FS 41 Introduction to Farming Systems

MODULE 1

Prof. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

Overview

It is in the land where farmers can grow crops and raise livestock purposely for food and market.
Each cultivator aims for maximum production for food sufficiency and sustainability. While population is
increasing, land for crop productions are also becoming scarce due to land conversion activities,
therefore area expansion- to increase- production is no longer possible. A more rational approach now is
to increase productivity per unit. It could be done through crop multiplicity and / or increased cropping
frequency. An approach towards this end is improvement of farming system component technology.

I. Objectives:
At the end of this module, the students will able to:

1. Define different terminologies used in farming systems.

2. Familiarize the different cropping pattern symbols.
3. Design cropping pattern.
4. Describe different cropping pattern, its feasibility to specific field condition.

This is an introductory topic on farming systems. More definition of terms are given emphasis for
understanding of the common terminologies used. Cropping pattern symbols are also introduced. This
can be used to indicate the relation and sequence of crops in a cropping pattern.

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Farming systems is the allocation by a farm family resources into enterprises that are designed to
efficiently exploit the existing farm environment for the attainment of family goals ( based on a
committee report led by A. Gomez, 1985). Based from this definition, farming systems does not define
the process but refers to state of a farmer on how he distribute the limited resources into a set of
production enterprises.

There are four keywords used in the definition:

1. resources – refers to the production factors that are within the control of a
Farm-operator, example: land, labor, and capital

2. enterprises- refer to the commodities that the farmer produces in his farm.
Example: crops, livestock, fish, & trees.

3. environment- refers to those factors of production that a farmer finds

difficulty to modify. Example: rainfall, soil properties,

government policy, commodity prices, market, credit,

infrastructures, service institutions

4. family goals- are expected to be defined solely by the farm family. It is

expected to vary from one family to another.

Example: a.) Increase income

b.) adequate education

c.) Improved quality of life

Conceptually, the coverage of farming system is very broad. Its success can be determined
based on the magnitude of the attainment of the goals of the farming family.

Farming system is governed by time and space. An understanding of the common

terminologies and symbols in farming systems particularly in research helps efficient & effective
communication among researchers and other team members in related discipline.

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The following are the terms that are commonly used for clear understanding in the nature of farming
system:

Terminology
* Cropping system- refers to the systematic or even systematically irregular arrangement of economic
plants in a field over time & the sequence of crop husbandry operation employed.

* Cropping schedule-refers to time of planting and harvesting of the different crops planted expresses in
months. With reference to time schedule it also considers the distinct season. Wet season crops are
those that spend most if not all their growth period during wet seasons. Similarly, dry season crops are
those that spend most if not all of their growth period during dry months.

* Cropping sequence- refers to the definite succession of crops planted in one crop year. It is also
referred to as annual cropping cycle.

* Crop combinations- refer to the manner in which crops being planted in association with other crops
in one farm. When crops are combined, planting schedules can either be sequential or simultaneous.

* Multiple cropping – growth more than one crop on the same land in one year. Within this concept
there are many possible patterns of crop arrangement in space and time.

* Cropping pattern- the yearly sequence and spatial arrangements of crops or crops and fallow on a
given area.

* Cropping systems- the crop production activity of a farm. It comprises all components required for the
production of the set of crops on a farm and the relationship between them and the environment. These
components include all necessary physical and biological factors, as well as technology, labor and
management.

Crop rotation- planting of another crop species after the harvest of the first crop on the same
field.Moving from simple monoculture to a higher level of diversity begins with viable crop rotations,
which break weed and pest life cycles and provide complementary fertilization to crops in sequence
with each other.

Crop rotations on different types of soil and under different climatic conditions should be worked out
with reference to root relations. It may be found practicable, to grow short-rooted and densely rooted
crops alternately with those of longer and more spreading root systems. For example, deeply rooted
and densely rooted .

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 Plasticity of root systems as to depth, lateral spread, degree of branching, etc., goes far towards
determining the ability of a crop to make sufficient growth and yield to warrant its cultivation in dry
lands. Moreover, under these conditions, root competition is an important factor in determining the
rate of seeding.

Depth of rooting can be controlled to a considerable extent by the use of cover crops or by
intercropping. If the surface soil is depleted of its moisture by absorption, roots of both crops penetrate
deeper. The effect that one kind of plant may have upon the root habit of another by modifying soil
conditions.

Where clean culture had been practiced without the use of the plough, a thick mat of fibrous roots was
found immediately below the soil mulch. Few roots extended to depths of 8 to 12 inches below the
mulch. But in a few restricted areas that received neither cultivation nor irrigation, the roots were found
to be distributed from near the surface to a depth of 12 to 16 inches. Under sod (grass) and irrigation,
the roots were quite uniformly distributed from near the surface to 2.5 feet in depth. Under the loose
surface soil of the cultivated area, there had been formed an impervious hardpan which was entirely
absent in the untilled and unirrigated land.

This permits better aeration which may be an important factor in the oxidation of harmful substances
originating from the decay of the roots. The ancient practice of letting a soil lie fallow for a time may
restore its productivity, either by allowing time for the formation and diffusion of more soluble mineral
salts, or through the removal by leaching or oxidation of injurious substances formed by roots. It has
been clearly demonstrated that the presence of sorghum roots and stubble has a distinctly depressing
effect upon the yield of wheat. Preliminary field and pot tests with tobacco indicate that the injurious
effects of preceding crop plants come mostly from the roots rather than the tops of these plants. Roots
of potatoes, hairy vetch, and corn retarded the growth of tobacco even when their aboveground parts
were removed from the field in harvesting.

Rotation of crops may derive its value both from the different demands made by various crops upon the
nutrient supply of the soil and from the fact that organic materials added by decaying roots are often
less injurious to other kinds of plants than to the crops producing them. Indeed, it is held by some that
the major benefit afforded by the addition of fertilizers is not the replacement of mineral salts removed
by the crop but their beneficial effect, in neutralizing unfavorable soil conditions introduced by root
excretion and decay.

* Cropping pattern rotation_ the repetitive cultivation of an ordered succession of crops on the same
land in which one cycle takes 12 months to complete. An example is Rice-Rice_Mungbean for the first
year, Rice-Rice-Corn for the second year, Rice-Rice- Mung bean again for the third year and so on.

* Sequential Cropping – growing of two or more in sequence on the same field within a 12-mont period,
with the sequence on the same field within a 12-month period, with the succeeding crop planted only
after the preceding crop has been harvested, such that a farmer manages only one crop at one time in
the same field.

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* Mono cropping- a method of crop production in which only one crop is grown is grown annually in the
same parcel of land. An example of mono cropping would be a four month rice crop followed by an eight
month fallow period.

* Sole cropping ( or mono culture) – growing one crop alone or in pure stand either as a single crop as a
sequence of single crops within the year. An example is a Rice-Rice cropping pattern.

*Double cropping – growing two crops in sequence, seeding or transplanting one after the harvest of
the other. Such practices are also called sequential cropping. An example of a double crop would be a
rice crop followed by a wheat crop followed by a fallow period during the remaining 12 month period. (
rice-wheat-fallow)
* Triple cropping- growing three crops in sequence, seeding or transplanting one after the harvest of the
other. An example of a triple crop is rice followed by wheat followed by maize. ( rice-wheat-maize)

Enterprise diversification—Risk reduction through stability of income and yield are two of the reasons
people diversify their crop and livestock systems. Increasing diversity on-farm also reduces costs of pest
control and fertilizer, because these costs can be spread out over several crop or animal enterprises.

Farmscaping—Diversity can be increased by providing more habitat for beneficial organisms habitats
such as borders, windbreaks, and special plantings for natural enemies of pests..

Integration—On-farm diversity can be carried to an even higher level by integrating animals with
intercroping. With each increase in the level of diversity comes an increase in stability. This publication
focuses on intercropping and provides a section on integrating livestock with crops.

Intercropping— is the growing of two or more crops in proximity to promote interaction between them.

Intercropping Concepts

Most grain-crop mixtures with similar ripening times cannot be machine-harvested to produce a
marketable commodity, since few buyers purchase mixed grains. Because of limited harvest options
with that type of intercropping, farmers are left with the options of hand harvesting, grazing crops in the
field with animals, or harvesting the mixture for on-farm animal feed. However, some intercropping
schemes allow for staggered harvest dates that keep crop species separated. One example would be
harvesting wheat that has been interplanted with soybeans, which are harvested later in the season.
Another example is planting harvestable strips, also known as strip cropping.

When two or more crops are growing together, each must have adequate space to maximize
cooperation and minimize competition between them.

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To accomplish this, four things need to be considered:

1) Spatial arrangement

2) Plant density

3) Maturity dates of the crops being grown, and

4) Plant architecture

Spatial Arrangement
There are at least four basic spatial arrangements used in intercropping. Most practical systems are
variations of these (3).

 Row intercropping—growing two or more crops at the same time with at least one crop planted
in rows.
 Strip intercropping—growing two or more crops together in strips wide enough to permit
separate crop production using machines but close enough for the crops to interact.
 Mixed intercropping—growing two or more crops together in no distinct row arrangement.
 Relay intercropping—planting a second crop into a standing crop at a time when the standing
crop is at its reproductive stage but before harvesting.

Plant Density

To optimize plant density, the seeding rate of each crop in the mixture is adjusted below its full rate. If
full rates of each crop were planted, neither would yield well because of intense overcrowding. By
reducing the seeding rates of each, the crops have a chance to yield well within the mixture. The
challenge comes in knowing how much to reduce the seeding rates. For example, if you are planning to
grow corn and cowpeas, and you want mostly peas and only a little corn, it would be easy to achieve
this. The corn-seeding rate would be drastically cut (by 80% or more), and the pea rate would be near
normal. The field should produce near top yields of peas even from the lower planting rate and offer the
advantage of corn plants for the pea vines to run on. If you wanted equal yields from both peas and
corn, then the seeding rates would be adjusted to produce those equal yields.

Maturity Dates

Planting intercrops that feature staggered maturity dates or development periods takes advantage of
variations in peak resource demands for nutrients, water, and sunlight. Having one crop mature before
its companion crop lessens the competition between the two crops. An aggressive climbing bean may
pull down corn or sorghum growing with it and lower the grain yield. Timing the planting of the
aggressive bean may fix the problem if the corn can be harvested before the bean begins to climb.

A common practice in the old southern U.S. cotton culture was to plant velvet beans or cowpeas into
standing corn at last corn cultivation. The corn was planted on wide 40-inch rows at a low plant
population, allowing enough sunlight to reach the peas or beans. The corn was close enough to maturity
that the young legumes did not compete. When the corn was mature, the beans or peas had corn stalks

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to climb on. The end result was corn and beans that would be hand harvested together in the fall.
Following corn and pea harvest, cattle and hogs would be turned into the field to consume the crop
fodder.

Selecting crops or varieties with different maturity dates can also assist staggered harvesting and
separation of grain commodities. In the traditional sorghum/pigeonpea intercrop, common in India, the
sorghum dominates the early stages of growth and matures in about four months. Following harvest of
the sorghum, the pigeonpea flowers and ripens. The slow-growing pigeonpea has virtually no effect on
the sorghum yield .

Plant Architecture
Plant architecture is a commonly used strategy to allow one member of the mix to capture sunlight that
would not otherwise be available to the others. Widely spaced corn plants growing above an understory
of beans and pumpkins is a classic example.

Intercrop Productivity
One of the most important reasons to grow two or more crops together is the increase in productivity
per unit of land. Researchers have designed a method for assessing intercrop performance as compared
to pure stand yields. In research trials, they grow mixtures and pure stands in separate plots. Yields from
the pure stands, and from each separate crop from within the mixture, are measured.

From these yields, an assessment of the land requirements per unit of yield can be determined. This
information tells them the yield advantage the intercrop has over the pure stand, if any. They then know
how much additional yield is required in the pure stand to equal the amount of yield achieved in the
intercrop. The calculated figure is called the Land Equivalency Ratio (LER).

To calculate an LER, the intercrop yields are divided by the pure stand yields for each component crop in
the intercrop. Then, these two figures are added together. Here's the equation for a corn/pea intercrop
where the yields from pure corn, pure peas, and the yields from both corn and peas growing together in
an intercrop are measured.
(intercrop corn / pure corn) + (intercrop pea / pure pea) = LER

When an LER measures 1.0, it tells us that the amount of land required for peas and corn grown
together is the same as that for peas and corn grown in pure stand (i.e., there was no advantage to
intercropping over pure stands). LERs above 1.0 show an advantage to intercropping, while numbers
below 1.0 show a disadvantage to intercropping. For example, an LER of 1.25 tells us that the yield
produced in the total intercrop would have required 25% more land if planted in pure stands. If the LER
was 0.75, then we know the intercrop yield was only 75% of that of the same amount of land that grew
pure stands.

In a South Carolina study, researchers planted intercrops of southern peas and sweet corn at three
different corn plant densities. The plantings were on raised beds with flat and wide crowns on six-foot
centers. In the center of each bed was a corn row, with two rows of peas planted 18 inches to either

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side of the corn row. The low corn-seeding rate was 6,700 plants per acre, medium corn was 9,500 per
acre, and high was 11,900 plants per acre. Peas were established at a rate of 31,800 plants per acre in all
intercrop plots. In the pure pea stand, each bed had two rows of peas spaced 24 inches apart. Yields of
the intercrops and pure stands are shown in Table 1.
In this trial there was a yield advantage from intercropping over growing the two crops in pure stands.
Pea yields suffered from the increased competition in the higher densities of corn. Some practical on-
farm guidelines can be drawn to guide seeding-rate choices for a two-crop inter-crop. To test seeding
rates, experiment with three small plantings of two crops at the following percentages of their full
seeding rates: 1/3 + 2/3, 1/2 + 1/2, and 2/3 + 1/3. From there, make adjustments for future plantings
based on the results and your expectations.

Table 1. Yields of sweet corn and southern peas from intercrops

Seed Rates Corn Peas LER
(pounds/acre) (pounds/acre)

Full corn 5600 *** ***

Full peas *** 1200 ***

Low corn 4200 800 1.41

Medium corn 4600 800 1.48

High corn 5000 500 1.30

Figure 1. Sweetcorn and southern pea planting pattern

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Managing Intercrops
Many combinations of crops have been grown or experimented with as mixed or relay intercrops. Some
of these include sunflowers grown with black lentils, wheat with flax, and canola with flax. Other
combinations include cucumbers, beans, celery, and chives in China; upland rice, corn, and cassava in
Indonesia, and in various parts of the tropics corn and cassava, corn and peanut, sorghum and millet,
and sorghum and pigeonpeas.

Frequently these cropping combinations involve a short and a tall crop both planted at the same time. In
many cases the tall crop is harvested first. For example, corn grown with a shorter plant would be
harvested first, then peanut or sweet potato would be harvested later.

Another pattern would be planting two tall crops with different growth rates. In relay intercrops,
different planting dates are used so that one crop might mature sooner. Corn or sorghum, requiring
three months to mature, can be grown with pigeonpea, requiring 10 months to maturation.

John Bowen and Bernard Kratky, researchers and instructors at the University of Hawaii, tell us that
there are five distinct aspects to successful multiple cropping. These are 1) detailed planning, 2) timely
planting of each crop, 3) adequate fertilization at the optimal times, 4) effective weed and pest control,
5) efficient harvesting .

Before any fieldwork is begun, adequate planning should be done. Planning covers selection of crop
species and appropriate cultivars, water availability, plant populations and spacing, labor requirements
throughout the season, tillage requirements, and predicted profitability of the intercrop. These and
other parameters need to be evaluated before spending money on inputs. With any crop, seed
germination and seedling establishment are the most critical phases of the entire season. A good
seedbed is needed to get a good stand. Delayed planting may reduce yield, since crop development may
not coincide with the optimal growth periods.

Planning fertilization for intercrops can be challenging, as the full needs of both crops must be met. One
possibility would be to ask for soil test results for each crop separately, then formulate a
recommendation that will cover the needs of both crops to be grown. Such recommendations are
generally 10% to 30% higher than rates for individual crops.

As with any crop, also accounting for residual or carryover fertility from past crops saves money.
Carryover fertility from intercrops may well be lower than that of pure stands because of the two crops
having different root types and feeding habits.

Weed and pest controls need in intercrops will likely be different from those in pure stands. Some
disease incidence, such as soybean or mung bean rusts, may increase when aggravated with high corn
populations and over fertilization. Any disease or pest that prospers in shady conditions could increase
under a taller crop such as corn or sunflowers. In many cases, insect pest populations are lower when
two or more crops are grown together.

Harvesting of mixed intercrops has been a major limitation to their adoption in mechanized farming. If
the crops cannot be harvested by animals, or all together as feed, you’re left with hand harvesting One
example would be harvesting wheat over the top of a young stand of soybeans growing beneath the
grain heads. All intercropping strategies— especially mixed intercropping—require advanced planning
and keen management. Success will likely be the reward for such efforts.

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Examples of Intercrop Systems

Traditional Corn+Bean+Squash Mixed Intercrops

Some farmers are traditionally growing an intercrop of corn, beans and squash. Grown together, these
three crops optimize available resources. The corn towers high over the other two crops, and the beans
climb up the corn stalks. The squash plants sprawl along the ground, capturing light that filters down
through the canopy and shading the ground. The shading discourages weeds from growing.

This mixture was compared to the individual crops grown separately. Corn yields were considerably
higher in the mixture than in a pure stand planted at optimum densities. Bean and squash yields
suffered considerable yield reductions when grown in mixture. In this example if corn were the most
important crop, it was beneficial to grow it in a mixture with squash and beans. The beans and squash
were just a bonus. The LER for the whole mixture was considerably higher (1.6) than any of the pure
stands.

Corn and Soybean Mixed Intercrops

Canadian researchers have worked with several corn-soybean intercrop seeding rates to determine
their economic advantages as silage. Pure stands of corn and soybeans were grown for comparison at
24,000 corn seed per acre and 200,000 soybean seed per acre. Results showed that intercrops were
more cost effective than pure stands over both years the study was conducted.

The study featured five experimental intercrop seeding rates with two planting arrangements (alternate
and within the row). The researchers concluded that a planting rate of 16,000 corn seed per acre (67%
of the full corn rate) with 135,000 soybean seed per acre (67% of the full bean rate) planted within the
same rows along with 53 lbs. of N/acre gave the highest economic returns. (Note: the planter was set to
drop 151,000 seeds per acre.)

This mixture gave an LER of 1.14 over pure stand yields. The crude protein level of the intercrop silage
was considerably higher than that of pure corn silage. A slightly higher yield was achieved from full
stands of both corn and beans in alternate rows (LER=1.23), but the cost of production was higher, thus
offsetting the improved yields.

Strip Cropping Corn/Soybeans/Small Grains

In strip cropping one consideration is the orientation of the rows from east and west to minimize the
shading effects of taller crops. Example, the crops are planted in a corn/soybean pattern, with soybeans
on the north side of the corn. This arrangement reduces the effect of corn shading often associated with
a straight corn/soybean pattern. Corn gains the greatest benefit from the additional sunlight
interception on the outside rows of the corn strip.

