Cropping intensity refers to the number of crops grown on the same land in a year and is calculated as the ratio of gross cropped area to net sown area. Methods for increasing cropping intensity include enhanced irrigation, the use of fertilizers, crop rotation, mechanization, and use of high yield varieties. While increasing cropping intensity leads to higher yields and more efficient farming, it also poses risks such as poor animal welfare, excessive agro-chemical use, and environmental degradation.

1. BASIC AGRICULTURE
Created by: Engr. Mahnoor Mujeeb

2. CROPPING INTENSITY
 Cropping Intensity is a physical quantity that describes
the raising of numerous crops from the same land in a
single agricultural year.
 Cropping Intensity is calculated as the ratio of Gross
Area Sown to Net Area Sown.
 Gross Cropped Area: This is the total area that has
been sown once, twice or more during a given year; the
area is counted as many times as there are sowings
during that year. This total area is sometimes referred
to as the total cultivated area or the whole area that
has been sown.
 Net Sown Area: This is the total area planted
with orchards and crops. The area that is sown more
than once in a single year is only counted once.

3.  Cropping intensity will probably be key to
tracking how the intervention affects the
possibility of irrigation or planting during short-
season rainfall.

4. METHODS TO INCREASE CROPPING
INTENSITY
 Enhancing the irrigation systems: Irrigation
increases cropping intensity by allowing crops to
be grown during the dry season as well.
 Irrigation has played a significant role in increasing
cropping intensity in northern states where it has
risen significantly.
 Fertilizers: The need to leave the land fallow for a
period of time to replenish lost nutrients can be
avoided by using fertilisers and other suitable
cropping practises.
 Crop Rotation: It is the proper arrangement of
successive crops so that different crops draw
nutrients in different proportions or from different
strata.

5.  Encouraging mechanized farming
methods: The use of tractors, tillers, threshers,
and other farm machinery can save critical time
between raising two crops, allowing for the sowing
of more than one crop.
 High Yield Variety (HYV) of crops with a brief
growing cycle.
 Cropping techniques like strip cropping, mixed
cropping, and relay cropping.
 Usage of contemporary inputs
including weedicides, chemical fertilizers, and
insecticides.
 Mandating the conservation strategy such as the
preservation of soil and water.
 Paving the way for commercialization,
trade, and capitalist agriculture.

6. ADVANTAGES OF INCREASING CROPPING
INTENSITY
 High Crop Yield: The ability to produce large crop yields is one
of the key benefits. Due to the high yields produced on a little
amount of land, meeting market demands has only been possible
by increasing crop intensity.
 Production of More Food Varieties: It results in a greater
diversity of food for human consumption because it primarily
concentrates on mass food production in a particular food crop or
animal production.
 More Efficient: Farmers are more efficient because they require
less land and farm inputs per unit of food produced. As opposed to
conventional farming methods that required big tracts of land but
generated lower yields/food products, organic farming maximizes
yields on a small piece of land, increasing the farmer's profit.
 Affordable Food Prices: Contrary to conventional farming, the
intensification of the production of fruits, vegetables, milk, meat,
and poultry has reduced the cost of food.

7. DISADVANTAGES OF CROPPING INTENSITY
 Poor Living Conditions and Hygiene for
Livestock
It is strongly criticized and believed that increasing
crop intensity is unfair to the animals.
The result is typically terrible living conditions and
cleanliness for the cattle because it entails the use
of numerous pesticides, growth hormones, and
excessive crowding on a tiny space.

8.  Excessive Use of Agro-chemicals
Increasing crop intensity uses a variety of
agrochemicals, such as chemical
pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides.
When these pesticides are applied, they contaminate
the food products in addition to killing their intended
targets, such as bugs, weeds, and parasites.
 Deforestation and Alteration of the Natural
Environment
According to studies and publications on the
environment, there are many ways that this method
harms and degrades the ecosystem.
Massive deforestation and soil erosion have been caused
by tree removal, slash and burn practices, and the
clearing of forest areas to make place for agriculture.