Farmers have used intercropping for centuries, planting multiple crops together in the same field. Intercropping provides several benefits, including higher yields, pest control, and preventing soil erosion. When using intercropping, farmers must carefully consider factors like plant architecture and size, maturity dates, plant density, and spatial arrangement. An agronomy professor discusses how intercropping works differently in various environments but always involves planning and balancing the needs of the crops grown together.
Multilayer Cropping : Ideal approach for better yield and increasing farm incomeAntaraPramanik
In India mostly farmers (about 85%)comes under small and marginal farmers. In near future, availability of land for cultivation will be reduce with increasing population and rapid urbanization, degradation of land due to soil erosion and soil salinity.
As per estimate, in India more than 95% holding will be under the category of small and marginal holders by 2050 (Agrawal R.L., 1995) .
For solution of this problem, multi storied cropping system will be a potential and efficient option to provide food, nutritional and income security to the growing population of India (Awasthi O.P. et.al., 2008) . This has possible because of the diverse agro climatic condition, enormous biodiversity, wide variation in soil fertility, large cultivable land area in the geographical boundary of India. Multi-layer Cropping is a system of growing crops together of different heights at the same time on the same piece of land. It is also referred as multi-storied cropping or multi-tier cropping. Multilayer Cropping is based on the principle of high-density planting and making the ultimate and efficient use of manure, water, land, labour and vertical space.
This system of cropping also works on the principles of minimization of production cost and inputs use, development of organic and sustainable farming system in order to mitigate the use of chemicals and ensuring the food and nutritional security to each household.
Multilayer system of cropping is sustainable method of cropping that is cost effective and requires less labour . Therefore, people should be made aware of this type of farming system.
We know that many farmers in different countries are unwillingly killing themselves because they work hard in their land but they don’t get good production.
Farmers who are willing to do work are deprived of different resources like irrigation and good area of agricultural land. In this scenario, they can be motivated to do multi-layer system of cropping which can ultimately solves all these problem.
This system of cropping can helps to uplift the economic condition of farmer. The Multilayer Cropping System is indeed a boon to small & marginal farmers.
Multilayer Cropping : Ideal approach for better yield and increasing farm incomeAntaraPramanik
In India mostly farmers (about 85%)comes under small and marginal farmers. In near future, availability of land for cultivation will be reduce with increasing population and rapid urbanization, degradation of land due to soil erosion and soil salinity.
As per estimate, in India more than 95% holding will be under the category of small and marginal holders by 2050 (Agrawal R.L., 1995) .
For solution of this problem, multi storied cropping system will be a potential and efficient option to provide food, nutritional and income security to the growing population of India (Awasthi O.P. et.al., 2008) . This has possible because of the diverse agro climatic condition, enormous biodiversity, wide variation in soil fertility, large cultivable land area in the geographical boundary of India. Multi-layer Cropping is a system of growing crops together of different heights at the same time on the same piece of land. It is also referred as multi-storied cropping or multi-tier cropping. Multilayer Cropping is based on the principle of high-density planting and making the ultimate and efficient use of manure, water, land, labour and vertical space.
This system of cropping also works on the principles of minimization of production cost and inputs use, development of organic and sustainable farming system in order to mitigate the use of chemicals and ensuring the food and nutritional security to each household.
Multilayer system of cropping is sustainable method of cropping that is cost effective and requires less labour . Therefore, people should be made aware of this type of farming system.
We know that many farmers in different countries are unwillingly killing themselves because they work hard in their land but they don’t get good production.
Farmers who are willing to do work are deprived of different resources like irrigation and good area of agricultural land. In this scenario, they can be motivated to do multi-layer system of cropping which can ultimately solves all these problem.
This system of cropping can helps to uplift the economic condition of farmer. The Multilayer Cropping System is indeed a boon to small & marginal farmers.
This note looks at crop rotation as one of the sustainable arable crop production practices. It describes the approaches to crop rotation, the benefits and the limitations of crop rotation. The note will serve as a valuable resource for higher ed students taking introductory courses in Agriculture.
This note looks at crop rotation as one of the sustainable arable crop production practices. It describes the approaches to crop rotation, the benefits and the limitations of crop rotation. The note will serve as a valuable resource for higher ed students taking introductory courses in Agriculture.
It is a process of growing different crops in succession on a piece of land in a specific period of time, with an objective to get maximum profit from least investment without impairing the soil fertility
This note looks at crop rotation as one of the sustainable arable crop production practices. It describes the approaches to crop rotation, the benefits and the limitations of crop rotation. The note will serve as a valuable resource for higher ed students taking introductory courses in Agriculture.
This note looks at crop rotation as one of the sustainable arable crop production practices. It describes the approaches to crop rotation, the benefits and the limitations of crop rotation. The note will serve as a valuable resource for higher ed students taking introductory courses in Agriculture.
