Cropping Pattern – Geography – UGC NET – Notes

Cropping System refers to the crops, crop rotations, and management strategies applied over a number of years to a specific agricultural land. It covers every facet of managing an agricultural system in terms of time and space. Traditionally, cropping systems have been created to maximize output, but modern agriculture is increasingly focused on encouraging cropping systems that are environmentally sustainable. There are many cropping systems around the world including Multiple Cropping, Double Cropping, Triple Cropping, Relay Cropping, Ratoon Cropping, Intercropping, etc. 

Cropping System refers to the crops, crop rotations, and management strategies applied over a number of years to a specific agricultural land. It covers every facet of managing an agricultural system in terms of time and space. Traditionally, cropping systems have been created to maximize output, but modern agriculture is increasingly focused on encouraging cropping systems that are environmentally sustainable. There are many cropping systems around the world including Multiple Cropping, Double Cropping, Triple Cropping, Relay Cropping, Ratoon Cropping, Intercropping, etc.

• The Cropping system can be defined as the type and sequence of crops cultivated over time on a specific area of soil.
• It could involve cultivating a single crop on the same land each year or rotating different crops in a regular pattern.
• Since it is location-specific, it alters as place and environment change.
• Any cropping system seeks to maximize return on investment by making effective use of all available resources, including solar energy, water, and land.
• The fundamental building blocks of any cropping system are management strategies, planting geometry, and seed genetics.

Factors to Consider for Crop Choice

• Any cropping system revolves around the choice of crop.
• A farmer must consider a crop’s profitability, adaptability to changing conditions, and disease resistance.
• It is also imperative to consider the need for specific technologies during growth or harvesting when deciding whether to plant it.
• They must also take into account the current environmental conditions on their farm and how the crop will fit in with other components of their production system.

Types

Multiple Cropping

Multiple cropping, also known as multicropping, is the practise of growing more than two crops on the same piece of land during the same growing season, rather than just one crop. Intercropping is the practice of growing multiple crops at the same time. This cropping system enables farmers to more than double crop productivity and income. However, the choice of two or more crops for multi cropping is primarily determined by the mutual benefit of the crops. 

Multiple Cropping System of Maize, Soybean and Oats

What is Multiple Cropping?

• In a multiple cropping system, farmers cultivate two or more crops on their farmland in a single calendar year (unlike mono-cropping, which involves planting only one crop on a field).
• Growing more than two crops on a plot of land in an orderly succession over the course of a year.
• It’s also referred to as intensive cropping. It is used to increase production.
• It is only possible when certain resources are available (land, labour, capital and water).
• Multiple Cropping also includes relay cropping, mixed cropping, and intercropping.
• This method reduces the likelihood that one of the crops will fail and provides protection against crop failure brought on by unpredictable weather conditions.
• But choosing two or more crops for multi-cropping mostly depends on how well they complement one another.
• Multiple Cropping, for instance, is when wheat and gram are grown simultaneously on the same piece of land.
• In the Global South, these multiple cropping techniques are widely practiced. This covers areas like Latin America, Africa, Asia, etc.

Features:

• The crops that will be cultivated together should demand varying amounts of water and maturity times.
• It is best to plant one tall crop and one dwarf crop together.
• The amount of nutrients needed by one crop should be lower than the amount needed by another.
• One crop needs deep roots, while another needs shallow ones.
• A successful mixed cropping pattern is the result of all these factors.

Types:

Sequential Cropping:

• Sequential cropping is the practice of growing two or more crops in succession in the same area in a single year.
• Crop intensification only occurs in the time dimension; there is no intercrop competition.
• The following crop is planted after the previous crop has been harvested. One crop at a time is managed by farmers in the same field.
• The Sequential Cropping pattern is further divided into the following:
• Double Cropping: It is the practice of planting two crops each year in successions, such as rice coming after wheat, potatoes, or mustard; maize after groundnuts; and wheat after cotton. Cropping intensity is 200 percent in this case.
• Triple Cropping: Triple cropping is the practice of growing three different crops one after the other on the same land in a single year.
• Quadruple Cropping: Growing four successive crops every year is known as quadruple cropping.
• Ratoon Cropping: Ratoon cropping is the practice of cultivating crop regrowth after harvest, though not always for grain.

Intercropping:

• Intercropping is the practice of growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same field.
• Intercrop competition occurs throughout all or a portion of the crop growing season as a result of crop intensification in both the temporal and geographical dimensions.
• Intercropping is a traditional technique employed by subsistence farmers, particularly in rainfed environments.
• The further types of intercropping are as follows:
• Mixed Intercropping: Growing two or more crops simultaneously without a clear row pattern is known as mixed intercropping.
• Row Intercropping: Row intercropping is the practice of planting two or more crops at once, usually in rows.
• Strip Intercropping: Strip intercropping is the practice of cultivating two or more crops concurrently in distinct strips that are wide enough to allow for autonomous cultivation but narrow enough to allow for agronomic interaction between the crops.
• Relay Intercropping: Relay intercropping is the practice of growing two or more crops concurrently during a portion of each one’s life cycle; a second crop is planted after the first has reached its reproductive growth stage but before it is ready for harvest.