Escalating Diversity and Stability to a Higher Level

Ecologists tell us that stable natural systems are typically diverse, containing many different types of
plants, arthropods, mammals, birds, and microorganisms. In stable systems, serious pest outbreaks are
rare, because natural controls exist to automatically bring populations back into balance.

Planting crop mixtures, which increase farmscape biodiversity, can make crop ecosystems more stable,
and thereby reduce pest problems.

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There is overwhelming evidence that plant mixtures support lower numbers of pests than do pure
stands. One suggests that higher natural enemy populations persist in diverse mixtures due to more
continuous food sources (nectar, pollen, and prey) and favorable habitat.
The other thought is that pest insects that feed on only one type of plant have greater opportunity to
feed, move around in, and breed in pure crop stands because their resources are more concentrated
than they would be in a crop mixture. Regardless of which reason you accept, the crops growing
together in the mixture complement one another, resulting in lower pest levels.

Intercropping also aids pest control efforts by reducing the ability of the pest insects to recognize their
host plants. For example, thrips and white flies are attracted to green plants with a brown (soil)
background, ignoring areas where vegetation cover is complete—including mulched soil.

Some intercrops have a spatial arrangement that produces the complete vegetation cover that would be
recognized as unfavorable to thrips and whiteflies. Other insects recognize their host plants by smell.
Onions planted with carrots mask the smell of carrots from carrot flies. Innovative farmers are paving
the way with intercrops and realizing pest management benefits as a result.

Dr. Sharad Phatak of the University of Georgia has been working with cotton growers in Georgia testing
a strip-cropping method using annual winter cover crops. Planting cotton into strip-killed crimson clover
improves soil health, cuts tillage costs, and allows him to grow cotton with no insecticides and only 30
pounds of nitrogen fertilizer. Working with Phatak, farmer Benny Johnson reportedly saved at least
$120/acre on his 16-acre test plot with the clover system. There were no insect problems in the test
plot, while beet armyworms and whiteflies were infesting nearby cotton and requiring 8 to 12 sprayings
to control. Cotton intercropped with crimson clover yielded more than three bales of lint per acre
compared to 1.2 bales of lint per acre in the rest of the field. Boll counts were 30 per plant with crimson
clover and 11 without it. Phatak identified up to 15 different kinds of beneficial insects in these strip-
planted plots.

Phatak finds that planting crimson clover seed at 15 pounds per acre in the fall produces around 60
pounds of nitrogen per acre by spring. By late spring, beneficial insects are active in the clover. At that
time, 6- to 12-inch planting strips of clover are killed with Roundup™ herbicide. Fifteen to 20 days later
the strips are lightly tilled and cotton is planted. The clover in the row-middles is left growing to
maintain beneficial insect habitat. When the clover is past the bloom stage and less desirable for
beneficials, they move readily onto the cotton. Even early-season thrips, which can be a problem
following cover crops, are limited or prevented by beneficial insects in this system. The timing coincides
with a period when cotton is most vulnerable to insect pests. Following cotton defoliation, the
beneficials hibernate in adjacent non-crop areas.
Phatak points out that switching to a whole-farm focus while reducing off-farm inputs is not simple. It
requires planning, management, and several years to implement on a large scale. It is just as important
to increase and maintain organic matter, which stimulates beneficial soil microorganisms. Eventually a
“living soil” will keep harmful nematodes and soilborne fungi under control.

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Escalating Diversity and Stability to an Even Higher Level
The diversity created by intercropping can be enhanced even further by integrating livestock (single or
mixed species) into the cropping plan as harvesters. Allowing animals to harvest feed crops in the field
puts gain on animals at the cost of crop production—considerably less than the purchase price of the
grain. Grazing animals and other livestock can be managed on croplands to reduce costs, increase
income, and increase diversity. There are ways of incorporating animals into cropping without the
farmer getting into animal husbandry or ownership directly. Collaboration with neighbors who own
animals will benefit both croppers and livestock owners. Grazing or hogging-off of corn residue is one
example where a cost can be turned into a profit.

An intercrop of cereal grain, fava beans, and Canadian field peas is planted for winter grain, each crop
at 1/3 normal seeding rate. The grain mixture is combine-harvested to make energy and protein
supplement feed as needed.

Mixing the two crops together ended the pest problem. Cowpeas have extrafloral nectaries that attract
lots of beneficial insects. This could explain the absence of pest insects in the mixture. The milo/pea
mixture is harvested by setting the combine to cut at the height of the milo heads. This yields a milo to
bean ratio of 2:1—ideal for feed.

The college animal herd consists of 20 sows that farrow on pasture, 35 head of cattle, 50 sheep, and 30
laying hens that all range together. The hens are with the herd during the day and roost in a nearby
eggmobile at night. Gorden selects breeds and genetics to fit this system, as opposed to selecting breeds
for maximum production, and adapting a system to match the animal. The animals benefit one another.
The sheep learn to stay close to the middle of the herd to avoid predators, which are fended off by the
hogs. The cattle learn that the hogs know how to break the pumpkins open, so they stick close and get
some too. The hogs eat the cow and sheep droppings and benefit from the predigestion.

The hens scavenge wasted seeds from the various crops. There are three different kinds of hens, each of
which lays eggs of a different color. The eggs are marketed as rainbow eggs, with each dozen containing
four white, four blue, and four brown eggs. The chickens also scratch apart cattle dung pats searching
for insects, thus destroying cattle parasites.

Animals and crops are selected and culled according to their ability to adapt to this complex system.
Shasta College has one of the largest heritage hog herds in the country. The hogs have been fitted with
humane nose rings to prevent rooting. Also, hog breeds are selected that don’t root up the ground nor
eat the baby lambs when they are born. The sows farrow on pasture with only a single bale of hay for
bedding. Hogs are not vaccinated, nor are needle teeth removed or other detailing done. Sows generally
wean 12 pigs with no supplemental feed. The only purchased input is some nitrogen and phosphorus
fertilizer applied to the pastures. The pigs are only touched twice; once to castrate and once to wean. As
with the hogs, the cattle and sheep are selected to prosper on grass. Predators are not controlled in any
way. Any animal that gets killed by wandering off is naturally selected out of the herd.

The sheep/hog/cow mix provides much better utilization of forage than single species grazing. Since the
animals do most of the harvesting, less fossil fuel and labor-hours are expended. There are no pens to
wash and no manure to deal with. The herd is controlled using an electric fence charged up to 8,000
volts to hold the sheep

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Intercropping for Disease Control
Under direction of an international team of scientists, farmers in China’s Yunnan province made some
simple changes in their rice production methods. They changed from planting their typical pure stand of
a single rice variety to planting a mixture of two different rice varieties. Their primary reason for trying
this new technique was to reduce the incidence of rice blast, the main disease of rice. The technique
was so successful at reducing blast disease that the farmers were able to abandon chemical fungicides
they had been using.

The biodiversity effect is apparent here in that if one variety of a crop is susceptible to a disease, the
denser the stand, the worse the disease can spread. If susceptible plants are separated by non-host
plants that can act as a physical barrier to the disease, the susceptible variety will suffer less disease
infection. Rice blast moves from plant to plant via airborne spores. These spores can be blocked by a
row of a resistant variety. In this on-farm study, the rice was harvested by hand. Separating the varieties
was easily done during harvest, since one variety towered above the other.

Adapting Intercropping to Your Farm

Intercropping has been important in the countries and continues to be an important practice in
developing nations. In traditional systems, intercropping evolved through many centuries of trial and
error. To have persisted, intercropping had to have merit biologically, environmentally, economically,
and sociologically. To gain acceptance, any agricultural practice must provide advantages over other
available options in the eyes of the practitioner.

Farmers have generally regarded intercropping as a technique that reduces risks in crop production; if
one member of an intercrop fails, the other survives and compensates in yield to some extent, allowing
the farmer an acceptable harvest. Pest levels are often lowered in intercrops, as the diversity of plants
hampers movement of certain pest insects and in some cases encourages beneficial insect populations.

* Strip cropping- the growing of two or more crops simultaneously in alternate plots arranged in strips
that can be independently cultivated. An example would be upland rice, strip cropped with ipil-ipil, a
leguminous tree.

* Sorjan cultivation – a system of crop cultivation in parallel beds and sinks within lowland crops are
planted in the sinks and upland crops are grown in beds. Two successive upland crops can be grown in
beds during the year and two rice crops in the sink.

* Ratoon cropping- the development of a new crop- without replanting- from buds on the root system,
stubble, or stems of the proceeding crop, a harvest not necessary for grain. Rice under certain
conditions can be ratoon cropped.

*Mulch is any type of material that is spread or laid over the surface of the soil as a covering. It is used
to retain moisture in the soil, suppress weeds, keep the soil cool and make the garden bed look more
attractive. Organic mulches also help improve the soil’s fertility, as they decompose.

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CROPPING PATTERN SYMBOLS

Cropping systems researcher’s use certain symbols to indicate the relation and sequence of crops in a
cropping pattern. There are six commonly used symbols in expressing cropping patterns:

SYMBOLS MEANING

“ - “ o followed by

“+ “ o mixed with

“ / ” o relayed with

“ // ” o strip cropping

“ ,“ o and, or

“()“ o grown with perennial crops

“- “ a dash means followed by, as in sequential crops. An example is rice – wheat-fallow” which
means that in a 12 month period, a rice crop is followed by a wheat crop, which is followed by a fallow
period.

“ + “ a plus sign means mixed with as in row or mixed intercropping. An example “ rice –corn +
soybean” means that both crops are intercropped together (either in row or mix).

“ / ” a single diagonal bar means relayed with another crop as in relay intercropping. “Rice/
mungbean” means that mungbean is broadcasted with rice a few days before it is harvested.

“ // “ a double diagonal bar means strip planted with another crop at the same time. An
example is upland rice // corn or corn // ipil-ipil.

“ , “ a comma means either or, as in alternative crops. In the cropping pattern “ Rice-cowpea,
mung”, rice is the first crop followed by either cowpea or mung. Another example is “ DSR, WSR-mung”
where either DSR or WSR is the first crop followed by mungbean as second crop.

“ ( ) “ a parentheses indicates crop (s) grown with or under perennial crops. One example is
coconut + (cassava- corn). This means that coconut is the main crop, and under the trees cassava is
grown followed by corn.

14
 SUMMARY

The content of the module-1 is an introductory part of farming systems. Based from the
definition, farming systems does not relate the process but it refers to the state of the farmer’s
capability on how to allocate the limited resources into a set of production. It embraces all the
components in production systems where one variable affects the other. More terms are express for
familiarization and it is good enough to distinguish one terminology from the other so that comparison
can now be seen and contrasting factors can also be identified. For example the term monocropping
versus monoculture, cropping pattern versus cropping systems, crop rotation versus cropping pattern
rotation and so on. In addition, cropping pattern symbols are also be used to indicate the relation and it
is also a method of expressing cropping pattern. It is a salient point to stress more emphasis on
terminologies, its definition and conceptualize the introductory part of the course to materialize fully
what have been learned from the subject matter and utilize it through application in actual field
condition.

REFERENCE

Farming Systems in the Tropics, Hans Ruthenberg. 2nd ed .Oxford University Press, 1976.

Seminar Paper. Prof. Artemio Rebugio. Pangasinan State University, Infanta, Pangasinan,1990.

15
 FS 41

MODULE 2
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

TOPICS: A) Present Farming Systems Models

B) Identifying Farming Systems Constraints
C) The Concept of Yield Gap
D) Assessment Methodology
OVERVIEW

The content of this module represents the farming systems models. The suitability of a specific
model to a particular field condition is one of the primary important for efficient resources-use
management.

In the context of this course, the term farming systems does not define the process in obtaining
farm commodities but rather refers to the state of farmers, his distribution of limited resources into a
set of production systems. It involves several variables where interaction takes place. The possibility of
adapting different methodology of farming systems in attaining the given goals are constrained by the
following biological and socio-economic factors. The identified constraints are contributory factor of the
existing yield gap.
In addition, the benefits of the methodology applied in farming systems could hardly be
determined not unless assessment is done to find out its yield advantage.

Objectives:
It is expected that this module will able to:
1. Serve as a guide in interpreting farming systems models.
2. Provide insights in identifying production constraints.
3. Assess the existing methodology.
4. Analyze the results of combined yield in terms of biological interaction and economic
significance.

16
CONCEPTUAL MODEL

The complexity of farming system can be better understood through a clear understanding on
how variable affecting & it interact with each other, as shown in figure 1.

Farming as a system involves the interplay of four variables namely: 1.) crops, 2.)methods, 3.)
purpose and, 4.) resources as manipulated by man (the farmer, a rational being). The condition of the
farm (physical & biological) affects the three other variables to a degree, which varies according to the
nature of that farm (either lowland or upland). Assuming other factors constant, as slope becomes
steeper or fertility becomes lower, labor and cash input become higher. The choice of crops grown
would be limited due to specific adaptation of crops to certain conditions and so the purpose of raising
crops perhaps can now be changed. For instance, cabbage has its specific climatic adaptability; i.e this
crop thrives best in temperatures that range from 12-15 degrees C.

In considering a certain area, the landscape becomes a fixed variable. As we allow variation
among three other variables, different farming systems could be realized so much so that without a
basis for choice of an appropriate farming system, each must be as good as the other.

Von Appenfeld et.al.,(1957) considered family farm labor earnings as the best measure of
farming success in the Philippines conditions. To poor farmers, living partly or wholly within a
subsistence system, according to Arnold (1983), costs and benefits take forms other than cash outlays
and incomings. For example, prominent among these implicit calculations, is usually consideration of
risks; i.e., the need of living at the very margins of existence and the avoidance of any change which,
through it might improve his situation. Functions as expected, could leave him even worse off than he is
now if it does not.

For example, in the uplands, farming systems cannot just be chosen based on costs and or
benefits; of equal importance is their ability to conserve the uplands. Therefore, appropriate farming
systems, characteristically, technically and economically acceptance, which means for example, that
crops grown must be staple and able to provide income to support other needs while conserving the
resources. Methods must not be taboo, too expensive or labor intensive and not destructive to farm
environment. Methods describe here involve the manner and degree of input utilization.

Hence, the farmer’s decision on a certain farming systems is affected by both external and
internal factors.

External factors include physical, biological, social, economic and political; while internal factors
include values, ambitions and experiences. The former is uncontrollable and the latter is controllable by
the farmers.

Examining the acceptability criteria and the factors involved, selection of appropriate farming
systems indeed, requires a thorough and in-depth analysis.

17
 CROPS
METHOD
PURPOSE
RESOURCES

FARMING SYSTEMS

SOCIALLY Conform to:

ACCEPTABLE
1. tradition, culture and attitude

ECONOMICALLY
AFFORDABLE
Input Output
Availability Level

Land, labor, capital Able to meet PHYSICAL

Income needs
ECOLOGICALLY
ADAPTABLE Environmental Impact
1. minimize soil erosion
2. suppression of plant diseases
3.maintenance of soil fertility

TECHNICALLY
ADAPTABLE

Techniques must conform or suit to

the knowledge and experience of the
farmers.

Figure 1. Conceptual approach towards an appropriate farming system.

18
PRESENT FARMING SYSTEMS MODELS

Farming systems models/types are based on the guidelines formulated by the Farming
Systems Research Commodity team, and they are as follows: a) rice-based b) upland –based c)
coconut and perennial tree-based; d) sugar-cane based; e) hilly-land farming systems.

Rice-Based (Irrigated)

The most common practice in irrigated-rice based farming systems is still rice-rice or
rice-rice-rice. Little is till given emphasis on rice-fish integration and other systems such as rice-
ducks.

Upland-based (rainfed)
The need to improve yield and cropping intensity in rainfed areas is one of the most important
to look into because the yield and the return per hectare in the rainfed farmers were
substantially lower than in irrigated areas (Barker and Herdt, 1979). However, the potential
benefits from the rainfed areas are tremendous. Barker and Herdt (1974) however, cautioned
that while the benefits will depend upon the ability to a) develop a suitable technology for
rainfed areas, b) put the technology into the lands of farmers and c) provide proper incentives
to encourage farmers to utilize the technology.

Perennial / tree based

The most common based for this type of farming system is coconut. And most common
under crop are lanzones in Laguna, pineapple and/ or papaya or coffee in Cavite, cacao in
Davao, coconut plantation in Pangasisnan are most concentrated near the shoreline.

Sugar cane- based

Comparatively with all annual crops under normal condition sugar cane is still the most
productive and profitable (Mendoza, 1985). It takes 2 crops of corn and cassava, 3 crops of
sweet potato and peanut and 4 crops of soybean to equal the net revenue for sugar.

Cropping Systems:

1. Intercropping legumes with sugarcane:

Planter allows their workers to intercrop legumes ( mungbean, peanut) with
sugarcane.

2. Sugarcane Livestocks:
Sugarcane where detopped starting five or six months after planting up to the three
months before harvesting and sugar tops are were fed to ruminants. A hectare of
sugarcane could provide approximate twelve tons roughage, enough to feed three to
four ruminants for 120 feeding days.

19
Hilly land farming Systems:

Highly land-farming systems are more complex. The reason is that crop integration in
the farmers systems where aimed only at increasing farm productivity, whereas in the latter, of
equal importance is soil conservation.

1. Agroforestry-is any sustainable land-use system that maintains or increases total

yields by combining food (annual) crops with tree ( perennial) crops and/ or livestock
on the same unit of land, either alternately or at the same time, using management
practices that suit the social and cultural characteristics of local people and the
economic and ecological condition of the area.

IDENTIFIYING FARMING SYSTEM CONTRAINTS

The general approach in basic concept in identifying constraints is through the yield gap
concept. (Gomez, 1977.).

This gap can be explained in two ways:

1) to identify what biological or physical inputs or cultural practices account for the gap
and
2) to identify why farmers are not using the inputs or cultural practices that would
result in higher yields on their own crops.
The biological explanation of yield gap II shows that the farmers’ yield would be higher if they
would use the highest-yielding variety; existing soil problems practice best possible best
possible crop combination and use the best cultural practices.
The socio-economic constraints explain why farmers do not use the practices and inputs
necessary to obtain maximum yields. The reasons may include economic calculations of
cost and returns, lack of knowledge or how to use the technology, lack of credit, poorly
operated irrigation systems (non-availability of inputs), or traditional belief. The
importance of these factors will differ from area to area, but understanding them will
help in designing program to provide missing biological components to overcome the
yield gap.
THE CONCEPT OF YIELD GAP

The conceptual model of potential yield and yield gap is in Figure 2. The relative
magnitude of yield levels assumes experiment station yield levels as maximum. (IRRI, 1978)
Accordingly, three types of yield gap are shown.
1. Gap between maximum yield at experiment stations and potential yield on rice
farms (Gap I).
2. Gap between potential yield at rice farm and actual farm yield (Gap II).
3. Total gap (Gap I & II ).

