Transcript Approaches to estimation of area under mixed (Intensive Cropping) - FAO

Approaches to estimation of Area
Under Mixed (Intensive) Cropping
Mukesh K. Srivastava
FAO Statistics Division
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Roundtable, Samoa, March 2009
Concepts
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Strategies for getting maximum yield from a
given land
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Crop rotation: Many short duration crops in a year
(Intensive Agriculture), or
Mixed cropping
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Associated crops (temporary + permanent crops
together)
Crop mixtures (combination of only temporary or only
permanent crops)
Crop Rotation: Indicators
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Gross Cropped Area (GCA): counting the physical
area of utilized land as many times as are the
number of crops cultivated in a year.
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Net Cultivated Area (NCA): Only the physical area
cultivated
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Indicator of land use = NCA/Operated area
Cropping intensity = GCA/NCA
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Facilitates estimation of area used by individual crops,
even if same crop is grown twice or thrice a year.
together with cropping cycle, this indicator is used by
agronomists to assess the sustainability of agriculture
Mixed cropping
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It is desirable
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to estimate the area utilized by each crop for
food/nutritional security analysis
to have information on cropping practices to
assess sustainability of agriculture
Statistical treatment: assign areas to
individual crop on the basis of “What area the
crop would have occupied if it were grown in
pure stand?”
When to assign area: in field or in
statistical office?
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Data processing stage:
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preferable, if standard cropping mixtures are being
promoted by agricultural scientist or extension officers.
standard cropping mixtures need to be notified as a
“crop combination” as a single crop
This approach does not loose information that is useful
for planers.
In the field: If many types of Non-Standard
crop mixtures
Assigning area in the field itself
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Systematic plantation in rows
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Irregular plantation
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eye estimation based on number of rows for
each crops
based upon ratio of quantity of seed used for
each crop
Eye estimation based upon plant densities
If too many crops, consult agronomists to develop
national procedures
Key Message
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In the situations of subsistence type intensive
agriculture, mixed cropping could pose a
serious challenge to Census Planner
Be aware of existence and nature of the
issues since beginning of Survey Planning.
Take care to evaluate options for assigning
area at Pre-test and Pilot stage.
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The floor is open to discuss specific situation
in the countries which do not fit into the
approaches outlined.
 Thank
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You!