4-Crop Diversification and Intensification

Transcript

Now we will talk about the third principle of CASI i.e. Crop Diversification and Intensification. So what is Crop Diversification and Intensification? The way we know this is, crop diversification is to alternatively sow different crops in a sequence in the same piece of land in the same year to next year. And crop intensification is that instead of doing one crop, we do two crops and instead of two crops we do three crops in a sequence in same year. These depend mainly on 4 or 5 things. The first is that if our cropping system is less profitable and unsustainable then we can turn it to more efficient, profitable and sustainable. This is the first principal – Less profitable to high profitable with more sustainability.
Now, we look at the second principle. If our cropping system is very water loving i.e. requires a lot of water, then we can replace it with a less water loving crop within the same system i.e. one that requires less water and optimizes it. We call it the “more water loving to efficient water loving cropping system”. We look at the third principle. In some cropping systems, we keep repeating the same crop and extract more and more yield and biomass. This causes high nutrient uptake. So instead of practicing a high nutrient uptake, if we move towards optimum and efficient nutrient uptake cropping system then we can increase our sustainability.

The last one is that if we keep repeating the same type of crop then it increases the biotic stresses like diseases, insects and these carry forward. So to break this, we move towards a less biotic stresses with changing cropping system. This is our biotic stresses based cropping system and crop diversification. So these were the principles of Crop diversification. Now we look at the advantages of cropping systems. What are the benefits and advantages of it?

The first benefit is how we can increase the income of small and medium scale farmers.
If we do crop diversification and adopt a more cost effective or less requirement crop, then the income of farmers can increase The second point is that if we keep repeating the same crop like in Punjab and Haryana, rice and wheat are very popular. This has an effect on the prices and the government is unable to buy and the prices fall. Instead of just doing rice and wheat, if we diversify into legumes and oil seeds, then the prices of agriculture commodities will be maintained and they won’t fluctuate. The third point is that some cropping systems are very sensitive to the climate. If we adopt the one crop cycle, then it is more prone to climatic shocks. If we diversify the cropping system, then the cropping system becomes more resilient to climatic shocks. Like if our one crop gets damaged, then we can profit from the next crop. We also have a mixed crop where if one crop fails, the other is saved. If we add a third crop then farmers can benefit from at least two crops in case, if one gets damaged. So due to crop diversification, the climatic resilience increases.

Now the biggest benefit is that if we just grow rice then we would only eat rice and the same is true for wheat. But, if we grow different crops in our farm then at least our diet will be balanced and our nutrient intake will be better. If we grow different crops like rice, legumes, oil seeds or vegetables and adopt them in our food then we fulfill a balanced diet and food security requirement.

Besides this, our livestock is also dependent on our cropping system. Not just livestock but also our fisheries and dairy is also dependent on our cropping system. All these things are dependent on the cropping system. If we keep growing the same crop like rice or wheat or any other crop, then we won’t find nutritious fodder for our livestock. If we grow different types of crops, then the quality of fodder for our livestock will improve and this can increase our livestock production.

We know the most important subject is natural resources. We have seen how in Punjab, Haryana, the whole of Northwest India and in southern states like Maharashtra, there is a problem of groundwater depletion and one of the reasons for it is our cropping cycle. Like in Punjab and Haryana because of rice and wheat cultivation, our groundwater table is falling down more and more. One day it will finish. Keeping this in mind, if we can adopt an efficient cropping system where we replace rice in the rice-wheat cropping system with maize, sorghum, legumes, oils or soybean then we can save the water table and also increase the farm income. So we can save a very important natural resource and at the same time also improve our air quality. With single cropping cycle, we are using more and more fertilizers and pesticides because the biological  stresses are increasing. This contaminates the groundwater and also pollutes our air quality. With diversification, we can improve on these things.

If we do crop diversification in a proper way, then our environment pollution especially air quality like residual burning can improve. Instead of rice, if we bring in another crop then we don’t have to burn the crop residue and we can use the residue for other things. Like legume crop does not have a big biomass and it decomposes quickly in case we want to keep it in the farm. Also, if we add a third crop in the rice-wheat cropping cycle like Moongbean, then the deterioration of soil is restored as it is a legume crop and there is nitrogen fixation and its residual increases soil quality and structure.

Now, our use of farm or external inputslike fertilizer, seeds, pesticides and agro chemicals would decrease if we adopt proper and optimum cropping cycle of crop diversification. For example, if we grow legumes or oilseeds after rice then its consumption will decrease as some crops have Allelopathic effects as they break the cycle of diseases and insects and are able to control pests. This is why we see some weeds that are particularly associated with specific cropping systems. Like in the rice-wheat system, we have Phalaris minor and particularly in rice, we have Echinochlovaspp.. If we keep following the same system, then the seed bank of these weeds keep increasing in the soil and the problem increases. But if we replace rice-wheat with rice legume or oil seed or vegetable, then we can exhaust the weed seed bank and subsequently can control the weed population. This is true for diseases as well. The carry forward diseases which have its inoculum and spores stayed in the soil, we can break its cycle. So we can control the disease, weed and pest population and benefit from it.

Lastly, we can increase the community of food. Like if we keep growing rice after rice, we are increasing our problems but if we diversify our crop then there would be no storage problem and we would also get better quality food and we will have food security. So these are the benefits of Crop diversification and we should adopt it and these are very useful.

Now, we look at the linkage of Crop diversification with CASI (Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation Center). Crop diversification is an integral part and principle of CASI. If we  add all the three aspects of CASI like Zero Tillage technology, residue and crop diversification then the overall holistic benefits we derive out of this will have a large scale impact on soil, environment, system, crop productivity and natural resources and farmers will benefit immensely. So we looked at the three principles and its different components.

The end