20
Gap I is primarily to the rice scientists and research administrators who determine research
strategies. Gap II should be explored for its immediate usefulness to rice farmers, as well as to
short-and medium-run national planning for increasing rice productivity.

According to A.A.M. EKRAMUL HASSAN, the measurement of yield potential and the
magnitude of the gap in the Philippines are not representative of all situations within the
country. He pointed out that a single value, i.e. one specific level of potential yield and
magnitude of yield gap is not relevant to many agro climatic and soil conditions in the country.
He suggested, that the level of potential yield and yield gap be situation specific, and that the
situation can be classified by regions in terms of seasonal variation, soil variability, and water
regime.

Gap I

Gap II

Highest yield Potential yield Actual yield

Figure 2. Conceptual model of potential yield & yield gap

21
ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY
The involvements of various crops/commodities/enterprises in farming systems pose difficulty in
assessing benefits. One method is not enough due to interaction of several variables.

Land Equivalent Ratio (LER)

One tool of analysis that is quite appropriate in analyzing combined yield is the Land Equivalent ratio (LER).To
understand better the concept there is a need to deal first some bio-economic relationship.
Bio-economics- is that branch of economic science that deals most directly with biological process. It assesses
economics significance of interesting plant combination, interaction and cultural manipulation.
In a tree-based farming systems, combination of woody perennials and annual crops results to competition of the
intercrops of plant growth factors like light, carbon dioxide, nutrients and water.

To describe the nature of relationship between crops, the following terminologies must be understood:
1. Supplementary

Two products are supplementary if the production of one can be increased with neither an increase or
decrease in the other, that is, the outputs are essentially independent within the range of supplementary.

Example: Zonal cropping or newly established intercrops of woody perennial and annual crops.

2. Complementarily

Two products are complementary if increasing the production of one result in the corresponding increase
in the other.

Example: ipil-ipil ( Leucaena sp.) increase in foliage production would increase yield of intercrops
(Leucaena sp. + Zea mays).

3.Competition

Two products are competitive if increasing the production of one result in a decreased in the production of
the other, given a fixed level of outputs. The relationship occurs in almost all intercrops.
An analysis of the above condition would reveal that each condition is governed by time, crop series, and type
of crops. In the whole stage of production systems, these three conditions will occur in time, assuming other
factors constant.

22
 To determine the type of relationship existing between intercrops, the following computation
function can be used which is LER. It also indicates yield advantage.
𝒀𝒊 𝑿𝒊
LER can be calculated as: 𝐋𝐄𝐑 = +
𝐒𝐲 𝑺𝒙

Where:

Yi is the yield of Y as intercrop

Xi is the yield of X as intercrop
Sy is the yield of Y as monocrop
Sx is the yield of X as monocrop

When:

LER is > 1 intercrops are complementary

< 1 intercrops are competitive
=1 intercrops are supplementary

Example:

Yield

Crop Combination

Mixture 1 Mixture 2 Monocrop

Maize 2234 3130 3400

Pigeon pea 896 571 1035

LER 1.53 1.47

SUMMARY

Present farming systems models are designed based on its adaptability to specific environmental condition. The
productivity of a given model has been proven in term of its yield potential. Yield of crops from specific sites to
farmers’ field condition varies due to some farming systems constraints therefore yield gap exist from one field to
another.
In the assessment of the methodology, the Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) will be used. This is a tool in analyzing the
economic significance and interaction of the combined yield.

23
 FS 41

MODULE 3
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

Lowland Farms

OVERVIEW

Around the world, there is growing interest in finding alternatives to the industrial farming
methods that have emerged during the 20th century. The deleterious effects of pesticides,
inefficient fossil fuel usage, chemical fertilizer inputs, genetic monocultures and factory farming
of livestock have become increasingly apparent (Matson et al., 1997). One approach is to build
upon traditional methods which evolved over the first 10,000 years of agriculture. These
produced a tremendous variety of domesticated crops and livestock, and systems of farming.
While some systems proved environmentally destructive, many were not and were able to
sustain diverse cultures for centuries. Unfortunately, within the last generation, much of the
know-how of traditional systems have been lost, especially in the more industrialized countries.

Fortunately, there is still a vast store of farming know-how in many of the less developed
countries. Researchers are beginning to appreciate that many traditional farmers in the
developing world are still practicing farming methods that are in balance with the surrounding
ecosystems, stable, sustainable and highly efficient.

Farmers, who have sometimes been portrayed as ignorant and not adaptive, have actually
been utilizing very sophisticated methods of agricultural production for centuries. These farming
systems can perhaps help the developed world to grow food with fewer chemical inputs, slow
erosion, control pests, decrease our dependence on fossil fuels and feed an expanding global
population.

Traditional systems are examined for their role in the preservation of biological diversity and
the future of traditional agriculture is explored.

TYPES OF TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE

Based on the work of Deshmukh (1986), traditional agricultural systems can be classified into
one or more of the following basic categories:

 Shifting Cultivation
 Nomadic Pastoralism
 Continuous Cultivation
 Mixed Subsistence Farming

24
COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF TRADITIONAL SYSTEMS

The following characteristics can be considered common and important features of traditional
farming systems.
1. Focus on risk reduction
2. Year round vegetative cover of soils
3. System diversity: farm systems based on several cropping systems, cropping systems
based on a mixture of crops, and crops with varietal and other genetic variability.
4. Trophic complexity approaching natural systems. Multiple interactions between plants,
weeds, pathogens and insects
5. High net energy yields because energy inputs are relatively low.
6. Low levels of inputs and high degree of self-sufficiency

Intercropping of maize and beans

PRESERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

Traditional farmers constantly search for and promote novel variation in their crops. They
acquire new varieties by exchange, while travelling, through purchase from markets and natural
hybridization. This is actually one of the key features of traditional farming systems; the
interaction between domesticated varieties and their wild relatives. The promotions of natural
hybridization and introgression have, over time, increased the genetic diversity available to
farmers.

Traditional farmers also experiment with new varieties and breed plants purposefully to create
new strains. They generally plant experimental plots first and only integrate new varieties into
their main crops once a variety has proven itself to be of value. This constant experimentation
and breeding has created the diversity of crops upon which we now depend (Richards, 1985).

Modern intensive agroecosystems that rely on monocultures and genetic homogeneity have
become more susceptible to disease and pests, and to climatic variation. The varieties used,
like HYV, tend to be high yielding only when supplied with intensive inputs and ideal growing
conditions.
25
Traditional varieties are of value to us because they embody characteristics that are potentially
valuable, but not yet exploited. In the future, new varieties will be needed that can survive in
adverse environmental conditions such as saline or acidic soils. The genetic resources needed
to develop these new strains will probably come from the diversity of plants stored in
traditional agroecosystems.

Traditional farming systems also promote genetic diversity. The landscape in a traditionally
farmed area is a patchwork of different vegetation types created by the farming methods. The
result is a variety of ecological niches that encouraged biological diversity. The landscape, even
in intensively managed areas, is a mosaics of cultivated, grazed, uncultivated, and succession
areas.

Traditional farms are usually small

 The average farm size in Southeast Asia is 1.8 ha.
80% of the farmers depend solely on their own labor (Marten, 1986)
 In India, 2 ha is the national average farm size (Green, 1987).
 In 1978, the average farm size in Iowa was 108 ha. (Loomis, 1984)

Traditional systems created and conserve species and gene pool diversity

 319 species of plants in a virgin tropical forest, 223 species after cutting, planting and 10
years fallow (Pye-Smith, 1997).
 Of the 3,831 breeds of cattle, water buffalo, goats, pigs, sheep, horses, and donkeys that
have existed this century, 16% have disappeared, and a further 15% are rare. (*FAO,
1996)
 It is estimated that high-yield varieties (HYVs) are now used on 52% of the worldºs
wheat growing areas, 54% of land planted with rice, and 51% of maize farms. (*FAO,
1996)
 Of the approximately 7,000 species of plants that have been cultivated or collected by
humans for food, only 30 crops now account for 95% of the global dietary energy
(calories) or protein. Wheat, rice and maize provide more than 50% of the global plant-
based energy intake. Nearly 90% of the food energy supplies of the world is provided by
only 103 plant species. (*FAO, 1996)
 In India the mango, Mangifera indica, has been bred to create 1,000 varieties, and some
100,000 varieties exist of one species of rice, Oryza sativa. (*FAO, 1996)
 There were 300-400 varieties of rice traditionally grown in Sri Lanka, in 1982 only 15-20
were left. (Goldsmith, 1982)
 India had over 40 thousand varieties of rice, as of 1987, only 30 were commonly grown.
(Green, 1987)

26
IMPORTANT TERMS (adapted from Marten and Saltman, 1986.)

TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE

Sustainable, stable farming system that has been used for several generations and has
been able to supply the nutritional and material needs of its producers.

STABILITY
The reliability or consistency of yields. This factor reflects an agro-ecosystemºs ability to
be productive despite diverse perturbations. A stable system will maintain acceptable
yields even in years that are climatically harsh or have pest problems. Traditional
farmers place a high priority on stability as well as risk reduction and social concerns.

SUSTAINIBILITY
The ability of a system to maintain productivity and stability year after year. This is
effected by the ecological processes at work in the agro-ecosystem and reflects the
system ability to maintain favorable growing conditions through time. Loss of
sustainability is generally associated with undesirable changes to the soil such as a
decrease in soil fertility, persistent erosion or invasion of pests. Most traditional farming
systems are highly sustainable; they have been practiced for thousands of years without
changing the ecology of the soils.

PRODUCTIVITY
The yield of goods and services from an agro-ecosystem. This is generally measured in
mass of goods produced per unit area but can be more broadly defined to include
sustainability, stability, nutritional value, esthetic qualities and other community
functions.

CULTURAL ENERGY
The total energy inputs into the farming system exclusive of solar energy. This broad
term encompasses inputs such as caloric intake of farm workers, the energy value of
petrochemicals used to manufacture fertilizers and the fossil fuel used in tractors. Often
considered to be synonymous with the term energy subsidy.

27
 THE FUTURE OF TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE

Traditional farming is being replaced by modern intensive farming systems. This represents the
loss of farming systems that are stable, sustainable and from which many valuable lessons can
be learned.

Traditional farming is also an important reserve and source of biodiversity. It is still perhaps the
only sustainable system on marginal land.

High yields of modern intensive agriculture have made it possible for the ever-increasing
human population to be fed without the extensive destruction of habitats to provide the
needed food.

Unfortunately, this has been accomplished at the expense of the surrounding ecosystems. The
challenge for the future is how to increase yields in traditional systems while retaining a certain
measure of their integrity, in other words, to finds methods of sustainable intensification.
Conversely, we need to integrate biological diversity into existing modern commercial
agricultural systems

There is evidence that the adoption of conservation methods on large commercial farms can
promote biological diversity (*FAO, 1996). Techniques such as crop rotation, intercropping,
cover crops, integrated pest management, and green manures can be used in larger
commercial systems. These practices can reduce dependence on fertilizers and pesticides and
promote sustainable intensification. An integration of farming systems, combining the
productivity of modern systems and the sustainability of traditional systems, could help to
preserve biological diversity and feed a growing population without excessive damage to the
environment.

28
 FS 41

MODULE 4

PROF BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

Farms as Ecosystems
Organic farming provides ecosystem services as well as food. The weakest points of organic
farming systems are limited use of livestock and declining genetic resources.

Introduction

Through the 19th and 20th centuries, the earth's landscape has been transformed from one of
nodes of human activity set in a mosaic of natural or quasi-natural ecosystems, to a mosaic of
human settlements, domesticated landscapes, and fragmented natural ecosystems. At the end
of the 20th century, an Agroindustrial Model is the norm for management of agriculture, and
also of residential and recreational lands, silvicultures, and aquacultures. It is a specialization
model in which major components of the farm ecosystem - most notably livestock and crops -
are separated for the sake of production efficiency, and chemical inputs substitute for natural
processes such as the return of nutrients to the land, and control of pests by natural enemies.
Generally, it was accepted that agroindustrial systems have low 'ecosystem value' but in
principle, still expect that this should not seriously degrade other ecosystems which provide
with non-costed services estimated to be worth at least twice the world GNP (Costanza et al.,
1997).

Ecosystem services" as cited by R. Constanza et al. (1997).

1. Gas regulation
2. Climate regulation
3. Disturbance regulation
4. Water regulation
5. Water supply
6. Erosion control
7. Soil formation
8. Nutrient cycling
9. Waste treatment
10. Pollination
11. Biological control
12. Refugia
13. Food production
14. Raw materials
15. Genetic resources
16. Recreation

29
In practice, however, with very few exceptions, the agroindustrial systems have proved to be
strongly degrading and are major factors in the non-potability of surface and ground waters,
eutrophication of coastal ecosystems, increases in greenhouse gases, loss of biodiversity
(Matson et al., 1997; Vitousek et al., 1997) and degradation of the productive capacity of land
by erosion, and salinization, and loss of organic matter (Lal, 1997). In turn, environmental
degradation has led to greater disparities in wealth and social well-being both between and
within nations (Vosti and Reardon, 1997).

There is growing recognition that these problems cannot be resolved within the framework of
industrial agriculture. van der Voet et al. (1997) used a modeling approach to examine how the
European Union might reduce atmospheric N emissions to target levels that have either been
agreed upon or are conservative estimates of the reductions necessary to substantially reduce
N pollution of the Baltic Sea, the atmosphere and the groundwater.

 They looked at four options:

1. no import of fodder crops
2. Maximum technological emission abatement
3. No use of nitrogen fertilizer, and
4. No livestock.

Kawashima et al. (1997) examined the implications of world population growth and changing
consumption patterns on fertilizer demand; they concluded that fertilizer use would increase
approximately 3-fold by the middle of the next century and that environmental deterioration
would inevitably accelerate. Not yet given serious attention are the potential long term
consequences for agriculture itself from narrowing of the genetic base (Simmonds, 1993), and
loss of pollinators due to pesticides and habitat destruction (Allen-Wardell et al., 1998).

Organic farming is a system of management that seeks to increase production, limit the need
for inputs, and control pests by intensifying the processes that maintain natural ecosystems
(Hodges, 1982).

An important benefit of this approach is that:

1. It allows a high level of ecosystem services to be maintained such as soil conservation (

Reganold et al., 1987), and

2. Conservation of biodiversity of insects and herbs (reviewed in Lampkin, 1990).

In parts of Europe, organic practices have been legislated or encouraged by special incentives in
order to reduce nitrate pollution of groundwater (IFOAM, 1997).

Can organic agriculture offer an alternative on a global scale to industrial agriculture?

30
 As remarked by one researcher, it is skeptical or doubtful that any food-producing system can
keep up with population growth for much longer, if at all - certainly not without further and
drastic undermining of global ecosystem services, and without pushing the population well
beyond what is sustainable in the long term.

Agroecosystems now occupy 35% of the land area or 48% of land area exclusive of ice, desert
and rocks and by fragmentation effects alone, threaten survival of thousands of species
(Dobson et al., 1997).

Domestication of crops and livestock and the growth of civilization as we know it has occurred
only in the last 10,000 years and that has been an interval of exceptionally favorable climate;
paleantological evidence (Kelts, 1992) and some of recorded history (Parry, 1978) indicate that
even in the absence of anthropogenic disturbance, we cannot expect the climate to remain so
favorable, or even to change gradually.

Viewed from an ecological/evolutionary perspective, the proliferation of the human species to

its present number during a period of favorable climate can be seen as virtually guaranteeing
our survival as a species through any catastrophe but also ensuring that the human population
will experience precipitous decline at some point.

However, leaving aside the question of what our ultimate limits might be, organic agriculture
can produce more food sustainable than an industrial agriculture. The maximum yield of some
crops per unit area may be lower, but other benefits such as greater production from marginal
land, greater food chain efficiencies for livestock production, greater long term stability and
sustainability, fewer detrimental effects on fisheries and aquaculture, and greater access for
rural poor - would more than compensate, and there would be less damage to other
ecosystems.

Key aspects of the functioning of organic farms as ecosystems under "umbrella concepts".

These are general principles or practices that if followed:

 Help to ensure that a lot of other things "go right" on the farm
 That a high level of ecosystem services is maintained.

The Livestock Challenge

Livestock are under represented on organic farms in two regards - the first being in relation the
functioning of the farm itself. When the concept of organic agriculture as distinct from a
chemically based agriculture, was elucidated in the 1940s, livestock was seen as an integral
component of organic farming (e.g. Howard, 1940; Turner, 1951).

31
This does not mean that livestock must be a major product of the farm; even keeping a small
number for family or neighborhood consumption can greatly increase management options,
e.g. on a potato farm, a small herd of beef can consume culls, allow some erosion susceptible
land to be kept permanently in sod, and allow more soil-building options for run down land
(Patriquin, 1991).

Secondly, livestock are under represented in relation to global food production: if organic
farming is to become a mainstream force, it has to provide more meat and milk, satisfy
consumer demand, and to provide models of livestock production which can stand as
alternatives to the industrial systems; particularly need those for hogs and poultry, which are
the most rapidly growing sector of agriculture in absolute terms (de Haan et al., 1997;), and the
most ecologically destructive.

A suitable entry point for improvements may be the introduction through participative learning
and discovery of no-till and continuous soil cover methods with suitable crop rotations, since
these can drastically increase yields and drought tolerance within 2 to 3 years, even with low
external inputs. Further improvements can then be explored after this initial success.

Some major benefits of livestock for ecological farming

 Ruminants can use "inedible" food (leaves of grass, trees) growing on and protecting
marginal land
 Ruminants and monogastrics can consume culls, & other food-processing by-products
(using otherwise "inedible" food, producing fertilizer)
 Livestock accelerate cycling of nutrients via production of manure & compost, use of
fibrous materials for bedding, distribution of nutrients via foraging activities
 Land kept in sod for hay & pasture increases soil-building, N2 fixation, erosion control,
carbon storage
 More diversified cropping options are possible
 Livestock can be used for weed & pest control
 Traction options (including rotovation by pigs)

Conservation of biodiversity of large herbivivores

Organic farmers have led the way in the development or reintroduction of many sustainable
farming techniques that are now more widely used, e.g. cover cropping, various types of pests
control and mechanical weed control, use of composts.

There are many examples to be found on organic farms of livestock at once providing a product
of the farm, while helping the farm to function more effectively as ecological systems and doing
so without competing significantly with humans for food.
32
Some fine examples of organic dairy, wild boar, and native-prairie based cattle production.Such
examples need to be documented and promoted as alternatives to ecologically destructive or
inhumane livestock production systems, and emulated and further developed in the way that
the crop production component of organic farms has occurred.

Some very relevant theory and scientific data on use of "alternative feeds" by livestock has
been presented by Preston and Leng (1987), and Preston (1995). They promote the concept
that sustainable livestock production systems should be based on feeds that can be produced
locally using available resources, rather than relying on expensive imported concentrates, or on
high input cropping systems, also that livestock systems should be linked to energy production
systems, and that the role of livestock in providing fertilizer and processing wastes, and their
welfare and their impacts on the environment need to be considered in the design of
integrated livestock-crop systems.

