.8 (2016) 26.5 (2016)
Cambodia 1.5 (2017) 6.1 (2016) 23.3 (2016)
Kazakhstan 1.4 (2017) 7.4 (2016) 22.5 (2016)
China 0.6 (2017) 7.3 (2016) 12.0 (2016)
Kyrgyzstan 2.0 (2017) 5.5 (2016) 26.0 (2016)
Kuwait 2.1 (2017) 2.7 (2016) 16.4 (2016)
Laos 1.5 (2017) 6.7 (2016) 23.9 (2016)
Lebanon 1.3 (2017) 4.6 (2016) 15.5 (2016)
Malaysia 1.4 (2017) 4.9 (2016) 17.1 (2016)
Maldives 2.0 (2017) 3.3 (2016) 18.3 (2016)
Mongolia 1.6 (2017) 6.3 (2016) 24.0 (2016)
Nepal 1.1 (2017) 6.3 (2016) 19.7 (2016)
North Korea
Oman 4.7 (2017) 2.5 (2016) 18.7 (2016)
Pakistan 2.0 (2017) 7.3 (2016) 28.2 (2016)
Qatar 2.7 (2017) 1.5 (2016) 10.1 (2016)
Saudi Arabia 2.0 (2017) 3.6 (2016) 19.6 (2016)
Singapore 0.1 (2017) 4.8 (2016) 9.4 (2016)
Sri Lanka 1.1 (2017) 6.9 (2016) 15.3 (2016)
South Korea 0.4 (2017) 5.5 (2016) 7.9 (2016)
Syria -0.9 (2017) 5.5 (2016) 21.5 (2016)
Tajikistan 2.1 (2017) 5.2 (2016) 28.8 (2016)
Taiwan
Thailand 0.3 (2017) 7.9 (2016) 10.3 (2016)
Turkmenistan 1.7 (2017) 7.1 (2016) 25.4 (2016)
Uzbekistan 1.7 (2017) 4.9 (2016) 22.8 (2016)
Vietnam 1.0 (2017) 5.8 (2016) 16.7 (2016)
East Timor 2.2 (2017) 5.5 (2016) 35.0 (2016)

Agriculture, often without relation to the natural conditions, falls into two major groups: the traditional farms with predominantly self-sufficiency and the more modern market-oriented uses based on monetary economics.

Almost all known operating modes are found in Asia. Among the least intensive are the so-called concentration uses: relocation and in-field use, which depends entirely on local resources. Moving land use is now only operated by approx. 100 million people and displaced because it requires large areas of land. Indigenous farming is more prevalent, most in the more densely populated areas of West Asia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. Cattle keeping is very important in the farms. It is used partly for dairy and (local) meat production, partly for the production of fertilizers, so broke if possible. can be completely avoided. The tensile strength of oxen and buffaloes allows the plowing of even heavy soil. The main crops are usually the durable cereals of wheat and rice. An occasional profit can therefore be sold or exchanged.

In-field use is particularly limited by the lack of grazing opportunities. The farms are therefore often developed for permanent farming by grazing land included in the cultivated area. Permanent agriculture has a maximum of 50% of the cultivated land lying fallow. Certain uses, for example in India, are practiced almost without fertilization, but with much plowing, i. because the manure in dried form is used for fuel. In other types of use, fertilization is managed by crop rotation and the use of legumes that supply soil with nitrogen. Natural fertilizers, such as latrine and compost, are widely used, while fertilizers are only used if you have a monetary income.

In most highly developed traditional uses irrigation is used, almost always when growing “wet rice”. Generally, rice farming in East Asia has developed to a high degree of ecological perfection: a small consumption of natural resources and stability for millennia. The intensity of rice farming is often very high, as an example from before the Second World War shows in the delta of the Red River in Vietnam. A family usually lived off the rice harvest from just about. 1 1/2ha, which in turn is harvested two to three times a year using the family’s total labor, supplemented by a buffalo bucket. The irrigation in particular required a lot of work (including maintenance of dams and canals). Fertilizer was recycled substance, supplemented with nitrogen fertilizer from cultivated algae. With such highly refined rice farms, self-sufficiency was achieved at a population density of almost 2000 b.p. km2, almost like in a Danish residential area.

Specifically, in East Asia, what could be called a “vegetable civilization” has been developed because almost all material necessities, incl. foods are made from plant materials.

Agriculture as described is still found in large parts of East, Southeast and South Asia, especially where the monsoon rains are plentiful, but also along the major rivers where supplemental irrigation can take place by diversion from the river (e.g. Euphrates, Tigris, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Cauvery, Mekong, Chang Jiang and Huang He). The more intensive types of market-oriented usage and traditional self-sufficiency are often very similar. The difference, which is gradually increasing, is mainly that market-oriented use can specialize in the production of the crops and animals that produce the most economic benefit, without having to meet specific local needs. Marketing, on the other hand, requires durable and transportable goods such as rice.

The market-leading use has the opportunity to modernize with the acquisition of new equipment, for example by improving irrigation systems, by using fertilizers, pesticides, improved seed, etc. Modernized use thus has a higher productivity than the traditional ones. During the so-called Green Revolution, improvements were aimed at high-yielding varieties (HYV, or High Yielding Varieties according to Abbreviationfinder) of wheat, rice and maize in connection with better fertilization and possibly water management. The significance of this has been very great. In India’s wheat states of Punjab and Haryana, the yields have tripled. In several countries, profits have been obtained for export. With new, faster maturing varieties, you have the opportunity of two or three crops per site in several places. year; with rice it is even theoretically possible to obtain four crops. The difficulties with HYV crops have been their greater sensitivity to diseases, risk of contamination, unfamiliar taste qualities and increased requirements for financing. The latter has meant that the larger uses have most often been favored by modernization, and the social inequality in the countryside has increased in many places.

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It is estimated that after the Green Revolution, more production supplies approx. 500 million people with food. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to a further spread is that irrigation becomes more costly as the best opportunities are utilized. Large plants are still being launched and planned, among other things. on the Mekong and on several Chinese and Indian rivers, but smaller, decentralized plants such as wells with pumps have gained increasing interest; they are easier to finance and manage.

The intensification of agriculture is necessitated in large parts of Asia by population growth. Family Using the 1/2 -1 have become more and more common, inter alia, South Asia; “rich farmers” often have only 2-3 ha. More and more people are becoming landless, while at the same time quite large properties exist in many places. Land distribution is therefore constantly an urgent political issue.

In the more extensive agricultural areas of western and northern Asia there are many large farms, some of which are collectively run. Both state and collective modes of operation are returning in China, Asian Russia and Vietnam, but not in North Korea.

Plantation operation is a special commercial type of farming that was developed during the colonial era and still has some distribution. Its aim was and is a monoculture production of vegetable raw materials for export: rubber, copra, vegetable oil, tea, coffee, sugar and spices. The same products are now also grown on small, private plots. The plantations were originally all owned by foreigners, while the unskilled, contracted workforce was local. The use of this and of almost free soil allowed for cheap production of tropical vegetables (“colonial goods”). Even before decolonization, some work was done on the plantations.

Although the main emphasis is on vegetable production, the animal husbandry in Asia is naturally very extensive. Pigs and chickens are kept as waste and surplus seeds in connection with rice farming; huge cattle herds, especially in India, and sheep and goat flocks serve to exploit otherwise inexhaustible steppe areas.