ABSTRACT
South Asia is geographically a diverse region that encompasses massive mountain ranges, large plains with prairie vegetation, shrubs, trees, thick forests, semiarid regions with low input agricultural crops, highly intensely cultivated agricultural prairies, low land wet prairies, several rivers and their tributaries, deltas, long stretch of sea coasts; arid regions and deserts with scanty vegetation. The South Asian region extends into 44.4-44.6 million km2 and hosts over 1.6 billion human beings plus large population of domestic farm animals. The South Asian region considered here in the present context is restricted to definition by SAARC. In the entire chapter, discussions are concentrated on agrarian regions of Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. There are only passing references to other SAARC nations such as Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bhutan. Human population density of the South Asian Agricultural Prairie region considered here is among the highest at 350.6-400.1 km−2. Hence, demand for food grains and nourishment is high. Much of the produce is consumed in situ by the local population. Natural vegetation and agricultural prairies of South Asia have traversed a long way in terms of evolutionary diversity, intensity of cropping and productivity, through the ages. During past 5 decades, since 1970s, this region has experienced rampant expansion of agricultural prairies followed by intensification of crop production in order to feed an enlarged population.