An integrated, multispecies livestock production system based on these concepts and

incorporating many elements of traditional farming in the tropics was developed by CIPAV, a
non-governmental organization with headquarters in Cali, Colombia in the late 1980's and early
90's.

The basic strategy is to keep livestock in semi-confinement and revegetate hillsides degraded
by extensive grazing with productive perennial crops including sugarcane and leguminous trees,
which serve as feedstocks for the livestock. The system makes use of industrial by-products,
maximizes recycling within the system and has proven to greatly increase the production of
livestock products per units area of land, while allowing the hillsides to regain ecological
integrity. Farmers adopt and adapt the entire system or components of it, and it has proven to
be adaptable to both small and large farms.

Genetic Resources

Declining genetic resources appropriate for organic agriculture probably represents the single
largest impediment to organic agriculture realizing its full potential.

Agroindustrial strategies for genetic improvement emphasize high yields of harvestable crop
components, or rapid growth of livestock over other traits, and wide adaptability over local
adaptation (Janssens et al., 1990; Preston and Leng, 1987). Its success has been highly
dependent on the use of agrochemicals that modify the growing environment to make it more
uniform and predictable from site to site, and for livestock, on specific, high energy diets, use of
supplements to guard against deficiencies, and use of drugs to protect against disease.

It is an industrial strategy, which maximizes the returns on research and holders of patents or
breeding rights. At the same time, however, it mitigates against the process of natural selection
and local adaptation which is the keystone of evolution in the natural world, and which
prevailed in agriculture until this century and produced a level of diversity in agriculture that
approached that in unmanaged systems.

33
Combined with the new crop breeding, seed production and reproductive technologies, the
Agroindustrial strategies have led to the control of genetic resources shifting from farmers into
the hands of industry, and to the loss of thousands of locally adopted crop varieties and to loss
or endangerment of hundreds to thousands of breeds of livestock. The shift is nearing finality
with the appearance of GMOs in the market place.

There has been relatively little concern with the generation and conservation of genetic
resources for organic agriculture per se, perhaps because organic farming in the modern era
has developed during a period when many of the older varieties and breeds were still available.
Results from a trial of three traditional and three modern cultivars of oats on an organic farm
illustrate this point: all three traditional cultivars but only one of the three modern cultivars
were competitive with weeds (Patriquin et al., 1986).

Modern high yielding cereals, selected under chemically managed regimes are typified by
shortened stems, reduced tillering and reduced root systems, all of which make them
dependent on industrial inputs and poorly adapted to other regimes (Janssens et al., 1990).
There is also evidence that modern wheat varieties respond negatively to myocrrhizae (Hetrick
et al., 1993), which otherwise can enhance P availability on P-poor soils, and increase resistance
to pests and diseases (Allen, 1991). Clearly the needs or organic agriculture are fundamentally
different from those of industrial agriculture, and may require very different breeding
strategies.

Proposals and comment by NW Simmonds (1993) related to the need to broaden the genetic
base of agriculture at large are very pertinent to this issue. He classifies the utilization of
existing genetic resources into two approaches.

The predominant one, which he labels "Introgression", involves backcrossing into adapted
stocks of a few genomes controlling desired characters; while it has had obvious successes;
Simmonds says it does nothing for the local genetic base. Simmonds advocates much more (but
not exclusive) emphasis on a second approach that he labels "Incorporation" or "base
broadening"; it covers "the large scale development of locally adapted populations [my italics]
good enough to enter the adapted genetic bases of the crops concerned".

Incorporation programs have been applied to only a few crops (notably, potatoes, sugarcane
and maize), but have been very successful. The Incorporation approach is "simple but slow",
involving "widely based populations, maximal recombination, weak selection, local adaptation,
genetic isolation, quick turnover of generations aimed at producing parental sticks, economy of
operation, acceptance of long term commitment."

The last mentioned point is a major stumbling block to more widespread application of this
approach which he considers vital to the long term health of agriculture. Simmonds remarks,
"The progressive collapse of publicly supported agricultural research, as declining funds are
diverted to biotechnological tricks, beyond potentially useful diagnostics and irrelevant to the
genetic bases of our crops is but one aspect of the matter.

34
In parallel, there is no evident reason why commercial plant breeding should, or ever will,
support long-term projects which may vastly benefit crop improvement but, being
commercially unprotectable, do nothing for company profits....serious genetic resource work,
including Incorporation programmes , demands long-term commitment to the interests of our
successors, not just to ourselves."

The special research and service needs of organic agriculture

There are significant differences in ecosystem dynamics between ecologically and chemically
managed systems, and these generate different needs and strategies for management of
fertility, pests, and weeds, for raising livestock, and as discussed above, for genetic resources.
Effective management of soil fertility in organic agriculture requires a very different approach
from that for a chemically based agriculture, and one that is more system oriented (Magdoff et
al., 1996).
For example, if N is limiting for a particular crop, it is appropriate to ask, is there is sufficient N
coming into the farm as a whole to support higher yields; if a N budget indicated there was,
then the next question to be answered might be how do we manage the cycling to relieve this
limitation?
The solution might involve making changes in the tillage regime to improve aeration and plant
uptake of N (Patriquin et al., 1986), factors that are much less critical when N is applied at
saturating levels.
Managing the decomposition process is much more critical to organic farming than to
chemically based farming because it is the main venue for supplying nutrients; also
immobilization of nutrients by microbes growing on nutrient poor residues can be utilized to
reduce nutrient losses, or to increase N2 fixation in legumes by reducing soil N (Patriquin et al.,
1995).
Decomposition processes are highly variable between sites, residue types and management
regimes, thus there is a need for techniques that can be applied readily on the farm to monitor
these processes. Measurements of soil electrical conductivity is one approach (Patriquin et al.,
1993). There is a wealth of research in this area; we need means to help us apply it, e.g. though
development of diagnostic kits for enzyme activities or particularly compounds that can be used
on the farm.

For a period, there seemed to be some conversion of approaches to pest control in organic and
conventional agriculture, with emphasis on enhancing control by natural enemies, and
selection of resistant varieties.

However the wholesale abandonment of research in this area to private interests dominated by
biotechnology companies is detracting from resources available to organic farmers, and
threatens to undermine he stability of organic farming systems in other ways, e.g. the
incorporation of B.thuringiensis (B.t.) genes into crops will inevitably generate broadspread
resistance to B.t., and make ineffective the selective use of B.t. spores by organic farmers
(Thacker, 1993)

35
Discussions of "sustainable agriculture" and "new research" that invoke methods and principles
that have long been pursued in organic agriculture commonly make no acknowledgment of that
fact.

A recent example is provided a report in TREE (Trends in Ecology and Evolution) on a workshop
entitled 'Agriculture as a Mimic of Natural Ecosystems"; it concluded with the statement "This
meeting and the book which will come from it represent a first bold attempt to come to terms
with one of the most important issue facing humanity: how to have agriculture without eroding
nature" (Dawson and Fry, 1998). It seems that organic agriculture has to be reinvented within
the academic/scientific community to gain credibility in that same community!

These sorts of limitations have not been serious ones to date, as they affect more the potential
for organic farming to evolve and realize its full biological potential, than they do the initial
conversion to organic farming, which is still the main way in which organic production is
increasing. However, they become more important with time.

A farmer who has made a successful initial conversion to organic agriculture, and wants to
improve its efficiency as an ecosystem, which also would make it economically more
competitive, has few resources to draw on - certainly none that are the equivalent of public and
private services available to industrial agriculture.

The role of on-farm experimentation.

Ecological farming systems are characterized by a much higher degree of site variability in the
way they respond to management and to different cultivars and breeds than are conventionally
managed systems. While on the one hand this requires farmers to experiment more in order to
fully optimize their systems, it also offers a high potential for improvements in productivity and
ecological functioning through on-farm experimentation.

Although it may not be thought of as such, establishing a regular rotation of crops on the farm
is an "experiment" , and in my view, a crucial one for organic farming. It is crucial because when
we do not saturate the soil environment with fertilizers or use chemical control agents as
needed, the longer term, carryover effects of different crops become important and the only
way to discriminate those effects and hence to be able to adjust to them, is to observe them
repeatedly.

A regular crop rotation provides replicates in both time and space. For example, at Tunwath
farm in Nova Scotia, after several years, poor oat yields on different fields and years were
identified as related to phytotoxic/immobilization effects of residues from the previous crop.
The solution was not to change the rotation, but rather the management of residues (Patriquin
et al., 1986). Had the crops been rotated on an ad hoc basis, it is unlikely that the limitation
would have been identified. (I have since seen evidence of phytotoxic/immobilization effects of
residues on crops on many other organic farms, but they are not recognized as such by farmers,
only (sometimes) it is recognized that yields are lower than they would have expected).

36
Adoption of a regular rotation does not have to restrict production options. To meet production
needs and special conditions on different blocks of land, a farm can employ several different
rotational sequences; also, fields can be taken out of a rotational sequence for a period of time
to serve special needs - what's important is that they eventually go back into the rotational
sequence at the stage they would have been had they not been taken out (Patriquin, 1990).
There is much that could be gained by more interaction between ecosystem scientists and
organic farmers and their organizations.

Crop rotations with each phase represented in several different fields constitute an ideal
experimental design from a scientific ecology perspective.

Organic farms should be attractive to ecologists as "ecosystem level experiments"; the

boundaries are defined, the practices and histories are documented in the process of applying
for certification each year, and most farmers are natural experimenters and want to learn more
about the functioning of their systems, even if it doesn't have immediate, practical value.
Organic Certification codes, always under review, provide a dynamic, ecosystems oriented
framework that can serve as a basis for farmers and scientist to work together to further
develop and test the relevant concepts. Recent advances in ecological theory, in our
understanding of processes at the molecular level, in analytic techniques, computer modeling
and electronic communication could greatly assist this process.

37
 FS 41

MODULE 5
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

The Tropics and Tropical Climates

The tropical regions are generally defined as those lying between 23.5 degrees north and 23.5
degrees south of the equator. The tropics are defined according to the principles of economic
geography (Marshard 1968). In dealing with farming systems, the tropics are defined based on
the criteria such as temperatures and types of vegetation (Ruthenberg, 1976, p.1).

The tropical areas principally differ from each other in respect of climate.

Rainfall is the most relevant criterion in classifying tropical lowland climates. Classification of
climates is based according to the number of humid months.
Humid climate have seven months or more humid months, very humid climate have nine
months, semi-humid (wet and dry) climates are those with 4 ½ humid months and semi arid
climates are those with 2-4 ½ humid months. The mean annual temperature ranges from 25-
33°C with the mean temperature during the coldest month usually above 18°C. Diurnal
temperature variations are higher than those between the coldest and hottest months of the year
are common. The higher temperature variations occur in the drier higher latitudes close to desert
areas near the Tropic of Cancer where dry season temperature exceeds 40°C. Temperature
decreases with altitude at the rate of about 3°C for every 500 m increase in elevation. Changes in
temperature make possibilities for some temperate crops growth in highland areas of the tropics
particularly in East and Central Africa and South America. It is also for the same reason that
crops such as maize may take 3 – 5 months to mature in the lowland tropics and as much as 10 –
11 months in the tropical highlands.

With respect to solar radiation, the tropics receive more sunlight intercepting up to 56-59
% while temperate areas receive only 41 % of sun’s radiation.
Solar radiation varies from about 300 – 400 g cal/cm²/day close to the equator to about 400 – 500
g cal/cm²/day above north or south of the equator.
During rainy season, the clouds cover drastically reduces the effective solar radiation at the
lower latitudes. Reduction in radiation has detrimental effects on crop yields and fertilizer
response, for example in oil palm (Hartley 1958). Changes in the length of day through out the
year vary from zero at the equator at about 2.8hrs at latitude 23 ½ °north or south of the equator.
Although most tropical plants are short day plants, day length variations of as low as 15 minutes
may be critical in the flowering of some crop species or varieties (Njoku, 1958).
The duration and intensity of the rainy season determines to some extent the crops that are grown
and the prevailing farming systems. The prevailing winds at different seasons, while determining
the onset, amount, duration and time of cessation of the rainy season may also have adverse
effects on crop and animal production. Very strong winds, hurricanes, typhoons and other related
atmospheric disturbances have adverse effects on agricultural productivity, plant and animal life
(FAO, Soils Bulletin 53 p.11).

38
The vegetation of the tropics ranges from the tropical rainforest with evergreen vegetation of 3-
4 storied structure, with the greatest diversity of species in areas of over 1500mm annual rainfall,
through semi-deciduous and deciduous forest of 3 storied structures in areas of 1000 – 1500 mm
annual rainfall, the climatic climax vegetation has been drastically modified by human beings
and many areas of forests in tropical and temperate countries have disappeared as a result of
burning, farming and grazing (FAO, Soils Bulletin 53 p.11).
The soils of the tropics vary considerably in their physical, chemical mineralogical
characteristics which are related to their geological history and the geo morphological
characteristics of their parent materials and the intensity of the different soil forming factors and
processes. The soil forming factors according to Jenny (1941) consist of climate, organisms,
topography, parent material and time. The major soils of the tropics consist of Oxisols (22.5%),
Aridisols (18.4%), Aifisols (16.2%), Ultisols (11.2%) and other minor soil groups of sometimes
local significance in agricultural production( Sanchez, 1976).

2. Farm System and Farming Systems

2.1. The relevance of the farm-system approach

Agricultural development is governed by policies. The policies are supported by
the information about the existing farm situation. The collection of information is based
on the entities in the rural areas. These entities are systems and are meaningful in terms
of rural development. The systems are set of related factors that the system theory has
been derived. System theory is employed as the guideline for farm system description
and analysis. One of the system being described is the goal oriented-system in rural areas.
As an example, watershed represents useful system to the hydrologist. Geographers tend
to consider regions as systems, while sociologist will look for the village or family
systems.
It is emphasized that farm are clearly systems because several activities are
closely related to each other by the common use of the farm’s labour, land, and capital
by risk distribution, and by the joint use of the farmer’s management capacity.
Farms can be considered as economic units if it expressed in terms of economic.
Farm is a major decision point in agricultural development therefore, analysis of farm is
quite important to the subject of development.
Farming systems are only one aspect of rural life. The ecological, social and
political systems must be considered also. Farm and farming system approach should also
considers the present information facilitate the linking of farm approach with the
approach of those concerned with other rural systems.

2.2 . A hierarchy of systems

Any farm is part in a hierarchy of systems, belonging first to the larger system of the rural
area and consisting secondly, of various activities which are systems themselves. Also
such inputs as workers, soils, animals or tractors are systems with rather distinct
boundaries. The farm as a system are consists of a set of related subsystems which form a
hierarchy of the system. Microorganisms in the soil are a subsystem of the soil
subsystem, the soil system is again a subsystem of the crop- producing system(activity),
and the crop-producing system is a subsystem of the farm system.

39
Discussion
The microorganisms in the soil are subsystem of the soil system because these
microorganisms played the vital role in the decomposition of organic materials which in
turn a part of the soil and contributes to the availability of soil nutrients essential for
crop growth and development.
The soil system is a subsystem of crop producing system because soil is a medium
in which most crops are growing.
Crop-producing system is a subsystem of the farm system because several
activities are closely related to each other in attaining the given ends thus making it as
part of the whole farm system.

2.3 Characteristics of farms

a. Objectives and decisions. According to Following Woermann (1959), a farm
is taken to be an organized economic unit in which crop and livestock production is
carried out with the purpose of producing an economic return.
`
Discussion:
Farm can be described as goal-oriented system. The farmers are the decision-
makers, its either engage in large scale-corn or small-scale sugarcane production.
Farmer’s goals varies from one another. The large holding farmer aims for market
production and profit while smallholding farmers aims for the provision of food for the
household.

b. Boundaries. All land used wholly or partly for agricultural purposes, including
grazing land and other than communal grazing is considered as belonging to farm unit.
Establishment engaged in the production of livestock even if they have no land under
their control (Nomads) are also considered as farm unit.
The boundaries of farm unit with its economic environment are defined by the
purchase or procurement of inputs and the safe disposal of outputs. It purchases
production inputs and obtain capital from the market for investments. It supplies
output to household and market and the household may supply capital to the farm or
capital to the market.
In small holding farming, farm and household are closely related. Most small holders in
the tropics aims at producing their subsistence food requirements on their holdings and
food supply from farm to household is organized according to the needs of the household
which itself depends on the phases of family development. The household, on the other
hand, is a distinct labour-supplying unit, and the amount and kinds of labour made a
available vary with the family cycle. It is more appropriate to look at the household-farm
systems instead of production system. The description of farm-household interactions
remain rudimentary simply because a fuller considerations would have made the subject
too complex for its purpose.

40
a. Activities and their Relationships. The activities of the farm serve to transform inputs
into outputs.
Several kinds of activities have to be distinguished:
1. Activities, which produce crops (e.g. land preparation such as plowing, harrowing for
corn production).
2. The activities which turn crops into livestock products (e.g. Forage crops are used as
fodder for ruminants in turn meat and milk are produced).
3. Processing activities, which transform crop and livestock products into factory products
(e.g. coconut oil is produced from coconut processing, then cheese from processed milk
taken from the cows).
4. Procurement activities including investments and farm maintenance work (e.g. drainage)
5. Marketing activities ( e.g. farm product are sold ).
In system theory, the term “ inputs” and “output” mean all manner of things, which enter or
leave the farm system of the subsystem of activity.

Classification of Input and Output

1. The economic inputs and outputs are those, which are registered usually in a farm-
management sheet; and they comprise all items which either bough or sold or which
have a value in terms of opportunity costs.

Example: Inputs

 labour
 Land
 Means of production
Output

 Goods sold & consumed in the farm household

2. The non-economic inputs and outputs are free goods from the point of view of the
farmer.
Example: Inputs

 Solar energy
 Rainfall
Output

 Oxygen

41
 The farms are an open system because it receives some of the most output from the systems
environment and deliver the output either to other activities or to the environments.
The classification of activities has to be very specific. A classification will base simply on the
definition of the type of crops or animals. Growing rice in winter is certainly not the same
activity of growing rice in summer. Growing upland and lowland rice are different activities
and the source applies to rice growing using transplanting or the seeding technique.
d. External Relationship. Farm structure is the result of interaction between the internal
relations and the proceeding state of the environment. The environment influences the farm
system through the external relations.

External Relations are classified as follows:

1. The natural condition (climate, soil, diseases, etc.) constraints the ecologically
feasible activities.
2. The state of knowledge and information about agricultural techniques (innovation)
determine the possible physical production functions of the various activities.
3. The farmer’s choice of the ecologically feasible activities and possible techniques
clearly depends on the institutional environments (land tenure, farm size, taxation
systems, labor laws, credit, and extension services, etc.)
4. The input combination, output mix, and input intensity in any activity on the farms
depend on the economic environment, which influences the system through the prices
of input and output.
5. The combination of activities in smallholder farming is too a high degree for food,
fiber, fuel and other needs that the farm can meet, and this demand depend on the
culture and the socio-political sate of the society concerned.

