Sustainable Crop Prouction Reporter10

SUSTAINABLE
CROP
PRODUCTION
Lesson 12
Reporter#10
OVERVIEW
Approximately 70% of country’s population is
below the poverty line and most of these are
rice and corn farmers. The agricultural
development programs in the country have
been designed to improve the lives of our
poor farmers. However, the past development
programs have been critisized to have failed
in their mission because they have led to the
severe degradation and depletion of our
source base, including biodiversity.
Learning objectives:
At the end of Lesson 12, the students
can:
1. Discuss the features of sustainable
crop production.
2. Understanding the concepts of
sustainable crop production.
3. Define crop diversification.
4. List and practice resource
conservation.
A. Features of Sustainable Agriculture.
a. 1. Sustainable Agriculture Concepts
Sustainable Agriculture was concieved after several years of application of the
green revolution technologies in crop production.
a.2. What is Sustainable Agriculture?
Sustainable Agriculture is a principle, method and/or practices that make
agriculture economically viable, ecologically sound, socially just, culturally
appropriate and grounded on holistic (integrative) science.
Economically Viable. At the microlevel, this means showing a net profit in the
income statement of the farming enterprise. At the very least the practice should
provide food sufficient for the family.
At the macrolevel, this means minimal or no cost of externalities by the farming
operation such as:
 No destruction of natural resources base
 No adverse effects on human animal and soil health
 No loss of farm animal as a result of over mechanization
Economic viability also means minimized dependence on
foreign loans for various agricultural projects.
Ecologically Sound this means farming practices that are
based on principles or agro community ecology / ecological
practices preserve the integrity of the environment maintain or
enhance the capability of the source base to support production
over prolonged period.
 Integrated nutrient management
 Alternative pest management
 Conservation of genetic materials or plants and animals
Agro-community means the interaction of nonliving elements
(abiotic)such as soil,water,air light,etc. With living organisms
(biotic) such as insects crop plants, wild plants, livestock, other
pests and man,flora and fauna within the totality of the farm.
B. DIVERSIFICATION
b. 1 What is diversity or biodiversity?
Biodiversity is the totality of genes, species and ecosystem in a
region. In Sustainable Agriculture, there are three levels of
diversity to be considered:
 Genetic diversity within crop cultivars .
 Crop species diversity.
 Ecosystems diversity .
Genetic diversity - This refers to the variation of genes with
species or among crop cultivars (commonly known as variety). This
is diversification in terms of varieties within same species and
genetic variability within a cultivar.
Species diversity - This refers to the variety of species within a
region. This is often measurable by number of species in region
(species richness). This is diversification in terms of crop species.
Ecosystem diversity- refers to all the organisms in a
given place in interaction with nonliving environment.
In terms of agricultural production Ecosystems
diversity refers to the diversity of farm production
enterprises allocated in different lot parcels which
have complementary interactions or relationships.
This refers to crop and enterprise diversification.
A farm landscape with ecosystem diversity has the
following sections.
 Perennial crops or fruits orchard section
 Livestock/feed section
 Intensive food or cash crop production area
b.2. Terminology in Cropping
Systems:
Multiple cropping system – a crop
production system in which more
than one crop is grown on the same
piece of land in one year.
Cropping systems – the cropping
patterns in a given area with the
technology being utilized and their
interactions in the environment It
refers to the subsystems within the
farming system comprising one or
more crops and all components
required for production, including the
interactions among crops, other
Cropping pattern – the spatial and temporal
arrangement of crops grown on a given area in one
year. Cropping patterns include intercropping,
sequential, monocroping.
Sequential cropping – refers to the growing of two
or more crops in sequence on the same field in a
year, with the succeeding crop planted only after the
preceding crop has been harvested.
There are three types of sequential cropping namely:

 Double cropping – two crops
 Triple cropping – three crops
 Quadruple cropping – four crops
Double Cropping
Triple Cropping
C. Productivity and Stability
c.1. What is Productivity

Productivity can be defined as the
early output of the physical product
per unit area(i.e. Crop yield) of
cultivated land. It may also be
defined as the rate at which
biomass (or organic matter) is
accumulated by a crop per unit
time. Biomass refers to the total
c.2. what is Stability?
Stability refers to the resistance of a

landscape or system to disturbance and its
recovery from disturbance. In agricultural
landscape, environmental variability
usually results in yield instability.
D. Resource Conservation and
Regeneration
d.1 Conservation of Soil and Water
Soil is the upper thin layer of the earth’s surface derived
from the weathering of rocks and minerals. Soil formation is
a very slow process that takes place at the rate of about 2.5
cm per century.
The surface soil is the most important part of the soil for crop
production for 2 reasons:
 It is the storage of plant nutrients, soil and water
 It is the seat of biological and root activity
d.1.1 Soil Erosion Control the following principles are
involved in soil erosion control:
 Reduction of the velocity of runoff water
 Maintenance of high infiltration rate in the soil surface
 Reduce the force of raindrops by crop interception
Cover cropping – cover crops are crops
that are grown mainly to cover to soil.
Leguminous cover crops such as
Centremosa, Kudzu, Calopogonium are used
to supply added nitrogen to the soil
particularly in orchards or coconut
plantation.
Crop Rotation – it is the systematic

planting of different crops in succession.
Generally, a cereal crop is followed by a
legume and a shallow rooted crop. Crop
rotation improves the soil structure and
promotes rapid infiltration of water.
Cropping – This is used in slopping areas to control
soil erosion. Contour Strip cropping involves planting of
two kinds in regular alternate.
Contouring – This refers to any tillage practice applied

across the slope on the contour. The contour is
established by locating all points on the ground with
the same elevation and stacking them with sticks.
Terracing – This is the construction of earthen

embankment or controll runoff in sloppsloping areas of
high rainfall and for conservation of water in low
rainfall areas.
Reforestation – most of our
mountains are denuded because
of the illegal cutting of trees.
These areas should be reforested
with permanent vegetation.
Control of Evaporation losses.
Conservation Tillage – This is
reduced tillage or more minimum
tillage. This practice reduces soil
erosion by 50-90%. The success of
this tillage in reducing erosion is
attributed to the quantity of
surface crop residue left behind
after plowing.
Water Spreading – this involves
diversion of surface runoff to

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SUSTAINABLE

There are three types of sequential cropping namely:

c.1. What is Productivity

Stability refers to the resistance of a

Crop Rotation – it is the systematic

Contouring – This refers to any tillage practice applied

Terracing – This is the construction of earthen

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