Advantages:

• Aids in Reducing Food Crisis: Multiple cropping can help a nation’s food shortages by being practiced on a big scale.
• Cost Reduction: By cultivating two or more crops on one field, the entire cost of inputs, including labor, fertilizer, and irrigation costs, drops.
• Fewer Pests and Weeds: Because of their interdependence, pests, diseases, and weed development are less likely to affect the crop. Better farm management and higher farm income are the benefits of this.
• Enhance Soil Fertility: Using nitrogen fixation, it aids in preserving the soil’s fertility.
• Improved year-round food and feed supply stability.
• Increased Income and Productivity: Increased productivity per unit area, time, input, and total output, accompanied by an increase in the farmer’s total income;
  • Increased total employment and labor and other capital use distribution throughout the year, as well as opportunities for on-farm seed production, preservation, processing, and marketing.
• Reduced Soil Erosion: Reduced the extent of soil erosion and degradation.
• Maximized land use, residual effects of manures, fertilizers, moisture, and management practices.
• Widened the scope for selecting and substituting crop varieties that match the agroecological situation, cropping pattern, and programs based on home needs and market competitions.

Disadvantages:

• If proper soil management practices are not allowed, soil fertility and productivity are reduced or exhausted.
• Because of continuous cropping and irrigation, it sometimes affects the soil structure.
• Controlling pests, diseases, and weeds can be difficult at times.
• Pest survival becomes simple. If they can’t make it on one, they can make it on the other and develop alongside it.
• Because it relies on old traditional procedures and processes, it is challenging to apply new technologies to this.
• Due to intensive cropping, unfavorable effects in nutrient mining and soil health have been observed, resulting in soil degradation if proper crop management practices were not followed.

Difference Between Monocropping and Multiple Cropping:

Double Cropping

Double cropping refers to the practice of farmers who, within the same year, plant and harvest two crops on the same land one after another. It enables farmers to maximize the limited planting season. Planting winter wheat and a row of double-cropping soybeans is the best example of this method. After winter wheat, farmers can boost their net returns by double planting soybean. Without the need to farm more land, the returns are increased. Double cropping is mostly prevalent in the Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest areas when measured as shares of each region’s total cropland. 

Double Cropping

What is Double Cropping?

• Double-cropping is a type of multiple cropping practices in agriculture in which, following the harvest of the first crop, a second crop is grown on the same land such as rice coming after wheat, potatoes, or mustard; maize after groundnuts; and wheat after cotton.
• Cropping intensity is 200 percent in double-cropping.
• The double-cropped system, which is frequently achieved by rotating a winter annual and a summer annual, can boost ecological services while also generating additional revenue for farmers.
• An example of double cropping would be to harvest a wheat crop during the early summer and then plant corn or soybeans on that same land for harvest in the fall.
• Only areas with long growing seasons are able to engage in this technique.

Considerations:

• Seeding Rate: In double-cropped soybeans, a higher-than-average plant population may result in higher yields for types with a shorter growing season.
• Row Width: Narrow rows let crop canopies grow more quickly. One method to do that is to double back and split 30-inch middles using an Early Riser planter.
• Weed Control: When using herbicide-tolerant cultivars, weed control can be postponed until after planting. But for double-crop soybeans to produce the highest yields, reducing competition is essential.
• Crop Residue Management: In order to have a suitable seedbed for the double crop vegetable, crop residue management is essential.
• Herbicide Plant Limits: It’s also imperative to pay special attention to herbicide plant back limits.
• Pest Management: Double crop plantings may have certain pest issues. Some insects will start looking for a new food supply once a crop is harvested, which could put the newly emerging double crop planting at risk.
• Additionally, insects, and mites may travel from field boundaries into the planting of the double crop. Examples include grasshoppers and two-spotted spider mites.
• Herbicide Programs: Programs for using herbicides should be created to address any problems with regrowth from previous crops.
• Examples include dealing with spring brassica crops that went to seed as volunteer weeds or efficiently eliminating plasticulture strawberries so that vine crops can be twice farmed on the beds.

Benefits:

• Two distinct crops planted one after the other can have many advantages.
• The second crop’s increased revenue is certainly the first factor.
• It provides an additional source of revenue, acting as a safety net in case the farm’s main cash crop is harmed by drought, illness, pests, or market swings.
• Another benefit of including a second crop is that it can thwart pests and diseases that only affect the first crop.
• Gross profits per acre can be increased by dividing fixed costs between two crops.