The structure of the farm system at anytime depend on all technical, economic, social, cultural,
and political influences that impinge on the farmer, his household members, and his hired
worker. Change in the socio-political setting can be decisive for the organization of the farm
system.
The importance of a change in external relations is measured by the change of the economic
output in relation to one unit of change in the environment. The change may be technical
innovation, a change in prices, in land-tenure arrangements, in the rural service structure or in
cultural values. The elasticity of farming systems to changes in their environment differs widely:
e.g. shifting cultivation systems- very inelastic, others take irrigation farming –this is quite
elastic.
e. The Farm Structure as a Function of Internal and External Relations.

The external relation differs from place to place. Each location with its particular climate, soils
and price relations is best suited to only one or few crops. Farm are heterogeneous in structure,
therefore farm activities for productivity varies widely. There are farming practices that has

42
been proven as most feasible but not applicable to other location. These are the reason why
farmers are continuously practicing diversified farming. This will help reduce the risks. The
existing structure of farms reflects the kind and the strength of the internal relations. The farm
system is thus, a function of its environment, but the environment of a farm unit also depends on
the organization of farming.

2.4. Dynamics of Farms.

a. The Mechanisms for Change.

There are two mechanisms for change. The basic principle of farming is to change
the natural system into one, which produces more of the goods desired by man. The man-
made system is an artificial construction, which requires continuous economic inputs
obtained from the environment to maintain its output level.
The other driving power behind change is the fact that time, given the existence of
human being, produces innovations. These innovations, by interacting with population
growth, capital formation, and economic development, change the institutional, economic
and socio-cultural environment of the farm, The natural condition are also changed,
because economic development influences the eco-system in a negative or positive way.

b. Type of State

There are distinctions between farms, which are in a “steady state”, and those,
which are in a “moving state”. Farms, which are in steady state, remain over time as they
are. Most farm system are in a moving state. In some instances, the system changes but
inputs are insufficient to maintain the stock of elements, which are relevant for system
maintenance.
c. Implication of Change.

Farm as a system, may either improve, maintain or decline.

Some tendencies that can be considered as general characteristics of farm systems in

changing environment include:
1. The Tendency Towards Satisfying Solutions.

Farms are organized by learning farmers and have therefore to be considered as

learning systems.
In static environment a process of trial and error would lead farmers, who are
assumed to be intentionally rational to the most satisfying solution for their system,

43
 which would be their optimum solution, given the options open to them and their
preferences. Farmers are limited in their capacity to obtain and absorb information. There
goals are numerous and their order of preferences in a situation of changing value
systems is not always clearly structured. Farmer’s analyses of the problems in their farms
are usually only partial.

2. The Tendency Towards more Open Systems.

In pursuing their objectives and adapting their farms to changes in the environment, farmers tend
to rely increasingly on purchased industrial input and to specialize in output demanded by the
market (Von Bertalanffy, 1973).
Most traditional systems are relatively closed. Time produces innovations, which are relevant to
farming and tend to foster open systems. This open systems are generally promote rapid
economic development because farmers are wholly practiced commercialize and specialize
(progressive differentiation) farm productivity. The tendency of changes made in the
environment is towards more open, more productive, more dependent and more vulnerable
systems because each systems increasingly depends on others.
In tropical areas, the most widespread traditional farming system is shifting cultivation. The
tropics consist of a broad belt of the earth surface lying astride the equator between latitudes 23
½ °C North and South. Tropical regions vary widely in terms of topography, geographic
location, temperature, the type of vegetation, the climate, and soils.
The soil in the tropical areas formed largely by the following factors such as climate, organisms,
topography, parent materials and time. The soil groups in the tropics have significant effect in
agricultural production.
Farms are clearly a system because all activities are closely related to each other in producing
farm output. It is a system because it is composed of several subsystems which form a hierarchy
of the whole farm system. Farm can be described in many aspects based on the farmers’
activities and point of preference. Farms are characterized in terms of decision and objectives, its
boundaries in relation to input procurements and output disposal. Its farm activities has been
described and their relation to environment. Input and output are classified. The farming
principle for change was given emphasis, making the farm dynamics. The implication of change
will results to either improve, maintain or decline depending on the state of the farmers and their
objectives.

44
 FS 41

MODULE 6
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

CLASSIFICATION OF FARMING SYSTEMS

1. Collecting

2. Cultivation

3. Grassland Utilization

I. Classification of Farming Systems

In describing properties of farms apply to each unit, there is a process involved. This is
the adoption of cropping pattern, cropping systems, or farming techniques. In the process of
adoption, its adaptability to natural environmental condition, economic feasibility and socio-
political acceptability must be considered. The farmer’s aim and objectives to a more or less
distinct farm system must also be identified. The development of farm system will depend the
aims of the farmers (i.e. increase production and income), this can be achieved through
practicing cropping systems and farm techniques. In agricultural development, the basis for its
feasibility is the farms and these farms are group with similar structural properties and into
classes.

II. Classification Scheme

1. Collecting- is a direct method of obtaining farm products. These include the regular or
irregular harvesting of uncultivated crops, hunting and fishing. These activities were the major
source of food during prehistoric times. In some regions, these activities still provide important
additions to the subsistence food gained from organized production in arable farming and animal
husbandry. Collecting is also a major cash earning activity to some countries.

2.Cultivation- refers to the preparation and use of land for growing crops. There are numerous
cultivation and this systems may be classified according to a number of particular features.

45
IMPORTANT CLASSIFICATION

Classification according to the type of rotation and it is based according to the period
involved.

a.1. long- term alternation between various type of land use such as arable

farming

a.2. short term sequence of different crops on one field.

Forms on Type of Rotation

1.A forest fallow comprises dense woody vegetation with trunk and closed canopy in
which trees are ecologically dominant.
2.A bush fallow comprises dense wood vegetation without trunk.
3.A savanna fallow comprises grass without woody vegetation.
*savanna are extensive areas of wild or unregulated ley systems.
*Ley systems is the term described those cases where grass is planted or established itself on
land that has carried crops for some years.
Classification according to the intensity of rotation.
The fallow and ley systems display a considerable variations and degrees of intensity. A
simple and appropriate criterion for classification is the relationship between crop cultivation and
fallowing within the total length of one cycle of land utilization and in determining the cycle of
land utilization, a symbol R is used.
R= as the number of years of cultivation multiplied by 100 and divided by the length of the
cycle of land utilization.
Length of the cycle = is the sum of the number of years of arable farming plus the number of
fallow years.

The characteristics of R indicate the proportion of area under cultivation in relation to the total
area available for arable farming.

R = No. Of years of cultivation x 100

No. Of years fallow

Given: Number of years cultivation = 2

Number of years fallow = 18

R= 2 _ x 100
18
= 0.11 x 100

R = 11.11

46
Analysis:

As indicated, if R is equal to 10-20 this indicates extensive fallow farming. The computed
value of R is 11.11 this means that the length of cycle of land utilization is fallow farming.
Generally, this is designate as shifting cultivation because the shifting within a broad area of wild
vegetation usually results in the gradual relocation of the farming population. The larger the R
becomes, the higher is the percentage of area cultivated annually in relation to the total area
available for arable farming and more stationary the character of the farming becomes.

LEVELS OF INTENSITY OF LAND UTILIZATION, WHICH DESIGNATED AS

FOLLOWS:

1. Semi- permanent cultivation – the practice is partially intensive and extensive farming

2. Stationary cultivation with fallowing- practice is intensive.

When R-value exceeds 66, and the soil is cultivated nearly every year or even more
often, then permanent farming is being practiced. Permanent farming is classified according to
the degree of multiple cropping. An R-value of 150 would indicate that 50% of the area is
carrying two crops a year. If R-value were 300, this would indicate that three crops a year are
being grown.

Classification according to the water supply

The classification of land utilization is based on farming practiced with or without
irrigation. There are two classification, without irrigation this refers to dry farming and the
source of water is the rain, while with irrigation farming the moisture level of the soil is higher
and a water supply is directed into the field. This type of farming ensures effective crop area for
production.

Classification according to the cropping pattern rotation

The most important aspect of the definition of farming systems is usually the
classification according to the leading crops and the livestock activities of the holdings. Each
activity has different requirements as to climate, soils, market and inputs. Therefore farms can be
grouped together whose gross return (sales + household consumption and changes in stock) are
similarly constituted to give for example coffee + banana holdings, rice + jute holdings and rice
+ ducks holdings.

Classification according to the implements for cultivation.

Farmland is cultivated by methods that require either no implements or a few of very

simple tools.

47
 Division of pre-technical methods

1. Hoe-farming or spade- farming

2. Farming with ploughs and tractors
3. Classification according to the degree of commercialization.

Farms have distinct types according to the percentage of sales in relation to gross return.

Farms are classified into 3 groups based on the destination of agricultural output:

1.Subsistence farming – if there is no sale of crop and animal products;

2.Partly commercialized farming – if more than 50 percent of the value of the produce is for
home consumption.
3.Commercialized farming- if more than 50 percent of the produce is for sale.

3. Grassland Utilization

The yields of grassland areas is low, therefore this require either nomadism or semi-
nomadism or the development of ranching systems. In utilizing the grassland, it is advisable to
classify the different livestock farming according to the degree of stationeries of both animals.

5 types of livestock farming

1. Total nomadism – covers systems in which animal owner do not have permanent place of
residence. They do not practice regular cultivation and their families move with the herds.

2. Semi-nomadism - is a related system, where the animal owners have a permanent place of
residence near with supplementary cultivation is practiced. Then long period of time they travel
their herds to distant grazing areas.

3. Transhumance- is the situation in which farmers with a permanent place of residence send
their herds, tended by herdsmen, for long periods of time to distant grazing.

4.Partial nomadism – is characterized by farmers who live continuously in permanent

settlements, and who have herds at their disposal, which remain, in the vicinity.
5Stationary animal husbandry – occurs where the animals remain on the holding or in the
village throughout the entire year.

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 FS 41

MODULE 7
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

SOME GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FARMING IN A TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT

Farmers in the tropics have to adjust their practices to the circumstances of the natural, social,
and economic environment in which they find themselves. This is particularly true in smallholder
agriculture, which predominates in most topical areas. The difficulties of natural environment,
low levels of production technologies, and limited resources available to smallholders, limit their
ability to change or adapt farming practices to the rigors and possibilities of each situation.

1.Natural Environment

There are important features of the natural environment affecting farming possibilities and
they are classified into three main groups:

a) Climate

b) Soil

c) Biological condition

1. a. Climatic influences

Crop has its own climatic adaptability that is some crops cannot thrive during dry season while
other crop thrives best during rainy season. A climatic effect is the most important factor to be
considered in farming activities because it influence farming output not only through the control
that imposes on the timing and volume of plant growth, but also through its effect on livestock
production. Excessive heat and humidity can upset animal physiology, causing distress, reducing
appetite and limits productivity. High temperature can make conservation of harvested produced
very difficult, creating extreme problems on fodder supply during dry season and this lead to
high losses among crop reserves kept for use outside the productive season.

1.b. Soil Condition.

Tropical soils vary enormously in type and suitability for farming. The most wide spread feature
in the extent to which precipitation in sudden and heavy rainstorm leads to extensive leaching,
resulting to nutrient unavailability for crop use. Many soils particularly in humid areas have low
level in natural potential fertility (phosphate and nitrogen are particularly common deficient).
Another phenomena is that, the downward movement of soil minerals can lead to the formation

49
of subsurface hard-pans which commonly impede drainage and restrict root growth. Under
warm tropical conditions, most organic matter breaks down quickly whenever it is most;
resulting in areas of alternating wet and dry season in rapid but short term release of nutrients,
after the onset of the rain.

1. c. Biological Environment.

This is another factor affecting crop and livestock activities. The weeds and fungi are biological
components, which damage the crops resulting to poor or low yield if not given an attention.
Weeds also compete the soil nutrients, water and sunlight. These three factors are necessary for
physiological activities of the plants. Parasites causes infection to livestock resulting to poor
growth if no control measures be applied i.e. tsetse fly, cattle ticks virus, bacterial agents can
cause serious livestock diseases. If harmful organisms are seriously present in the field, activities
are affected because instead of performing the activities for crop and livestock production,
shifting to the activities on the control measures may now be the priority.

For the long-term occupation of the given area, farmers need to discern what the possibilities are
and how, in a given social and economic situation they can be combined into sustainable farming
systems that fit the operational limits imposes by the farmers knowledge and command over
resources, and which go as far as possible towards meeting his minimal objectives.
General improvement and evolution of more advanced farming systems must depend on
modification of the natural environment and the concentration of resources in farming to release
economic and occupational constraints and thus allow the attainment of higher latent farmer
objectives.

SOME CRITICAL ASPECTS OF TROPICAL FARMING

1. Problems of soil fertility.

The importance of soil fertility and conservation is clearly recognized by most tropical farmers,
and practically every system of farming involves especially adopted measures to preserve or
increase the fertility of cropland.
Essentially, the fertility problem is one of making available in the upper layers of the soil
sufficient nutrients (in the right condition of solubility & availability) to allow plant to take them
up for use in growth.
Under natural conditions an equilibrium develops in which losses through leaching, surface run-
off, volatilization or gaseous escape are made by the chemical breakdown of the soil minerals,
the supply of available nutrients from lower soil layers that deep rooted plants maintain, the
fixation of the atmospheric elements and under borne materials. Farmers in all situations have to
pay some attention to the problem of soil fertility.

Under some conditions these problems can become such a major preoccupation that whole
farming systems & practices are substantially modified to balance the conflicting and imperative

50
short-term needs of maintaining both production & residual fertility levels. The fertility levels of
soil can be maintained by practicing crop rotation i.e. after the harvest of Zea maize, the area
must be planted with leguminous crop to replenish some nutrient taken by the previous crops.
Another practice that helps maintain the soil fertility is the practice of organic farming. Applying
animal manure in the production area can do these.

2. Coping with risk and uncertainty

Production uncertainty surrounds by natural processes are farming to those experiences at low-
level technology. In smallholder farming, a main objective of every householder, whether
commercialized or not, is to produce most of the basic food and other natural product needs of
the family.

In meeting this objectives, farmers at low levels of technology have not only to consider
production risks that may arise from climatic variation and the effect of pests and diseases; they
have to allow also for the effect of these same influences on stored produced where destruction
and deterioration can be very rapid. To overcome the risk , farmers may need to employ more
resources for subsistence production that would normally be necessary, while they also grow
some products for which their land. Applying commercial enterprises, militating against
monoculture or specialization that could lead to the greatest production efficiency, can also solve
uncertainties.

3. Low labor productivity

Labor is the most critical farming inputs. Its availability can be a limiting factor to production,
especially at critical time of the year. During period of labor scarcity, members of household are
the immediate source of labor. There are instances that labor is coming from outside farm village
just to cater the needs, but there is problem on this in terms of labor cost. Since it is of high
demand, payment also is high and this may result to low level of income in terms of economic
return. It is more important to look at first this factor at least you can prepare the most
appropriate techniques before deciding what particular type of production you are going to
employ. Like multiple cropping, this type of production requires more labor. The most important
activity is to have calendar of activities to avoid labor shortage during period of harvesting.

4. Problems of seasonality.
Farm operation & labor productivity are further hindered by the acute seasonality of many
climates, in which wide differences exist between wet and dry season. The improvement of more
advanced farming systems must depend on the modification of the natural environment.In
livestock farming management during rainy season fodder is abundant and of high quality and
the animals can grow, produce more milk and of good quality meat. During this season, farm
animals are in good physical condition and they are capable of sustained work. In dry season, the
grazing deteriorates resulting to poor health, animals may loss condition, and their productivity
declines often weak and lactating animals dry off. This problem can be solved by practicing
fodder conservation either silage or haymaking.

51
DYNAMICS OF TROPICAL FARMING
Despite the difficulties, farming is dynamic business in which small but numerous adjustments
are continually being made during production process. The application or adoption of modern
technology by farmers would only be materialized provided the policies for rural development
are fitted to the needs of rural people. By giving more emphasis on this, there will be more
participation on technology adoption thus making the life of the rural people change into high
levels of agricultural production.
Tropical environment affects farmer’s activities that sometimes they find numerous adjustments
on the methods they adopt. They should always be aware that in farming, there are critical
aspects that cause failure on production if not given an attention. The problems on soil fertility,
the risk and uncertainty, the low labor of productivity, and problems of seasonality are the most
common aspects in tropical farming. Adjusting farm activities and applying different
technologies on farm production can solve all these.

52
 FS 41

MODULE 8
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system characterized by a rotation of field rather than

crops by short period of cropping alternating with long fallow period, and by clearing by means
of slash and burn. It is an age-old land use system practiced over 300-500 million people in the
tropical region in the world. This term has connotations by which the Anthropologists
prefer the term “SWIDDEN’ FARMINGS” as a neutral concept it is drawn from the old English
word swidden meaning “burned clearing”.

TYPES OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION AND THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL

DISTRIBUTION

1. Vegetation Systems
This type may be distinguished on the basis of vegetation between the shifting cultivation of the
forest, of bushes (thickest area), savanna and of the grassland.

2. Migration System

The cultivation is characterized by moving slowly of cultivated plots away from the previous
clearing and the vicinity of the hut. There is disadvantage on this because at the harvest, the cost
of transporting the farm products is increasing specially when root crops are grown in the area.
The practiced is laborious because aside from distance, they build a new hut near the field
instead of carrying the harvest such a long way but it is more economical to build a new hut
rather than to repair an old one.
3. Rotation Systems

Shifting farming is practiced not only by migrating cultivators but also by sedentary cultivators.
The cropping and fallowing alternate, and this alternation can have an irregular or regular
character. A distinguishing characteristic of the rotational pattern of the rotational pattern is
whether continuous tracts of land are cultivated. The rotation systems in rainforest agriculture are
mostly simple; two to three years of cultivation are followed by one to three decades of
fallowing.
4. Clearance Systems

The type of clearance work and the order it takes vary according to the vegetation that is to be
cleared, the distribution of rainfall, the crops grown, the available tools and the cultural
background of the population. Clearance systems have several forms, one is the burn and plant,
and this involves burning off thick and dry secondary vegetation. Immediately after burning, the
common crops to be planted are the Zea mays. Another form is the burn, hoe and cut and plant,

53
then the cut,burn,plant is the common practiced and this is done by cutting of grasses or
vegetation usually towards the end of the dry season which allowed to dry for a while, and then it
is burn as the rainy season approaches and the soil must be prepared for planting. There are still
more practiced involve in clearance system like the cut, plant, burn, the cut bury refuse in
mounds, plant, the cut, add extra wood, burn, plant, hoe, the cut wait one season and the killing
of trees by ringing, ridging, planting.
5. Clearance Systems

The cultivation is almost exclusively carried on as farming with annual and biennial crops.

