Cropping System

PREPARED BY

SHRAWAN K. SAH
PROFESSOR OF AGRONOMY
AFU, RAMPUR
 MONOCULTURE
MONOCULTURE
It refers to growing of single crop repeatedly on the
same piece of land season after season.
It is carried out because of climatic
condition, for the sake of example land is
lowland and rainfall is high, then farmers
can grow rice only in Eastern parts of Nepal.

It is also carried out because farmers are specialized

in particular crops, for examples farmers of
Nawalparasi growing banana as a monoculture.

In green revolution agriculture monoculture is common

practices.
Monoculture- Maize/ Sorghum

Monoculture- Maize Monoculture- Sorghum

 Monoculture- Advantages

 Advantages:
 Industrialized nations have
technology and know how to grow
crops in monoculture.
 Monocultures are responsible for
producing very large quantities of
food that feed the world.
 Monocultures are easier to manage
Monoculture- Disadvantages

 Disadvantages:

 Loss of agricultural diversity and

disturbance of natural ecosystem
 Susceptible to pest and diseases which
may wipe out the entire enterprise
 Risk in crop production under adversity
 Cropping Pattern and Cropping
System.
 CROPPING PATTERN:
The yearly sequence and spatial arrangement of
crops or of crops and fallow on a given area is
known as cropping pattern.
 Examples: Rice – Wheat – Fallow
Rice- Fallow-Maize
Rice – Barley – moong bean
CROPPING SYSTEM:
Cropping pattern, farm resources and available
technology and their interaction develop into
systems of growing crops in a particular region is
known as cropping system.
 Differences between
Cropping Pattern Cropping System
1. Crop rotation practiced by
1. Management of cropping
majority of farmers in a given patterns for maximum benefits
locality from given resource base.
2. Cropping pattern of the farm and
2. Type and arrangement of crops their interaction with farm
in time and space resources, other farm enterprises
and available technology which
determine their makeup.
3. Yearly sequence and spatial
3. Pattern of crops for a given piece
arrangement of crops or of
of land or order in which crops
crops and fallow on a given are grown on land over fixed
area. period, associated with soil
management, genotype,
irrigation and other technology.
 FARMING SYSTEM

 Farming System:
 It is a mix of farming enterprises to which a farm
family allocates its resources in order to efficiently
exploit the existing environment for the attainment
of the family goals.
 It represents cropping system, livestock system,
other farm enterprises, off farm activities and their
interaction.
 Farming system represent an appropriate
combination of farming enterprises like crops,
livestock, fisheries, forestry and other economic
activity like business or job to raise the family
satisfaction and overall income of the farmers.
 Multiple cropping

 Multiple cropping: Growing of two or more than

two crops on the same piece of land in the same
year is known as multiple cropping.
 The multiple cropping may be of different types:
1. Sequence cropping: Growing of two or more
crops in a sequence on the same piece of land in
the same year is called sequence cropping. In
the sequence cropping another crop is planted
after the harvest of the previous crop. Growing
of wheat after the harvest of rice is an example
of sequence cropping.
 Sequence cropping cont…

 If two crops are grown in a year in sequence,

it is called double cropping. If three crops are
taken in sequence, it is called triple cropping
and so on.
 In sequence cropping symbol used denote
sequence is “ - “.
 It can be written as:
 Rice – wheat
 Rice – wheat – moong bean
 2. Inter cropping

