AGR 511 Cropping Systems and Sustainable Agriculture 2 +0

Lecture 1 Cropping system and system approach : Principles, concepts and

Importance
 Agriculture system today becomes manipulations of ecosystems for human gains.
 Yield and profit maximization approach has led to serious environmental,
ecological, economic and social problems.
 Human society today is dominated by rapid technological and political
innovations, summed by terms like globalization or information technology.
 The disseminated information is making more conscious on the quality of food
and environmental consequences.
 A cropping systems adopted on a farm has more obvious and detectable social,
ecological, economic and environmental implication.
 So, it is necessary to understand the principles and concepts underlying the entire
ecosystem to have profitable, resource efficient and environmentally sound ecosystem.

Principles and Concepts

 Systems approach which is extensively employed in business and industry is

being introduced in crop production also with a view to use the available resources
effectively and to increase the returns to the farmer.
 Accordingly crop production research has been reoriented as cropping system
research in the country.
 Agronomic research increase the resource use efficiency for a given crop,
cropping systems and cropping pattern as a variable with a view to use the available
resources more efficiently.
 Hence, the objective of any cropping system is to increase the efficiency or
utilization of resources – land, water and solar radiation.
 The efficiency is measured by the quantity of produce obtained per unit resource
in a unit time.
 The productive base of a cropping system is the crop growth and yield. Crop yield
(Y) can then be considered a function (f) of management factors (M) and environment
(E).

Y = f (M, E )

 For the cropping systems researcher, management (M) includes the type and arrangement
of crops in time and space (cropping pattern), choice of variety, methods of stand
establishment, pest management and harvest.
 Environment (E) is composed of such land and climate related variables as rainfall,
irrigation, soil, solar radiation and temperature and availability of such resources as
power, labour and cash. Economic factors such as cost of inputs, price of produce,
interest rates, etc., should be included in the environment components.
 Hence, it is evident that the management term is treated as a variable and the environment
term as invariant.
  A cropping system researcher studies the interaction between M and E and seeks to
determine how he should vary his cropping pattern, M to optimize the returns for
different production environment. In this concept, E becomes a fixed constraint and the
interaction between E and M gets merged with M.
 On this basis, cropping system can be defined as cropping pattern and its management to
derive benefits from a given resource base under specific environmental condition. The
term cropping systems can be applied to a farm or a region.
 Cropping system is location specific and to develop an alternate cropping system for a
location, the prevailing environment of that location should be clearly understood.
 In suggesting an alternative cropping system for a location, it is generally assumed that
the available physical resources are not fully exploited and hence by intensification of
cropping, this lacuna can be removed.
 The crop intensification techniques include intercropping, relay cropping, sequential
cropping and ratoon cropping.

Importance of Cropping System

The cropping system research to date has adequately demonstrated the following
potentials for adopting cropping system as a development strategy in contrast to monoculture

 Improved stability of food supply throughout the year

 Increased total food production per land unit per year, generally accompanied by an
increase in total income for the farmer

 Sustaining the soil health

 Improved distribution of income throughout the year

 Increased total employment of labour throughout the year , and

 Improved nutrition for the farm family from crop diversification

 The use of cropping system as a strategy for increasing productivity and the income of
small farmers

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