6. Tool Systems

Cultivation in the rainforest is still occasionally practiced without cultivation implements. After
burning off, seed is sown in the ashes, the axe and the matches are the main tools. Cultivation
was done by the use of some tools like digging stick, hoe, and plow.

Six Stages of Shifting Cultivation

Typically, shifting cultivator’s incorporate perennial crops such as fruits, medicinal, nuts and
tree. The colloquial term “slash-&-burn –agriculture refers to the method of clearing and
preparing the land, and this is the common activity in shifting cultivation.

Shifting cultivation in the woodland and hills has six stages:

1. site selection and clearing

2. burning
3. planting
4. weeding and protecting
5. harvesting
6. succession
In here, the hilly land cultivators adheres to the systems of migration in which cultivation is
done by transferring a place of cultivation from one to another place. The first thing is site
selection wherein some consideration is define solely by the farmer like the type of
vegetation, the slope and the type of soil and location. If the site meets the requirements then
that is the time clearing will be started, and it is usually done by burning, after burning
planting activities follow, weeding is done depending on the population of weeds. Harvesting is
done based on physiological maturity of the crops.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION

There are three general characteristics of shifting cultivation:

1. The choice of crops

Crops grown in the area vary greatly depending on the purpose its either subsistence or
commercialized crops.

54
2. The organization of cropping in mixed cropping phased planting, and crop rotation. The
adaption of cropping pattern by farmers differs from one another depending on the choice
of the crops.
3. The arrangement of short –term, middle term, and long –term fallow.

Cropping Principles

Adaptability of shifting systems is closely related to the three principles of cultivation

namely:

1. Mixed cropping- means the simultaneous growth of two or more intermingled useful
plants on the same plots. The mixed cropping is more difficult to mechanize, and innovation of
crop production are usually crop –specific and more easily applied to sole cropping. There are
considerations in mixed cropping; one is the physical and technical reason. Mixed cropping
makes fuller use of the available light, water and nutrients from the soil. The second is the socio-
economic reason. Mixed cropping requires more labour per hectare than sole stand. This is also
very intensive form and may run into steeply increasing labourer input per unit of output.

2. Phased Planting- this is phasing of planting, by which part of the plot producing the
same or crop mixture are planted in sequence stretching sometimes over month in order to
distribute labour requirements and to obtain a more even supply of food for the household.

3. Rotation- this is planting of another kind of crops on the same field after the
harvest of the first crop. This is to avoid the pest incidence and it maintains the fertility level f
the soil. The most ideal practice is planting of cereal crops during first cropping season then
followed by leguminous crops (i.e. Zea maize- Arachis hypogea).

Shifting cultivation is an extensive system of agriculture. This practiced have good result in
areas of relatively low population density. During early period of agricultural production,
shifting cultivation is the pionering practiced and it is considered as ideal because the fallow
period is longer and this has impact on the restoration of soil fertility. But because of population
pressure, land use management changed into intensive cultivation resulting to shortening of
fallow period, therefore soil fertility improvement by natural means is no longer possible. The
practiced becomes wasteful, causes soil erosion, the fertility level of soils declines. Under this
condition, an alternative approach was introduced, included are the crop rotation, multiple
cropping and agroforestry technology. However, up to this period there are still hillyland
dwellers practicing shifting cultivation because this is there only means of producing food for
subsistence.

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 FS 41

MODULE 9
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

IMPROVED PRODUCTION SYSTEM AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO SHIFTING

CULTIVATION

Shifting cultivation is a traditional farming systems in tropical upland soils for subsistence
purposes. This systems has been criticized as wasteful, causes soil degradation and fertility of the
soil declines. The only alternative to change this land use management system into sustainable
one is an approach to efficient land use and the system is known as Agroforestry.

Shifting cultivation is a widespread and so important livelihood of so many people in the

upland. But because of its negative ecological impact, an approach to land use
management was developed and this is known as Agroforestry. The systems allows simultaneous
production of food and wood products from the same piece of land with low inputs and
conserves the ecosystem. This enables the land user to sustain production and should compatible
with the socio-cultural aspirations, and economic condition of the people.

Agro forestry is a collective name for land use systems and practices where woody and other
types of perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) plants are deliberately used in the
same land management unit with agricultural crops and / or animals, either in some form of
spatial arrangement or temporal sequence.

In agro forestry systems, both have ecological and economic interactions between different
components. This is an agricultural land use particularly suited for marginal areas and low input
systems.

Objectives of agro forestry systems

1. To optimize the interactions between the woody components with the crops and/or with the
annual component in order to improve the total quantity, diversity, and sustainability of
production over what is usually obtained with other forms of land use under prevailing
social, ecological, and economic conditions.

Since Agro -forestry emphasizes sustainable production of food and wood productions, potential
agro-forestry technologies will have to be both productive(of basic needs) and protective (of
the environment).

56
 a) PRODUCTIVE ROLE OF AGROFORESTRY
1. Food Production System
The most promising agro-forestry technology is alley cropping . The practices include the
planting of woody perennials in crop production fields, and growing the crops in spaces or
alleys between hedgerows (i.e. Leucaena leucocephala/maize).

The main advantage of alley cropping

a. Organized form of bush fallow in which selected species are planted in orderly
patterns.

b. The use of Leucaena tops maintained the maize yield at a reasonable .

Level.

2. Energy (fuel wood) production systems

This provides enough fuel wood to meet the requirements of an average farmer.

3. Livestock production systems

The systems are:
a. “silvo pastoral” systems, in mix trees and pasture. The woody components in
silvopastoral systems could provide either fodder to improve livestock productivity, or
another commodity such as fuel, fruits or timber.

Based on productivity objective, silvopastoral system can be grouped into browse grazing
and forest/plantation grazing systems. The technique involves are the planting of
multipurpose fodder trees in grazing areas, and as hedgerows in and around crop fields
while the other one is the cut- and- carry forage production system and this would increase
pen feeding of livestock.

This would improve nutrition in the dry season and increase the amount of collectable
manure. In addition, the woody components will also have a “service role”, benefiting
animals directly (e.g. shelter) or indirectly (e.g. by the effect of the canopy on under storey,
grass growth).

57
b) PROTECTIVE ROLE OF AGROFORESTRY

The protective roles of agroforestry are as follows:

1. Soil improvement

Planting leguminous woody perennials could improve and enrich soil condition. This is
possible because these plants are characterized by the presence of root nodules, and the bacteria
known as rhizobia lives within the root nodules fix the atmospheric nitrogen into usable form for
the crops. The addition of organic matter through litter fall and dead decaying roots in the soil
will also be a source of nutrient for the plants. In addition, there is modification of soil
porosity and infiltration rates leading to reduced erodibility of soil and improving the
efficiency of nutrient cycling within the soil plant system.

2. Soil conservation

The main protective function of woody perennials rest in the physical conservation o the soil.
Planting of trees along the contours can do this and this is widely recommended to reduce runoff
and protect terraces. The distance of planting woody perennials between hedgerows is 4 meters
or more.

3. Shelterbelt and windbreak

Wind can harm crops and the direct effects of strong wind results to physical deformation of
plant parts and their growth patterns and the indirect effect deal mainly with the water
balance of plants and moisture content, erodibility and other properties of the soil,
woody perennials protect agricultural fields. The choice of woody perennial species for wind
break is also important. Agroforestry systems will depend upon the species,phenology,growth
habits , adaptability to multiple cropping purposes and compatibility with other.

58
AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS
Practices/Technologies

1. Agro-silviculture a) hedge row planting(alley cropping) with fast growing

woody perennials.

b) multi purpose tree on farmlands live

fences/shelterbelts/windbreaks

c) cut-and-carry much production (zonal agroforestry)

d) various forms of multispecies plant associations around

dwellings (home gardens)
Agro forestry fuel production

e) cover storey shade for shade tolerant commercial crops

2.Silvopastoral a) grazing in forest/plantation

b) commercial/shade/fruit trees in pasture

c) multipurpose fodder trees

d) cut-and-carry fodder production

3.Agro-silvo-pastoral a) crops and grazing in plantations

b) multipurpose trees with crops and animals

c) woody hedgerows with perennial grasses for mulch

production and soil conservation

d)crops/trees/livestock mix around homestead home

garden)

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 FS 41

MODULE 10
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

Mixed Crop-Livestock Farming

a. Characterization of Mixed Farms
b. Forms of Mixed Faming

Mixed farming is common worldwide. It involves the raising of livestock and crops in the
same field at the same given period of time. The practiced has advantage because it increases
varieties of food produced in one season; promote production security and reduced risk. The
disadvantage focuses mainly on the shortage of labor supply. The disadvantages and advantages
differ according to the socio cultural condition of the farmers.

Characterization of Mixed Farms

Mixed farming exists in many forms depending on the external and internal factors. The
external factors include the weather patterns, market prices, political stability, technological
development and others. Internal factors relate to local soil characteristics, composition of the
family and farmer’s ingenuity. Farmers have the option in mixed farming whether engaged in
crop-livestock enterprises or crop diversification alone. Mixed farming have wide variation in
terms of management particularly on the different feed resources and animal species. Other form
of mixed farming includes cultivation of different crops on the same field, and several varieties
of the same crop with different life cycles that uses more space efficiently.

Forms of Mixed Farming

Mixed farming systems are classified into many ways based on land size, type of crops and
animals, geographical distribution, market orientation and others. There are three major
categories in four different modes of farming are distinguished.
Three categories are the following:
1. On-farm versus between-farm mixing
2. Mixing within crops and/or animal systems
3. diversified versus integrated systems

The mode of farming refers to the different degrees of availability of land, labor and inputs.

The mode is characterized as:

1. expansion agriculture (EXPAGR, plenty of land),
2. low external input agriculture (LEIA)
3. high external input agriculture (HEIA), and
4. new conservation technology (NCA, a form of land use where shortage are overcome by
more labor, more inputs and keen management).

60
On-Farm versus Between-Farm Mixing

On-farm mixing refers to mixing on the same farm while between-farm refers to exchanging
resources between different farms.

The on-farm mixing occurs particular in LEIA where individual farmers will be keen to recycle
the resources in their own farm.

Between-farm mixing occurs in increasingly in HEIA systems. This practice involves the use of
dung from animal farms, a process involve the transport and negotiation between farmers or even
politicians.

Between-farm mixing also occurs at different farm level whereby animals are raised in one area
to be fattened in another area where plenty of grain is available. In tropical countries, manure
may be transported from livestock farms to farmers and vegetable cropping areas where manure
is in short supply.

The systems involve pastoralism where exchanging cattle and crop products with crop farmers
are usually done. An agreement are made between pastoralists from crop farmers ands they
follow the same rules.

That is, the herdsmen will take care the herd, and then herders receive either cash, or cropland, or
labor for the cropland or a share of milk and offspring. Mixing between nearby farms is
considered as providing the same advantages as on-farm mixing, but it should be underlined that
there are important differences in terms of social organization and transaction costs.

Mixing with Crop and/ or Animal Systems

Mixing within crop and/ or animal systems refers to conditions where multiple cropping is
practiced, often over time, or where different types of animals are kept together, mostly on farm.

Within- crop mixing takes place where cop rotations are practiced over and within years. For
example, a farmer has a grain legume rotation to provide the grain with nitrogen or a potato-beet-
grain rotation to avoid disease in potatoes.

Plants can also be intercropped to take maximum advantage of light and moisture to suppress
weeds or prevent leaching of nutrient through the use of catch crops.

Example of mixing between animals is found in chicken-fish pond where fish eat the undigested
grains from broiler chicks.

Another example is mixed grazing such as cow-sheep mixes to maximize biomass utilization or
to suppress disease occurrence.

61
By practicing mixing of livestock has great advantage on the part of the farmer than keeping
single specie to pastoral area.

Different animal species supplies different products like cattle can supply milk and meat, chicken
can supply eggs, and goat can supply meat and milk and cash while carabao supplies labor.

In addition, raising different species of livestock also risk-minimizing strategy because an

outbreak disease may affect only one of the species.

Diversified versus integrated systems

These are the two systems that have the same components, the crops and livestock but they
have distinction in terms of modes.

Diversified systems consist of crop and livestock components that co-exist independently from
each other. The mode is high external input agriculture (HEIA). The farmers can have dairy
and crops and are quite independent units. Mixing of crops and livestock primarily serves to
minimize risk and not to recycle resources.

Integration is similar to diversified systems in terms of components. Differences put

emphasis on the resources. In integrated systems, resources are recycled efficiently.

The mode is new conservation agriculture (NCA) and low external input agriculture
(LEIA). The systems involves the recycle of one product or the by products of one components
and serve as a resources for the other, example the chicken dung goes to crops while
crop stover goes to animals as fodder. Integration serves to maximize the use of the
resources.

In Asia, based from FAO (no.152, 2001) bulletin, they pointed out that integration of livestock,
fish and crop has proved to be sustainable system through centuries of experience. There is
an addition of ecological and economic benefits of utilizing farm waste.

Environmentally sound integration is ensured where livestock droppings and feed waste can be
poured directly to fishpond to constitute feeds for fish and zooplankton. Livestock manure can
also be used as fertilizer to grasses and other plants. Vegetables can be irrigated from the
fishponds.

If we try to evaluate the two systems, both are advantageous but the adoption is based on the
existing farm environment and farmer’s goals and purpose.

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 FS 41

MODULE 11
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

1. Sustainable Crop Production

A "Sustainable Crop Production System" is a term often used to describe a management

philosophy that will be adopted by those farmers who are going to remain as the future producers
of our food, feed and fiber. This philosophy includes the implementation of crop management
strategies.

a. Features of Sustainable Agriculture

The interest in the sustainability of agricultural and food systems can be traced to environmental
concerns that began to appear in the 1950s–1960s. However, ideas about sustainability date back
to the oldest surviving writings from China, Greece and Rome (Cato 1979; Hesiod 1988;
Conway 1997; Li Wenhua 2001; Pretty 2002, 2005a).

The concerns about sustainability centre on the need to develop agricultural technologies and
practices that:
(i) do not have adverse effects on the environment (partly because the environment is an
important asset for farming),
(ii) are accessible to and effective for farmers, and
(iii) lead to both improvements in food productivity and have positive side effects on
environmental goods and services.

a.1. Sustainable Agricultural Concept

In a quickly changing world, can anything be sustainable? What do we want to sustain? How
can we implement the goal? Is it too late? The term “sustainable agriculture” provides “talking
points,” a sense of direction, and an urgency, that has ignite much excitement and innovative
thinking in the agricultural world. The word “sustain,” from the Latin sustinere (sus-, from
below and tenere, to hold), to keep in existence or maintain, implies long-term support or
permanence. As it pertains to agriculture, sustainable describes farming systems that are
“capable of maintaining their productivity and usefulness to society indefinitely. Such
systems... must be resource-conserving, socially supportive, commercially competitive, and
environmentally sound.” [John Ikerd, as quoted by Richard Duesterhaus in "Sustainability's
Promise," Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (Jan.-Feb. 1990).

63
Sustainability in agricultural systems incorporates the two concepts:

1. the concepts of “need”, in particular the need of world’s poor, to which overriding
priority should be given; and
2. the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the
environment’s ability to meet present and future needs (WCED 1987).

The design of agricultural sustainability does not mean ruling out any technologies or
practices on ideological grounds, but its concern is on the technology that works on the
improvement on productivity for farmers which does not cause harm to the environment.
Evidence shows that successful agricultural sustainability initiatives and projects arise from
shifts in the factors of agricultural production (e.g. from use of fertilizers to nitrogen-fixing
legumes; from pesticides to emphasis on natural enemies; from ploughing to zero-tillage).

In some part of the country in United State of America, the issue on Sustainable Agriculture
was addressed by Congress in the 1990 Farm Bill [Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade
Act of 1990 (FACTA), Public Law 101-624, Title XVI, Subtitle A, Section 1603 (Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1990).

Under that law, “the term sustainable agriculture means an integrated system of plant and animal
production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term:

 satisfy human food and fiber needs

 enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural
economy depends
 make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and
integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls
 sustain the economic viability of farm operations
 enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.”

GOALS OF SUSTAINABILITY

The goal of a sustainable agriculture should to maintain production at levels necessary to meet
the increasing aspirations of an expanding world population without degrading the
environment (FAO, Research & Technology Paper No. 4, 1989). This statement implies concern
for income generating production, promotion of appropriate policies and concern on natural
resources conservation.

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Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals:

1. environmental health
2. economic profitability, and
3. social and economic equity.

FARMING AND NATURAL RESOURCES

b. Water. The production of food and fiber depends on the availability natural resource-base.
Water is the principal resource that has helped agriculture and society to prosper, and it has
been a major factor that affects production.

b. Water supply and use. In a condition where there are limited surface water supplies, several
steps should be taken to develop drought-resistant farming systems even in "normal" years,
including both policy and management actions:

1) improving water conservation and storage measures

2) providing incentives for selection of drought-tolerant crop species
3) using reduced-volume irrigation systems
4) managing crops to reduce water loss
5) not planting at all.(FALLOW FARMING)

c. Water quality. This can be affected when surface and ground water is contaminated with
pesticides, nitrates and selenium. Another important issues related to water quality involve
salinization . Salinity has become a problem wherever water of even relatively low salt
content is used on shallow soils in arid regions and/or where the water table is near the root
zone of crops.
d. Energy. Modern agriculture is heavily dependent on non-renewable energy sources,
especially petroleum. In sustainable agricultural systems, there is reduced reliance on non-
renewable energy sources and a substitution of renewable sources or labor to the extent that is
economically feasible.

e. Air. Many agricultural activities affect air quality. These include smoke from agricultural
burning; dust from tillage, traffic and harvest; pesticide drift from spraying; and nitrous oxide
emissions from the use of nitrogen fertilizer. Options to improve air quality include incorporating
crop residue into the soil, using appropriate levels of tillage, and planting wind breaks, cover
crops or strips of native perennial grasses to reduce dust.

f. Soil. Soil erosion continues to be a serious threat to our continued ability to produce adequate
food. Numerous practices have been developed to keep soil in place, which include reducing or
eliminating tillage, managing irrigation to reduce runoff, and keeping the soil covered with
plants or mulch.

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PLANT PRODUCTION PRACTICES

Sustainable production practices involve a variety of approaches. Specific strategies must take
into account topography, soil characteristics, climate, pests, local availability of inputs and the
individual grower's goals.

Despite the site-specific and individual nature of sustainable agriculture, several general
principles can be applied to help growers select appropriate management practices:

1. Selection of site, species and varieties that are well suited to the site and the
condition of the farms.Preventive strategies, adopted early, can reduce inputs and
help establish a sustainable production system. When possible, pest-resistant crops
should be selected which are tolerant of existing soil or site conditions. When site
selection is an option, factors such as soil type and depth, previous crop history, and
location (e.g. climate, topography) should be taken into account before planting.