It is a process of growing different crops in succession on a piece of land in a specific period of time, with an objective to get maximum profit from least investment without impairing the soil fertility
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Growth characteristics and yield of jute mallow when intercropped with common...Innspub Net
In Tanzania, farmers harvest Jute mallow for granted when it grows without being cultivated. This limits its potential production and possibilities for exploiting its fully benefit in nutrition and market. This study was conducted to find a better intercropping combination which is agronomically viable with higher yield advantages by integrating Jute mallow in commonly grown cereals in Tanzania. Field experiment was conducted at Hombolo Agricultural Research Centre in Dodoma and the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) farm in Arusha to assess the growth and yield performance of jute mallow when intercropped with either maize, sorghum or finger millet. The experiment was set in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Results showed that growth parameters of Jute mallow with sorghum and jute mallow with finger millet intercrops such as plant height, number of branches and number of leaves were not affected by intercropping. Jute mallow intercropped with maize suppressed growth and yield performance of Jute mallow. Among intercropped stands, Jute mallow intercropped with sorghum and with finger millet was not affected by intercropping on fresh leaf yield. However, all intercropped stands had yield advantages over mono-cropped stands, jute mallow-sorghum intercrop had the highest yield advantage with a LER of 1.7 and 1.53 in Dodoma and Arusha respectively. If farmers opt for intercropping and maximizing land use, this study recommends jute mallow to be intercropped with sorghum and with finger millet for better yields and sustainable growth.
1. Carrie Brauer - CARRIE WAITING FOR CALL FROM STAGGENBORG RE HOW LONG
INTERCROPPING HAS EXISTED. OTHERWISE, READY FOR EDIT.
NEWS 498
The earliest inhabitants of the United States used intercropping when they planted corn
and beans in the same field. Today, farmers in parts of Africa use intercropping to make money
and feed their families.
Farmers who use intercropping plant more than one type of crop in the same field at the
same time. This planting method maximizes yields by allowing more than one crop to be
harvested, prevents some soil erosion by putting more plants and roots in the ground and controls
pests by stimulating pest growth and lifecycle completion before planting the main crop.
“Every system’s a little different,” said Scott Staggenborg, an agronomy professor and
INTSORMIL principle investigator at Kansas State University who has worked on intercropping
systems in West Africa. He said intercropping involves more than just deciding to plant a field
with half one crop and half another.
“You have to weigh the choice properly,” he said.
Farmers who intercrop do a lot of planning before planting begins. In “Intercropping
Principles and Practices,” the National Sustainable Agriculture Service says farmers should
consider four things: plant architecture, maturity dates, plant density and spatial arrangement.
Farmers consider plant architecture when they decide which crops they’re going to use.
They consider the crops’ shape, size and how they might interact with each other. For example,
if a producer has a short crop that needs a lot of sunlight, planting it with a taller crop that blocks
the sun wouldn’t work.
Choosing plants that mature at different times staggers harvest and may ease a work load.
For example, in India, sorghum matures and is harvested before the pigeon peas that are
intercropped with the sorghum start flowering.
Plant density affects how much farmers harvest. Farmers decide how much of each crop
to plant depending on which crop they want a better yield from. According to Staggenborg,
intercropped plants always compete in some fashion. Both crops need water and soil nutrients,
but the crops are in one field with a limited water and nutrient supply. As a result, the yield of
one crop is going to suffer. However, Staggenborg believes intercropping has advantages. For
2. example, farmers in Niger plant cowpeas between rows of millet plants while hoeing weeds in
the millet fields.
“They’re already going through the field,” said Staggenborg. “This way they get a little
bit of a bonus.”
Finally, farmers consider which spatial arrangement to use:
• Relay: Farmers plant a second crop before harvesting the first.
• Mixed: Subsistence farmers in Mexico and Central America use mixed intercropping
when they plant corn, beans and squash with no spatial arrangement.
• Row: Niger’s farmers row intercrop when they alternate one row of one crop (millet)
with one row of another (cowpeas).
• Strip: Farmers alternate several rows of one crop with several rows of another.
According to Staggenborg, strip isn’t always considered intercropping because only
the crops on the edges of the strips interact. The center rows of crops in each strip
grow as if they were in a single crop field.
Intercropping has advantages and disadvantages. In the U.S. planting can be done with
machinery, but mechanized harvest is more difficult. If the crops are similar in size, like cowpeas
and millet, machines may not be able to harvest the crops separately, and the grains might mix.
Niger’s farmers plant and harvest by hand. Doing so is more advantageous. Niger’s
farmers harvest the cowpeas first. Because they were planted later and harvested first, the
cowpea yield is less than the yield if the cowpeas were raised in their own field. But the farmers
still gain a small cash crop to sell at market. The farmers harvest the millet second as a
subsistence grain. Because they harvest the crops separately, no contamination (mixing of the
grains) occurs.
Source:
Sullivan, Preston. “Intercropping Principles and Practices.” National Sustainable Agriculture
Information Service, 2003. http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/intercrop.html