Agricultural protection zoning is an instrument that promotes agricultural and environmental goals, which include protecting farmland from development. It protects farmland by prohibiting different land uses in the farming areas. The authority for this zoning is established in many countries, but not in others. Agricultural protection zoning may be known by different names, such as agriculture preserve zone, or agricultural land reserve. In the United States, it is referred to as agricultural protection zoning, agricultural preservation zoning, or farmland protection zoning (FPZ).
Sustainable agriculture: Agricultural protection zones are an important tool for the regulation of land uses in agricultural areas. They help to conserve the most productive agricultural lands for long-term commercial production of crops, livestock, or other agricultural products and to protect associated farm operations from nonagricultural development.
Discourage incompatible development: Farmland preservation zoning is important for the health of our communities and the protection of our environment. The growth of cities creates a demand for food, but also creates competition with land needed for farming. As the amount of land used for farming declines, so does the number of farmers. Fewer farmers will create less food to feed a growing population. APZ can help preservation of farmland and discourage development of land uses that are incompatible with agricultural uses.
Protect dependent rural communities: It promotes and protects dependent rural communities through the enhancement, protection, and perpetuation of the agricultural land to produce food and provide livelihood to them by protecting property rights.
Minimise land use conflicts: Zoning protects agricultural land by minimizing land use conflicts. Agricultural zoning aims at protecting agricultural lands from various non-agricultural land uses by demarcating the boundaries of each land use and limiting the expansion of non-agricultural land uses in agricultural areas. Agricultural zoning is especially important in metropolitan regions and highly urbanized cities where agricultural lands are being converted into non-agricultural land uses due to population pressure.
Maintains the vitality: Agricultural zones provide an innovative and cost-effective way of protecting sensitive soil areas from inappropriate development. APZ ordinances safeguard soils from conversion to other uses that affect soil quality. These zoning laws protect soil productivity, watersheds, open space, and other natural resources associated with land use in the agricultural area.
Protect agricultural soils: Agricultural land is often claimed to be the world’s most important resource as it helps to feed the population around the globe and provides the basic necessities for humans such as food, clothing, water, and shelter. When there is a threat of losing agricultural land, it might also result in the collapse of rural communities if dependent or vulnerable people are left without necessary requirements such as food. Under such circumstances, a broad designation for the agricultural land zone must be put into place to strengthen, protect and prolong the rights of people living in these zones to access basic necessities including food.
Limited effectiveness: One of the major limitations of a protection zone (APZ) approach is that it does not take into consideration the intensity of the agriculture practice being followed within the APZ. 80% of farms in India are marginal to small landholdings. APZ may have limited effectiveness in areas where farming is not well established or is fragmented.
Conflicts: Agricultural Protection Zones are intended to protect the environment and promote agricultural development. They are a planning zone that extends some distance from land that is managed for agriculture on a full-time basis. APZ may lead to conflicts when applied to areas with intense development pressure. For instance, it may generate objections from nearby non-farm residents to routine agricultural activities that result in noise, odour or dust.
Do not guarantee agricultural use: While zoning limits uses that are inconsistent with farming, zoning does not guarantee the land will remain in production. Agricultural protection zones in India are the no-development zones within municipal limits that are intended to protect agricultural and forest lands by providing alternative development locations for future land use. These areas could be categorized as fallow land categories, since they have been cultivated in the past but were temporarily not underuse due to numerous reasons.
Fragmentation: Agricultural Protection Zones (APZ) can be a helpful conservation strategy, but they have the potential to exacerbate the fragmentation of farmland. This post aims to explore how APZ limits the size of leased parcels, and how this fragmentation hinders farming operations.