2. Diversity. Diversification of crops (including livestock) and cultural practices to

enhance the biological and economic stability of the farm; diversified farms are
usually more economically and ecologically resilient. While monoculture farming has
advantages in terms of efficiency and ease of management, the loss of the crop in any
one year could put a farm out of business and/or seriously disrupt the stability of a
community dependent on that crop. By growing a variety of crops, farmers spread
economic risk and are less susceptible to the radical price fluctuations associated with
changes in supply and demand.

Properly managed, diversity can also buffer a farm in a biological sense. For example, in annual
cropping systems, crop rotation can be used to suppress weeds, pathogens and insect pests. Also,
cover crops can have stabilizing effects on the agroecosystem by holding soil and nutrients in
place, conserving soil moisture with mowed or standing dead mulches, and by increasing the
water infiltration rate and soil water holding capacity.

Cover crops in orchards and vineyards can buffer the system against pest infestations by
increasing beneficial arthropod populations and can therefore reduce the need for chemical
inputs. Using a variety of cover crops is also important in order to protect against the failure of a
particular species to grow and to attract and sustain a wide range of beneficial arthropods.

Optimum diversity may be obtained by integrating both crops and livestock in the same farming
operation.Mixed crop and livestock operations have several advantages. First, growing row crops
only on more level land and pasture or forages on steeper slopes will reduce soil erosion. Second,
pasture and forage crops in rotation enhance soil quality and reduce erosion; livestock manure, in
turn, contributes to soil fertility. Third, livestock can buffer the negative impacts of low rainfall
periods by consuming crop residue that in "plant only" systems would have been considered crop
failures. Finally, feeding and marketing are flexible in animal production systems. This can help

66
cushion farmers against trade and price fluctuations and, in conjunction with cropping
operations, make more efficient use of farm labor.

3. Soil management. Management of the soil to enhance and protect soil quality;
A common philosophy among sustainable agriculture practitioners is that a "healthy" soil
is a key component of sustainability; that is, a healthy soil will produce healthy crop
plants that have optimum vigor and are less susceptible to pests. While many crops have
key pests that attack even the healthiest of plants, proper soil, water and nutrient
management can help prevent some pest problems brought on by crop stress or nutrient
imbalance. Furthermore, crop management systems that impair soil quality often result in
greater inputs of water, nutrients, pesticides, and/or energy for tillage to maintain yields.

4. Consideration of farmer goals and lifestyle choices. Management decisions should

reflect not only environmental and broad social considerations, but also individual
goals and lifestyle choices. For example, adoption of some technologies or practices
that promise profitability may also require such intensive management that one's
lifestyle actually deteriorates. Management decisions that promote sustainability
nourish the environment, the community and the individual.
5. Efficient and humane use of inputs; many inputs and practices used by
conventional farmers are also used in sustainable agriculture. Sustainable farmers,
however, maximize reliance on natural, renewable, and on-farm inputs. Equally
important are the environmental, social, and economic impacts of a particular
strategy.

Converting to sustainable practices does not mean simple input substitution. Frequently, it
substitutes enhanced management and scientific knowledge for conventional inputs, especially
chemical inputs that harm the environment on farms and in rural communities. The goal is to
develop efficient, biological systems which do not need high levels of material inputs.

In a given condition, the question comes up that is; Is synthetic chemicals are appropriate in a
sustainable farming system? Sustainable approaches are those that are the least toxic and least
energy intensive, and yet maintain productivity and profitability.

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ANIMAL PRODUCTION PRACTICES

In the early part of this century, most farms integrates both crop and livestock operations.
Indeed, the two were highly complementary both biologically and economically. The current
picture has changed quite drastically since then. Crop and animal producers now are still
dependent on one another to some degree, but the integration now most commonly takes place at
a higher level--between farmers, through intermediaries, rather than within the farm itself. This is
the result of a trend toward separation and specialization of crop and animal production systems.

Even with the growing specialization of livestock and crop producers, many of the principles
outlined in the crop production section apply to both groups.

a. Management Planning. Including livestock in the farming system increases the

complexity of biological and economic relationships. The mobility of the stock, daily
feeding, health concerns, breeding operations, seasonal feed and forage sources, and
complex marketing are sources of this complexity. A successful ranch plan should
include enterprise calendars of operations, stock flows, forage flows, labor needs, herd
production records and land use plans to give the manager control and a means of
monitoring progress toward goals.
b. Animal Selection. The animal enterprise must be appropriate for the farm or ranch
resources. Farm capabilities and constraints such as feed and forage sources, landscape,
climate and skill of the manager must be considered in selecting which animals to
produce. For example, ruminant animals can be raised on a variety of feed sources
including range and pasture, cultivated forage, cover crops, shrubs, weeds, and crop
residues. There is a wide range of breeds available in each of the major ruminant species,
i.e., cattle, sheep and goats.
c. Animal nutrition. Feed costs are the largest single variable cost in any livestock
operation. While most of the feed may come from other enterprises on the ranch, some
purchased feed is usually imported from off the farm. Feed costs can be kept to a
minimum by monitoring animal condition and performance and understanding seasonal
variations in feed and forage quality on the farm. Determining the optimal use of farm-
generated by-products is an important challenge of diversified farming.
d. Reproduction. Use of quality germplasm to improve herd performance is another key to
sustainability. In combination with good genetic stock, adapting the reproduction season
to fit the climate and sources of feed and forage reduce health problems and feed costs.
e. Herd Health. Animal health greatly influences reproductive success and weight gains,
two key aspects of successful livestock production. Unhealthy stock waste feed and
requires additional labor. A herd health program is critical to sustainable livestock
production.
f. Grazing Management. Most adverse environmental impacts associated with grazing can
be prevented or mitigated with proper grazing management. First, the number of stock
per unit area (stocking rate) must be correct for the landscape and the forage sources.
68
 There is a need to be compromises between the convenience of tilling large, unfenced
fields and the fencing needs of livestock operations. Use of modern, temporary fencing
may provide one practical solution to this dilemma. Second, the long term carrying
capacity and the stocking rate must take into account short and long-term droughts.
Finally, the manager must achieve sufficient control to reduce overuse in some areas
while other areas go unused. Prolonged concentration of stock that results in permanent
loss of vegetative cover on uplands should be avoided. However, small scale loss of
vegetative cover around water or feed troughs may be tolerated if surrounding vegetative
cover is adequate.
g. Confined Livestock Production. Animal health and waste management are key issues in
confined livestock operations. The moral and ethical debate taking place today regarding
animal welfare is particularly intense for confined livestock production systems. The
issues raised in this debate need to be addressed.

Confinement livestock production is increasingly a source of surface and ground water

pollutants, particularly where there are large numbers of animals per unit area. Expensive waste
management facilities are now a necessary cost of confined production systems. Waste is a
problem of almost all operations and must be managed with respect to both the environment and
the quality of life in nearby communities. Livestock production systems that disperse stock in
pastures so the wastes are not concentrated and do not overwhelm natural nutrient cycling
processes have become a subject of renewed interest.

The Economic, Social & Political Context

In addition to strategies for preserving natural resources and changing production practices,
sustainable agriculture requires a commitment to changing public policies, economic institutions,
and social values. Strategies for change must take into account the complex, reciprocal and ever-
changing relationship between agricultural production and the broader society.

The "food system" extends far beyond the farm and involves the interaction of individuals and
institutions with contrasting and often competing goals including farmers, researchers, input
suppliers, farm-workers, unions, farm advisors, processors, retailers, consumers, and
policymakers. Relationships among these actors shift over time as new technologies spawn
economic, social and political changes.

A wide diversity of strategies and approaches are necessary to create a more sustainable food
system. These will range from specific and concentrated efforts to alter specific policies or
practices, to the longer-term tasks of reforming key institutions, rethinking economic priorities,
and challenging widely-held social values.

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Areas of concern where change is most needed include the following:
Food and agricultural policy

Existing federal, state and local government policies often impede the goals of sustainable
agriculture. New policies are needed to simultaneously promote environmental health,
economic profitability, and social and economic equity. For example, commodity and price
support programs could be restructured to allow farmers to realize the full benefits of the
productivity gains made possible through alternative practices. Tax and credit policies could
be modified to encourage a diverse and decentralized system of family farms rather than
corporate concentration and absentee ownership. Government and land grant university
research policies could be modified to emphasize the development of sustainable alternatives.
Marketing orders and cosmetic standards could be amended to encourage reduced pesticide
use.

Land use

Conversion of agricultural land to urban uses is a particular concern in the country. The
rapid growth and escalating land values threaten farming on prime soils. Existing farmland
conversion patterns often discourage farmers from adopting sustainable practices and a long-
term perspective on the value of land. At the same time, the close proximity of newly
developed residential areas to farms is increasing the public demand for environmentally safe
farming practices. Comprehensive new policies to protect prime soils and regulate
development are needed. By helping farmers to adopt practices that reduce chemical use and
conserve scarce resources, sustainable agriculture research and education can play a key role
in building public support for agricultural land preservation. Educating land use planners and
decision-makers about sustainable agriculture is an important priority.

Labor

The conditions of agricultural labor are generally far below accepted social standards and
legal protections in other forms of employment. Policies and programs are needed to address
this problem, working toward socially just and safe employment that provides adequate
wages, working conditions, health benefits, and chances for economic stability. The needs of
migrant labor for year-around employment and adequate housing are a particularly crucial
problem and immediate action is necessary.

Rural Community Development

Rural communities in the country are characterized by economic and environmental

deterioration. Many are among the poorest locations in the nation. The reasons for the decline
are complex, but changes in farm structure have played a significant role. Sustainable

70
agriculture presents an opportunity to rethink the importance of family farms and rural
communities. Economic development policies are needed that encourage more diversified
agricultural production on family farms as a foundation for healthy economies in rural
communities. In combination with other strategies, sustainable agriculture practices and
policies can help foster community institutions that meet employment, educational, health,
cultural and spiritual needs.

Consumers and the Food System

Consumers can play a critical role in creating a sustainable food system. Through their
purchases, they send strong messages to producers, retailers and others in the system about
what they think is important. Food cost and nutritional quality have always influenced
consumer choices. The challenge now is to find strategies that broaden consumer
perspectives, so that environmental quality, resource use, and social equity issues are also
considered in shopping decisions. At the same time, new policies and institutions must be
created to enable producers using sustainable practices to market their goods to a wider
public. Coalitions organized around improving the food system are one specific method of
creating a dialogue among consumers, retailers, producers and others. These coalitions or
other public forums can be important vehicles for clarifying issues, suggesting new policies,
increasing mutual trust, and encouraging a long-term view of food production, distribution
and consumption.

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MODULE 12
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

DIVERSIFICATION

Diversification of agriculture refers to the shift from the regional dominance of one crop to
regional production of a number of crops, to meet ever increasing demands for cereals, pulses,
vegetables, fruits, oilseeds, fibers, fodder and grasses, fuel and others. It aims to improve soil
health and a dynamic equilibrium of the agro-ecosystem. Crop diversification takes into accounts
the economic return from different value-added crops.

Diversification in agriculture has tremendous impact on the agro-socio-economic impact and

uplifting of resource poor-farming communities. It generates income and employment. It implies
the use of local resources in a large mix of diverse cropping systems and livestock, aquaculture
and other non-farm sector in rural areas.

Crop diversification is different from the concepts of multiple cropping or succession

planting in which multiple crops are planted in succession over the course of the growing season.
It implies the use of environmental and human resources to grow a mix of crops with
complementary marketing opportunities, and it implies a shifting resources from low value crops
to high values, usually intended for human consumption such as fresh market fruits and
vegetables. It is also the growing of large number of crops are practiced in rainfed lands to
reduce the risk factor of crop failures due to drought or less rain. The practices are intended to
give a wider choice in the production of a variety of crops in a given area so as to expand
production related activities on various crops and also to lessen risk.

A crop diversification scheme in the Philippines is largely dependent on climatic

conditions. There are four climate types in the Philippines, namely:

1. Type I with two pronounced seasons, dry from November to April and wet during the rest
of the year
2. Type II with no dry season and with very pronounced maximum rainfall from November
to January
3. Type III where seasons are not very pronounced and relatively dry from November to
January; and
4. Type IV where rainfall is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year.

As a strategy, crop diversification maximizes the use of land and optimizes farm productivity
and incomes.

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There are several factors associated with crop diversification. According to Gonzales
(1989), the adoption of crop diversification schemes is dictated by the following:

1. Both physical and economic factors.

 Physical factors include land capability, rainfall patterns, water quality, crop
suitability and technology.
 Economic factors, on the other hand, include costs, prices, markets, and economic
viability of alternative cropping schemes (Adriano and Cabezon, 1989).

According to Obcemea et al., (1996) farmers have shifted to rice-based farming systems due to
constraints like:

1. inadequate water
2. land suitability and
3. climatic conditions

The adoption by farmers is based on the following scheme:

1. income stability
2. increasing demand for non-rice crops and
3. high profitability per unit area.

Francisco (1995) reported that three factors determine the farmer's choice of rice cropping
system and these are:

1. farmers' technical knowledge in growing the crop

2. adaptability of the crop to the local conditions and
3. amount of resources available to finance the production expenses

Diversification in Rice Lands

Diversification in rice lands started in the 1970's when researchers began developing
technologies and strategies for optimizing farm productivity (Galvez, 1990).

According to Adriano and Cabezon (1989), diversification of specific non-rice crops in irrigated
lands began only during the mid-1980s. This government policy was adopted to raise farm
incomes and intensify employment opportunities in the rural areas.

The International Rice Research Institute or IRRI , (based in the Philippines) initiated rice-based
cropping studies in the mid-1970's (Miranda and Panabokke, 1989). This led to the introduction
of crops other than rice during the dry season following the wet season rice crop.

In the rainfed and upland areas of the Philippines, there are 25 rice-based patterns with rice as
the main crop followed by another crop (Adriano, 1989).

73
 According to the National Agricultural Research and Extension Agenda (BAR, 1989), cropping
patterns differ by geographical location. A wide range of crops can be grown after rice
depending on rainfall and availability of water, elevation and land features of the environment.

In some region of the country particularly in Ilocos and Pangasinan four (4) major crops planted
after the harvest of rice namely:

1. Corn
2. Tobacco
3. Garlic
4. Legumes (mungbean)

The following cropping pattern under lowland rainfed rice-based cropping systems at Ilocos
Norte (Phil Rice Research Institute or PhilRice and IRRI, Obcemea et al., 1996; Yokohama et
al.,1998).

1. Rice-corn
2. Rice-garlic
3. Rice-mugbean
4. Rice-sweetpepper
5. Rice-tomato

In a nationwide survey done by PhilRice in the last two years (unpublished), five major cropping
patterns namely:

1. rice-rice
2. rice-vegetables
3. rice-fish
4. rice-corn
5. rice-legumes
o and others were still studied

The percentage of each cropping pattern was determined aside from information such as:

1. area devoted to rice farming

2. number of rice farmers
3. average landholding
4. tenurial status
5. seed production area,and
6. local problems in rice production.

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Diversification in Coconut Lands

In coconut, diversification means the simultaneous growing of one or more crops in a coconut
area.

Cash crops or permanent crops can be grown depending on a number of factors and these
are:

1. the environment (soil, topography, and climate)

2. socio-economic (tenure and capital) and
3. technical (available technology and management requirements) factors that could either
be within or beyond the control of the farmers (PCARRD, 1993).

Eight important considerations have been identified in intercropping coconut and these are:

1. Amenablility of coconut farms to intercropping

2. available market
3. favourable climate
4. suitable soil conditions
5. favourable slope of the land
6. farmers' resources and attitudes
7. technical and working arrangements
8. availability of good planting materials.

A wide range of crops can be grown under coconut. Permanent crops like coffee, cacao, abaca,
lanzones and other fruit trees can be established. Cash crops, on the other hand, include corn,
peanut, sweet potato, pineapple, banana, mungbean, arrowroot, ramie and vegetables, among
others. In addition, one or more permanent and cash crops can be grown under coconut.

When a combination of crops of varying heights, rooting system, and canopy patterns to
maximize utilization of sunlight, soil nutrients, and moisture is grown, this is referred to as a
multi-storey cropping pattern.

This pattern consists of three levels, namely, coconut as the top floor, perennials as the mid-
storey crops and low-growing annuals as the ground floor crops. Aside from the multi-storey
cropping system, Felizardo (1988) reported that livestock and poultry are grown under coconut
in a number of provinces in the country.

The suitability of the above-mentioned crops as intercrops has been extensively studied. The
climatic and soil requirements of most intercrops have been determined.

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Successful Crop Diversification Patterns

As documented, the successful crop diversification practices in the Philippines,(Adriano, 1989)

are:

1. the garlic production exceeded that of irrigated rice in the Ilocos region
2. onion production was very profitable in the Central Luzon Region added by Gonzales in
1989.
 In Ilocos and Central Luzon regions, the highest profit was obtained from onion,
peanut and garlic.

The intercrops of coconut, passion fruit, banana, pineapple, and cacao have been documented to
give high net returns.

Research using black pepper + papaya/cacao + pineapple under 17-year old coconut conducted
in Davao Research Centre produced a net profit of PHP 8,234 per hectare per cropping as against
PHP 2,494 from coconut alone.

In a review on rainfed lowland rice-based cropping systems done by Obcemea et. al. (1996), a
list of factors that influence farmers to diversify to non-rice crops was presented. These were:

1. income stability
2. increasing demand for vegetables and non-rice crops, and
3. higher profitability per unit area.

Factors Affecting Crop Diversification:

1. Market supply and demand

2. Stability of prices
3. Costs of inputs
4. Quality of non-rice products

Other equally important factors included are:

1. availability of irrigation water

2. land suitability
3. climatic conditions
4. availability of management technology
5. time constraints caused by the presence of the rice crop
6. farmers' preference
7. resource base
8. influence of neighboring farmers or extension agents, and
9. land tenure

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 A diversity of crops and technology systems offers an array of fallbacks for adapting to
numerous possible disturbances (Jodha & Mascarenhas, 1983). Recourse or option to drought-
resistant crops can be crucial to the success of upland farmers during a dry year. Selecting
different crops in response to market opportunities can contribute to financial stability.

RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND REGENERATION

Conservation Agriculture integrates the best appropriate technologies to work within three
main pillars which support the overall concept. These all acknowledge the importance of creating
and maintaining a healthy soil. Integrating diverse approaches to the management of weeds,
pests and diseases, as well as plant nutrients, is also essential.

To some extent, conservation agriculture is based on minimum- or no-till methods; direct

seeding and continuous soil cover, improving resilience against drought and gradually reducing
weed pressure.

Integrated plant nutrition management, based on crop rotation including legumes, continuous
soil cover and maximum cycling of nutrients - including from manure and post-harvest residues
or waste - improves plant nutrient balance and health and raises the efficiency of applied
mineral fertilisers.

Integrated pest and plant management (IPPM) is based on crop management, to increase its
resilience to weed and pest pressures, and systematic periodic observation by the farmers of
the balance between pest populations and those of their natural predators. IPPM thus reduces
and may eliminate the need for pesticide application, lowering production costs, and improves
plant health and yields. An example for all three elements is the cultivation of a mucuna cover
crop for weed control, enhancement of soil fertility and livestock feed. This practice is already
widespread in some parts of the Southern Guinea savanna zone, but still unknown in large
areas.

