Transcript 5.1 CROPPing Systems - BRagrisc

CROP HUSBANDRY
5.1
Describe the major cropping systems.
Mixed cropping, mixed farming, crop
rotation
CROPPING SYSTEMS
Farming is any deliberate attempt to produce crops and
livestock
Need for an efficient system of farming:
• Need for food to live ; land is limited, growing
population
• Increase incomes, increase production by farmers
• With limited resources in some countries, farmers
must increase productivity to pay for goods and
services
• Employment is generated
• Efficient system of farming makes economic use of
resources
Shifting cultivation
• The land is cleared usually by burning and
• planted using simple tools
• Relies on natural fertility, no fertilizers.
The land is cleared usually by burning
Shifting cultivation
• A piece of land is cultivated for 2 – 4 years
Shifting cultivation
• When the soil nutrients are
exhausted and crop yields are low
the farmer and his family abandon
the farm and farm buildings for ever
and move to farm elsewhere.
Shifting cultivation – the problems
• Loss of humus by burning,
• depletion of soil nutrients by continual
removal of crop products
Shifting cultivation – the problems
• causes soil erosion,
• flooding,
• lost of valuable forest trees and wildlife
Shifting cultivation
Subsistence farming
Earnings are supplemented from other jobs.
It assists with family food requirements.
Subsistence farming
Continuous cropping
•This farming system
involves putting a
piece of land under
permanent
cultivation.
•The crops planted
may either be
annual or perennial.
Continuous cropping
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Advantages:
Maximum utilization of land,
reduced cost of labour on land preparation,
if water and nutrients are adequate it can lead
to increased production and more than one
harvest per year.
Desirable in densely populated areas where land
is scarce and there is high demand for the crops
being produced.
Continuous cropping
Disadvantages:
• can lead to soil exhaustion, erosion and low
productivity if soil and nutrients conservation
practices are not adopted.
• Must have good land management practices to be
successful
Monocropping (sole cropping)
• This is the practice of growing exclusively one
type of crop and harvesting it before planting
another on the same piece of land.
• This system leads to specialization and greater
efficiency in production of the crop and its
products.
Monocropping (sole cropping)
Mechanization
is possible
because only
one set of
machinery is
required.
Monocropping (sole cropping)
Control
of pests
and
diseases
of the
crop can
be easy.
Monocropping (sole cropping)
This system can be adopted
• where there is high demand for the crop;
• if there is managerial skill for growing the crop;
• if there is government incentive through
subsidies for farm inputs;
• and where the environmental factors are
conducive.
• The farmer could however be exposed to the
danger of a poor harvest as a result of adverse
climatic conditions or invasion of pests and
diseases.
• The market price may also fall causing serious
loss to profit margins.
Monoculture
• This means the
growing of the
same crop on the
same piece of land
from year to year.
• This may apply
both to annual
crops such as yam,
cassava, rice, corn,
and perennial
crops such as
cocoa, coffee,
coconuts, citrus.
Monoculture
• After some years the crops will diminish in
yield because the same nutrients will be
continually removed from the same or nearly
the same depth of soil by the plants.
Monoculture - Advantages
• encourages specialization in certain crops that could
lead to better production both in quantity and
quality.
• The farmer can purchase specialized tools and
equipment.
• It is advantageous when a specific crop commands a
high price;
• when the soil is suitable for one crop such as swamp
rice;
• when manure is readily available to replace steady
losses through plant uptake.
Monoculture - Disadvantages
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This will lead to soil exhaustion;
the destruction of soil structure,
and possibly soil erosion.
It is also a system that exposes the farmer to
great risk in the case of adverse climatic
conditions or an invasion of pests and diseases.
Mixed Cropping
• Mixed cropping is the cultivation of more than
one type on a piece of land at the same time.
• E.g. corn and yam
Mixed Cropping
• Makes efficient use of soil resources
Mixed Cropping
• mechanization may not be possible
Mixed Cropping
• the increased biodiversity decreases weeds,
pests and diseases.
• Less pesticides used
Mixed Cropping
Mixed Farming
Cows and sheep grazing together
Mixed Farming
• This system involves the rearing of livestock
and planting of crops
Sheep
and
orchard
(fruit
trees)
Mixed Farming
• Land is used more efficiently and reduces the
risk of failure
Cattle
grazing
under
coconut
trees
Mixed Farming
• Excess from the garden is fed to the animals
• Excreta and litter (manure from the pens is used in
the garden
Waste from chicken used to
fertilise algae growth in the
pond
Mixed Farming - Disadvantages
• A higher level of management is
required
• A labour force needs to be trained
• There is need to find markets for
different produce
• Animals can damage crops if they are
not properly enclosed or tethered
The Plantation System
• Involves a large acreage cultivated with one
main crop. E.g. sugar cane
• Several employees, many technically trained
The Plantation System
•Highly
mechanized
•May have
own research
station and
security force
Rice – main crop
Crop Rotation
• This is a system whereby the ground is kept
under cultivation in such a way that the crops
follow in a definite order or cycle.
Crop Rotation
• Some crops use a fair
quantity of nutrients,
e.g. yams, maize,
cassava; while some
use less. E.g. tomatoes,
pumpkin.
• Crops add nutrients,
e.g. legumes, grasses
Crop Rotation
•Crops have
different root
lengths –
shallow
rooted and
deep-rooted.
Example of Crop Rotation
beans
tomato
lettuce
carrots
Benefits of Crop Rotation
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Improves fertility
Controls pests and diseases
Controls weeds
Labour is occupied throughout the
year
• Income is maintained throughout the
year
Intercropping
• The planting of quick-growing and quickmaturing crops between slow-growing and
slow-maturing crops. E.g. melon and yam.
Sorghum and cowpea
Intercropping
Nine different crops growing here
Intercropping
Interplanting
• the growing of a main
crop in between
planting of another main
crop on the same piece
of land.
• The crop planted later
remains on the plot
after the first crop has
been harvested. E.g.
corn and cassava.
HOME WORK
Read pages 166- 168
THE END