 Inter cropping:
 Growing of two or more crops simultaneously
on the same piece of land with definite row
arrangement is known as inter cropping.
 Growing of soybean in between two rows of
maize crops.
 Growing of potato in between two rows of
sugarcane are the examples of inter cropping.
 The symbol used for inter cropping is “ + “.
 It can be written like Maize + soybean,
Sugarcane + potato.
Maize + Soybean, cabbage + onion
Intercropping.
 3.Mixed cropping
 Growing of two or more crops simultaneously on
the same piece of land without any definite row
arrangement is known as mixed cropping.
 Seeds of two or more crops are mixed and sown
in the field.
 Growing of wheat and mustard together, and
growing of Chickpea and linseed together are
the examples of mixed cropping.
 The symbol used for mixed cropping is also “ + “
and therefore can be written as Chickpea +
linseed and wheat + mustard.
Mixed cropping
 Differences Between ….
Inter cropping Mix cropping
1. Crops are grown in the 1. There is no definite
definite pattern of rows pattern/ arrangements of
like 1: 1, 1: 2, 1:3, 2: 1, 3: 2 crops in rows.
2. It is undertaken to 2. It is undertaken to reduce
enhance the productivity the chances of crop
crops per unit area. failure.
3. Seeds of crops are sown 3. Seeds of crops are mixed
separately in a definite in certain proportions and
row. sown in the field.
4. The main objective is to 4. The objective is to grow at
utilize the space between least one crop in favorable
two rows of main crop. environment.
 Differences Between ….
Inter cropping Mix cropping
5. Intercrops are of short 5. Mixed crops are of nearly
duration and harvested same duration and
earlier than main crop. harvested almost at the
same time.
6. There is competition
6.There is less competition between crops of mix
between main crops and crops.
inter crops
7. Application of fertilizers
7. Application of fertilizers and pesticides can not be
and pesticides can be applied separately for
individual crop.
done for individual crops.
Advantages of Inter cropping/ Mixed
cropping

 Increase agro-biodiversity
 Optimization of space in the main crops
 Weed suppression/ reduction
 Increase infiltration, reduce run off/ lower soil
erosion.
 Nitrogen sourcing/availability if one of the
crop in the intercrop/mixed crop is legume.
 Yield/ production advantage over sole crop.
 Sole Vs Intercrop/ Mixed Crops

 Sole crop: Growing of one crop variety alone in

pure stand( No mixed crop/ Intercrop) is called
sole crop.

 This term is very useful while comparing of

Intercrop or mixed crop with sole crops. You may
want to know whether mixed crop ( example:
Wheat + mustard) or Intercrop ( Example: Maize
+ soybean) is better or not as compared with
pure stand ( Sole crop) of maize, soybean or
wheat and mustard.
 4. Relay cropping

 This is a cropping system in which second

crop is sown in the standing crop of first crop
at the reproductive stage .
 Lentil, Chickpea, Faba bean are generally
sown in the standing rice crop 10 -20 days
before the harvest .
 The parts of their life cycle go together.
 The symbol used for relay cropping is “ / “ and
can be written as Rice/ lentil and rice/
chickpea.
Additional terms in cropping system

 Diverse cropping:
 Planting of many species ( different crops) and
varieties( different varieties of same crop) on the farm
land to avoid risk of failure, increase agro diversity and
get some extra income.
Multi story cropping:
Growing of tall crops(often perennials) and shorter
crops( often annuals) simultaneously to utilize solar
radiation and space is called multi story cropping.
Example:
Coconut + maize + soybean
Multi Story Cropping
 Parallel cropping

 Growing of two or more crops simultaneously on the same

piece of land which have different growth habits and have
zero or negligible competition between each other and
both of them express their full yield potential.
 Example: Maize + black gram, Sugarcane + coriander

 Crops are grown either mixed or inter crops.

 Both crops give full yield potential and there is negligible or
zero competition between them.


 Strip cropping
•Growing of two or
more crops
simultaneously in strips
wide enough to permit
independent
cultivation.
•Carried out most
frequently on hilly slope
to protect from soil
erosion.
•Also carried out to
increase agricultural
diversity and
sustainability.
 Alley Cropping
•Growing of food, or
forage or any other
arable crops in between
the rows of the trees.
• It is the larger version
of intercropping for
longer time.
• Income diversification
•Increase biodiversity
•Improve marginal land
•Acts as wind break
•Control soil erosion.
Advantages of multiple cropping.