Such improvements in the existing farming system, as well as other changes, cannot be simply
packaged and delivered. They need to be explored, tested and adapted through practical
experience, participative learning and discussion, to be thoroughly understood and successfully
applied.

Methods along the lines pursued by Farmers Field Schools, Farmer Research Committees,
Participatory Technology Development, Promoting Farmer Innovators, Farmers’ organizations,
NGOs, and small-scale private extension service providers can all be held accountable by local
communities for enabling those communities to make better decisions, based on sound
scientific understanding rather than on standard recipes.

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 FS 41

MODULE 13
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

RESOURCE CONSERVATION

Balancing Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Systems

Conservation objective:

1. Minimize degradation of natural resources

Production Objective:

1. Optimize income and production

Conservation objectives are based on the interaction of farm-household to socioeconomic and

biophysical environment.

CULTURAL PRACTICES THAT REINFORCE SOIL, WATER CONSERVATION:

1. Crop rotation
2. Relay planting

3. Contour cultivating and planting is the practice of planting along the slope instead of
up-and-down slopes, and planting strips of grass between row crops. The practice would
help conserved the soil in slope area since soil erosion is controlled.

 Locating the contour lines

Contour lines of the farm can be found by using a device or tool known as “A FRAME”.

 Contour lines preparation

After the contour lines, prepare them by plowing and harrowing until ready for planting. The
width of an area should be 1 meter. The stakes will serve as guide during cultivation.

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Figure 1. Contour cultivating and planting

4. Use of organic matter composting

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5. Laying crop residues along contour /Mulching
6. Diversification of farm enterprises including tree crops
7. Maintenance or establishment of forest at the upper end of the slope
8. Protection of the land with cover crops during fallow period
9. Animal confinement/ forage garden
10. Bench terraces- a control measures used on sloping land with relatively deep soils to
retain water and control erosion. This practice is typical for rice-based cropping
systems.
11. Cover cropping – this is a method of protecting the soil from erosion and to improve it
through green manuring (the plowing is under of green crop or other fresh organic
materials). This practice is common in the Philippines and other Asian countries
purposely to suppress weeds under rubber and coconut plantations and to provide forage
for animals, and it also improve soil fertility.

Cover crops are crops provide soil cover during winter. By providing a cover to the
soil, winter soil erosion from both air and water can be greatly reduced.

12. Diversion ditches- are constructed along the contour lines and across the slopes for the
purpose to intercept surface run-off and divert it to suitable outlets. The ditches are the
main conservation structures to manage run-off in upland areas.

13. Grass strips – this is planting grasses along the contour lines to create barriers to
minimize soil erosion and run-off.
Examples of grasses: Setaria (Setaria anceps), tuzi (Bracharia ruziiensis), napier or
elephant grass (Pennisetum pupureum), guinea grass (Panicum maximum), lemon grass
(Cymbopogon citratus), vetiver (Vetiveria zizanoides).

14. Grass barriers can prevent soil erosion by slowing the wind.

Figure 2. Grass barriers

15. Hedgerows are one of the simplest erosion control practices on aloping land (ridge
terraces and contour tillage). Various crop species are established in the hedgerows to
enhance farm income and diversity. Hedgerows help slow down the passage of rainwater
and trap soil to gradually form natural terraces. This practice can improve soil fertility

80
 and increase crop production. Contour hedgerow is an indigenous practice in Vietnam,
Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.

Advantages of hedgerows
o Reduce soil erosion
o Improve soil fertility and soil moisture
o Provide biomass for green leaf manure
o Provides of shading of young plants
o Serves as fodder. Fuel wood and light construction materials
o Improves soil structure and water infiltration
o Provides as source of mulch
16. Minimum tillage/zero tillage- this systems, simple farm implements such as hoes and
digging sticks are used to prepare land and plant food crops. This is a common and
effective control measures for soil erosion and particularly on highly erodible and sandy
soils. Minimum tillage operation practices can be applied in rice cropping systems.
17. Mulching-the practice involves the covering of cut grasses, crop residues and other
organic materials spread over the ground, between rows of the crops or around the trunks
of trees. This practice helps retain soil moisture, prevent weed growth and enhances soil
structures. This is applicable in areas subject to drought and weed infestation. The choice
of mulch depends on locally available materials. The optimal density of soil cover ranges
between 30% to 70%. Hedgerow biomass is often use in alley-cropping.

18. Ridge terraces- the cultivation is consist of a furrow and ridge constructed along the
contour on sloping land usually the slope gradient is less than 15%. Grasses and legume
trees are usually used to stabilize the ridge, but fruit trees, banana and cassava are also
commonly use. During wet season, the furrow fills with sediments and the farmers put
this back on to their land. Variation of ridge terraces include alley cropping, contour
tillage and sloping agricultural land technology (SALT).

19. Shifting cultivation-is a form of low input agriculture and fallow management and this is
common in Southeast Asia particularly in rice, taro and cassava-based systems. It is also
referred to as swidden cultivation, if manage properly, it can be considered a sustainable
practice, particularly in sparsely populated areas. (Practices such as slash-no-burn, slash-
and burn).
20. Soil barriers – is a practice of slowing down run-off and retain the soil lost by sheet
erosion. Barriers could be made of wood or rocks and are constructed with logs and
branches across the slope. Crops like corn, sweet potato and tobacco are planted in the
alley.
21. Soil traps- are structures constructed to harvest soil eroded from the upper slopes of the
catchment. The most common types of soil traps are check dams and trenches, built in

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 diversion ditches or waterways. The check dams slow down the water flow and allow
heavier soil particles to settle. Trenches are built to trap soil along the waterways and
complement the function of check dams.
22. Water harvesting. Water availability for upland agriculture can be improved by small
scale impoundments to capture and store rainwater for irrigation. Small scale water
harvesting is most successful when operated as system with three components: a)the
water shed or catchment area that generates the run-off; b) the reservoir which holds or
collects the run-off; and c) the service area where the harvested water is used for
production. This practices is possible in areas with low rainfall (300-500mmper year) but
larger catchment areas are necessary. Small farm reservoir (SMF) sites are suitable in
elevated or depressed areas(valley) where irrigation is possible by natural flow. A
topography that is undulating or rolling with slope gradient of 2 to 18% is desirable.

23. Grass waterways protect soil against the erosive forces of concentrated runoff from
sloping lands. By collecting and concentrating overland flow, waterways absorb the
destructive energy that would otherwise cause channel erosion and gully formation.

Figure 3. Grass water ways

24. Terraces are structural practices that can reduce erosion by holding back the water and
routing it along a channel at a lower velocity to where it can be safely discharged, usually
into a grassed waterway.

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 Figure 4. Terraces, reduce soil erosion

24. Windbreaks are the best way to protect soil from wind erosion. They can be in the form of
rows of shrubs or trees.

Figure 5. Windbreaks, in the form of trees and shrubs

There is evidence that the adoption of conservation methods on large commercial farms can
promote biological diversity (*FAO, 1996). Techniques such as crop rotation, intercropping,
cover crops, integrated pest management, and green manures are conservation methods of crop
production. These practices can reduce dependence on fertilizers and pesticides and promote
sustainable intensification. An integration of farming systems, combining the productivity of
modern systems and the sustainability of traditional systems, could help to preserve biological
diversity and feed a growing population without excessive damage to the environment.

Potential Environmental Concerns

Three pillars of Conservation Agriculture

 Minimal soil disturbance: not plowing and ideally no soil cultivations, eg ‘no-till’
 Continuous soil cover: spreading straw and growing cover crops
 Crop rotation: successive different crops contribute to soil fertility, block disease spread,
encourage biodiversity and offer different timings for controlling weeds, pests and
diseases

Benefits of Conservation Agriculture

 Economic: faster, lower inputs, more efficient

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 Agronomic: better soil structure, fertility, and water management
 Environmental: less soil erosion, better air and water quality, carbon sequestration

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 FS 41

MODULE 14
PROF. BERNARDITA L. CALIPUSAN

RESOURCE REGENERATION

In a regenerative agriculture system, food and energy security at the household level,
income enhancement and ecological soundness are equally important goals.

Some Characteristics of a Regenerative Agriculture System

1. A regenerative or sustainable farming system relies more on the internal

resources of the farm than on external resources.

 Seeds are saved on a year-by-year basis.

 Household/family labor use is maximized.
 Rainwater is harvested and soil moisture is conserved within the
farm.
 Nutrient are provided by crop residues and organic sources such as
animal manure such as animal and biofertilizers.
 Fodder, timber fuel and food are farm grown.

Bio Fertilizer is a natural organic fertilizer known that helps to provide all the nutrients required
by the plants and helps to increase the quality of the soil with a natural microorganism
environment. It contains a wide range of naturally chelated plant nutrients and trace elements,
carbohydrates, amino acids and other growth promoting substances. Help acts as a soil
conditioner by stimulating microbial activity in the soil which results in improved air-water
relationships in soil, improved fertility and makes soil less prone to compaction and erosion

2. A diversity of farm enterprises or activities (as opposed to single

enterprises/monocrops) is emphasized.

 Diversified farms offer a range of products for sale rather than large
quantities of a single product. Marketing can be done locally, this
reduces transportation costs and eliminates or reduces the number
of middlemen. This means higher returns for the farmers.
 Most family labor is provided by the farm family. The labor demand
is evenly spread in a diversified far.

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  Genetic diversity within the crops is encouraged. Two or more
varieties of each crop are gown rather than jest one variety.
Similarly, mixed tree planting is preferred over single species
planting.

3. It minimizes the use of chemical inputs, such as fertilizer (the transition is

to reduced the level is gradual, not abrupt).
4. Long term security and stability are often influence by the choice of crop/
tree seeds and species.
5. Water harvesting and conservation.
6. Household/farm level energy security and efficiency.
7. Trees play a special role in the restoration and regeneration of small
farms.The area under annual is adjusted, devoting more space to perennial
crops.
8. Integration is a key characteristics.
9. Economic viability and income enhancement.
10. Partial or total pest control is achieved through a healthy and balanced
farm ecosystem by creation of a healthy soil, mixed or diverse cropping,
conservation of predators and other natural enemies, reduced crop stress
and the growing of resistant varieties. If insects are still a problem, need-
based (rather than calendar) chemical spray are used.
11. Cultural heritage. The diversity of cultures, folklore and indigenous
knowledge is viewed as a rich repository of ideas and a knowledge resource,
to guide attempts towards sustainable development. Key informants and
experienced traditional practitioners in such communities can serve as
indigenous specialists and complement very effectively the work of outside
agents.
12. Working with nature. A practitioner of sustainable agriculture sees the
need for restoring and regenerating the natural resource base upon which
everything (including human life) depends. One works with nature’s forces
to nurture its own capacity to contribute the regeneration process.

The term "regenerative" describes processes that restore, renew or revitalize their own
sources of energy and materials, creating sustainable systems that integrate the needs of society
with the integrity of nature.

PRODUCTIVITY AND STABILITY OF PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

In sustainable systems, the soil is viewed as a fragile and living medium that must be protected
and nurtured to ensure its long-term productivity and stability. Methods to protect and enhance
the productivity of the soil include using cover crops, compost and/or manures, reducing tillage,
avoiding traffic on wet soils, and maintaining soil cover with plants and/or mulches. Regular
additions of organic matter or the use of cover crops can increase soil aggregate stability, soil
tilth, and diversity of soil microbial life.

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Agricultural productivity is measured as the ratio of agricultural inputs and outputs. While
individual products are usually measured by weight, their varying densities make measuring
overall agricultural output difficult. In agroecosystems, productivity is usually measured as the
yield of a crop.

PRODUCTIVITY –is the yield of goods and services from an agro-ecosystem. This is generally
measured in mass of goods produced per unit area but can be more broadly defined to include
sustainability, stability, nutritional value, esthetic qualities and other community functions.

STABILITY-is the reliability or consistency of yields. . A stable system will maintain

acceptable yields even in years that are climatically harsh or have pest problems. Traditional
farmers place a high priority on stability as well as risk reduction and social concerns.

There are numerous ways that high levels of productivity can have a positive impact on stability.
Higher productivity can also be associated with higher stability if it leads to household savings
that give a household the capacity to deal with periodic problems that threaten production. In
general, any attributes that increase 'fallbacks' and other adaptive mechanisms in an
agroecosystem can increase both its stability and/or sustainability (Jodha & Mascarenhas, 1983).

As an example, an agricultural technology system whose yields are sensitive to water supply
may be stable under rainfed conditions in a low-lying, poorly-drained soil where soil moisture is
always high, but unstable on a well-drained slope where soil moisture fluctuates with rainfall.
Income stability may be low for a crop that is tied into the price fluctuations of a market
economy but high for the same crop when tied to national price supports.

Stability is also situational because it can depend on the magnitude or duration of the disturbance
that induces fluctuation in production. For example, a drought of several weeks may destroy an
annual field crop but scarcely affect production from fruit trees, so the fruit trees appear to be
more stable. However, if the drought is severe enough, the fruit trees may be destroyed, which
could mean five years or more before new trees are back in production; a new field crop could be
planted and back in production within a few months. While the fruit trees in this example are
more stable than field crops in the face of mild disturbance, the field crops are more stable (i.e.
return more quickly to normal production) when the disturbance is severe.

In the case of field crops and fruit trees, the sensitivity of stability to the duration of the drought
is a consequence of two general stability components that sometimes oppose one another
(Marten, 19860): (a) the sensitivity of production to disturbance (where less sensitive is more
stable) and (b) the speed of recovery from disturbance. Because this essay regards stability for
agroecosystem assessment to be simply the consistency of production that is a resultant of such
component processes, the essay does not deal with the components themselves. However,
attention to components of stability (e.g. sensitivity to disturbance or speed of recovery) is
crucial when analyzing relationships between agroecosystem structure and agroecosystem
function in order to design more stable agroecosystems.

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Agroecology is the management of agricultural systems with an emphasis on ecological and
environmental perspectives.[3] This area is closely associated with work in the areas of
sustainable agriculture, organic farming, alternative food systems and the development of
alternative cropping systems.

An agroecosystem is a complex of air, water, soil, plants, animals, micro-organisms, and

everything else in a bounded area that people have modified for the purposes of agricultural
production. An agroecosystem can be of any specified size. It can be a single field, it can be a
household farm, or it can be the agricultural landscape of a village, region, or nation.

An agricultural technology system is the blueprint for an agroecosystem. It is a 'design',

'plan', or 'mental image' - the total package of technology which a farmer or community uses to
mold a given area into an agroecosystem.

An agricultural technology system specifies all the crops (and/or livestock) to be employed, the
spatial arrangement and temporal sequence of the crops, and all inputs to modify the
environment so crops produce as they should. Agricultural technology systems embrace all that
is customarily included in the concept of cropping systems, but agricultural technology systems
are broader in the sense that they include everything that is done to shape an agroecosystem,
including parts of the ecosystem that are not directly related to the crops.

(The 'technology' can be any form of agricultural knowledge, including traditional and informal
knowledge as well as technology associated with modern science.)

The structure of an agroecosystem is a consequence of not only its agricultural blueprint (i.e. the
agricultural technology system) but also:

1. its environmental setting (e.g. climate, soil, topography, various organisms in the area),
which defines the material resources available for making an agroecosystem;
2. the farmers and their social setting (e.g. human values, institutions and skills), which
conditions how people interact with one another and the ecosystem in which they live,
thereby determining how people actually apply their technology to mold the environment
into an agroecosystem.

Agroecosystem structure is how the agroecosystem is organized. It is a consequence of both

an agricultural technology system and the environmental and social setting in which the
technology is applied. It includes all elements of the ecosystem and how they are connected
functionally to one another: i.e. all species of crops, livestock, weeds, pests, soil animals, and
decomposer organisms - as well as all other plants, animals or micro-organisms that are present.
It includes details of soil status and everything about inputs that shape the agroecosystem - the
annual calendar of human activities in the fields, sources of labor (e.g. family labor or hired
laborers), how much capital and energy (e.g. petroleum or beasts of burden) are employed, and
where they come from (e.g. bank loans).

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Agroecosystem function is a consequence of agroecosystem structure. Agroecosystem function
consists of (a) movements of materials, energy and information from one part of the
agroecosystem to another and (b) movements of materials, energy, and information in and out of
the agroecosystem. Materials that leave the agroecosystem for human use are regarded as
products. We refer to the quantity of these products as production, and system properties
concerning production are the ones that customarily have received attention.

SUSTAINABLE CROP MANAGEMENT FOR LOWLAND AND UPLANDS

a.Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) is the maintenance of soil fertility and plant
nutrient to supply an optimum level for sustaining the desired productivity through optimization
of the benefits from fertilizers organic manures, green manures, biofertilizer non conventional
sources and crop residues. Integrated nutrient management aims at maximization of the use
efficiency and minimization of the avoidable losses of nutrients from all the sources such that
triple objective of maximization of crop production yields sustenance of soil water and air
quality and improvement of socio-economic conditions of farming community is accomplished.

It recommends conjoint application of chemical fertilizer organic manures and bio fertilizer in
addition to inclusion of legumes in cropping systems and incorporation of on and off farm
generated crop residues to constitute an efficient integrated nutrient management strategy.

c. Integrated Pest Management

Integrated pest management (IPM) is the control strategy of choice for homeowners, growers,
and commercial applicators. IPM is an approach to pest management that blends all available
management techniques - nonchemical and chemical - into one strategy: Monitor pest problems,
use nonchemical pest control, and resort to pesticides only when pest damage exceeds an
economic or aesthetic threshold.

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System. Davis, California (USA): Pacific Basin Study Center and Manila (Philippines):
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Espino ,Rene Rafael C. and Atienza, Cenon S. 2008. Crop Diversification in the Philippines.
High Value Commercial Crop Programme, Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture,
University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines

Gail Feenstra, 2002. Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, University of
California, Davis, CA 95616, (530) 752-7556

Hoque, M.Z. Cropping Systems in Asia, On-Farm Research and Management. International Rice
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Prabowo, Dibyo, and McConnel, D.J. 1993. Changes and Development in Solo Valley Farming
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Randhawa, NS. & Sundaram, 1990. Small Farmer Development in Asia and the Pacific: some
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Ruthenberg, Hans. Farming Systems in theTropics. Oxford University Press, 1976

Scandizzo, Pasquale. 1984. Agricultural Growth and Factor Productivity in developing Countries.
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FAO, Soils Bulletin no. 53. Improved Production Systems in the Tropics. 1984.

FAO, Research and Technology, Paper no. 4. 1989. Sustainable Agricultural Production:
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FAO, no. 40. 1984. Socio-economic Indicators in Relating to the Agricultural Sector and Rural
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FAO, no. 44. Development Strategies for Rural Poor.

International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF). 2001. Shifting Cultivation: Towards
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