 Total production of crops can be increased

without increasing land area by growing
more than one crops from the same piece of
land in the year.
 The available resources of the farmers can be
utilized efficiently.
 The employment opportunity can be
increased through growing crops around the
years.
 Requirements of multiple cropping

 Short duration varieties of crops

 Farm mechanization
 Irrigation facility
 Resources of the farmers
 Cropping index

 Cropping index:
 The number of crop grown per year on given
land multiplied by 100 is called cropping
index.
 Cropping Index = No. of Crops grown/ No. of
years x 100
 Example: A farmer grew five crops on the
same field in two years.
 Cropping Index = 5/2x100=250 percent
 Cropping Intensity
 Cropping intensity:
 It is the ratio of total cropped area to the net area
available for cultivation and is expressed as percentage.
 Cropping intensity =
 Total cropped area/ Net area available x 100
 Example: A farmer has 1 ha land. He grew rice in rainy
season, wheat in winter and moong bean in summer.
 Total cropped area = 1+ 1 + 1= 3 ha
 Net area available = 1
 Cropping intensity = 3/1 x 100 = 300 percent
 Land Equivalent Ratio
It is relative land area under sole crops that is
required to produce the yield achieved in
intercropping.
LER = ∑ Yield of Intercrop/ yield of sole crop
Example: A farmer harvested 600 kg/ha soybean,
3000 kg/ha maize as inter crops, where as 1000
kg/ha soybean and 4000 kg/ha maize as sole
crop. Calculate LER
LER = 600/ 1000 + 3000/4000 = 0. 6 + 0.75=1.35
This indicate 1.35 ha land will be required to get
same yield that is obtained from 1 ha intercrops.
 Crop Equivalent yield and System
yield.
 Crop equivalent yield ( CEY) : The yield of inter crops are
converted into equivalent on any one crop based on price
of produce.
 Example: A farmer harvested 600 kg/ha soybean, 3000
kg/ha maize as intercrops, and price maize is Rs 20/kg
and price of soybean is Rs 60/kg. calculate Maize
equivalent yield of soybean and maize equivalent yield
of the system.
 EY of Maize = 3000 x 20/20 = 3000 kg/ha
 EY of soybean = 600 x 60/20 = 1800 kg/ha
 EY of the System = 4800 kg/ha
 Crop Rotation

 The growing of different crops in a definite order

of succession on the same land to maintain soil
fertility and productivity for long run.
 Crop rotation is the growing of multiple crops on
the same piece of land , one after another (
sequence cropping).
 The different crops do not interact but are
separated temporally.
 The land may be divided into sections and crops
are assigned to specific sites.
 The success of crop rotation depend upon careful
choice and order of cropping.
 Examples of Crop Rotation

 Crop rotation may be one year or more than

one year.
 For example: one year rotation
 Rice- wheat- moong bean
 Two years rotation:
 I year: Rice- potato- maize
 II year: Rice- potato- green manuring crops
 Principles of Crop Rotation

 1. Root depth:
 Shallow rooted fb deep rooted
 Example: Rice – Wheat
 2. Nutrient requirement:
 Exhaustive crop fb non exhaustive crop
 Example: Potato- moong bean
 3. Water requirement:
 More water requiring crops fb less water
requiring crops
 Example: Rice- chickpea
Principles of Crop Rotation

 4. Inclusion of legumes and green manure

 To improve fertility status of soil
 Examples:
 Rice- Wheat- Moong bean
 Rice – wheat- Dhaincha
 5. Utilization of Resources
 Family labor
 Irrigation facility like pumping set
 Farm implements
 Advantage of Crop Rotation

1. Soil fertility maintenance

2. Reduce insects, diseases and weeds
3. Reduce soil erosion
4. Proper utilization of resources
5. Higher yield
6. Better distribution farm labor
7. Less economic risk