FARMING SYSTEM

TYPES OF FARMING/CROPPING SYSTEMS

Introduction: These are the various methods used by different groups of people for producing crops and livestock in order to supply human needs.

Traditions of land tenure, topography and climatic conditions, the social and economic place of farming in the community, as well as superstitious and religious customs, may influence the agricultural systems adopted by the people of a specific region.

A given method for the production of animals and crops is called a farming system. A cropping system is a term used to describe how the various crops grown by the farmer are combined in his farm.

TYPES OF FARMING SYSTEMS

The term farming system refers to the farmer, his farm, the types of crops he grows, the livestock he raises and the technology he adopts in his farming operations. The common types of farming system in Nigeria, in the past included:

(a) Mixed farming

(b) Bush fallow

(c) Pastoral (nomadic, ley and ranching)

1. Mixed farming is a term which is used to describe the type of farming which includes both the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock. This is commonly practised in Northern areas of Nigeria. Some of the products of the farm are fed to the animals. The waste products from the animals, such as dung, provide valuable manure.

Advantages

(i) Farmer is able to realise some revenue from both crops and animals throughout the year.

(ii) On ceremonial occasions, farmers can slaughter his animals instead of buying from the market.

(iii) Left over of harvested crops can be used as part of feed for animals.

(iv) Faeces of animals are very useful as farm yard manure.

(v) When there is crop failure, the farmer has an alternative source of income from the sale of his livestock and their products.

(vi) Any area of the farm that cannot support good crop growth can be fenced off and used to raise animals.

(v) Some of the large animals, such as cattle can be used for work on the farm, e.g. to pull a plough.

Disadvantages

(i) Farmers need/require some knowledge of plant and animal management.

(ii) Where fenced pens or paddocks are not provided, the animals may damage crop plants while grazing.

(iii) The farmer's attention may also be divided that he does not have enough time to look after both the crops and the animals effectively.

2. Bush Fallowing (land rotation):This involves growing crops on a piece of land until it is exhausted, when the land is allowed to go back to bush for 6—12 years before it is used again. It is a modified form of shifting cultivation. It is still practised in many parts of the tropics especially in sparsely populated districts. When land is allowed to lie fallow, plant food has time to form in the soil as a result of humus accumulation.

Advantages

(i) Depleted farm land is allowed to regain natural fertility.

(ii) The practice helps to control and avoid harmful insects and other diseases.

(iii) The roots of these plants lossen the soil, thus improving the soil condition through aeration.

(iv) The plants protect the soil from erosion and leaves when shed, decay to form humus.

(v) It is a simple and cheap method of farming which does not need large cash investments.

Disadvantages

(i) The system does not make for increased production of food because the farmer operates on a small portion of land.

(ii) It is wasteful of land, and time.

(iii) There is a loss of nitrogen and sulphur during the burning process after clearing.

(iv) Not adequate where there is population increase.

(v) Burning of the forest exposes the land to erosion and loss of plant nutrients.

(vi) Clearing results in the destruction of virgin forest and economic trees which are invariably felled.

3. Pastoral farming:This is essentially the rearing of animals or what can be termed animal farming. It is an extensive system of livestock production. In this system the animals are not restricted in buildings but allowed to roam and graze in the fields. There are three types of pastoral farming namely:

(a) Normadic farming.

(b) Ley farming and

(c) Ranching

(a) Nomadic farming:This is a non-settled farming system in which the farmer keeps grazing animals only. The nomad moves from one locality to another to take advantage of occasional rain and the herbage that springs up in the wake. E.g. the Fulani take their cattle south for green pastures in the dry season. They can take them back to the North in the wet season.

(b) Ley farming (Rotation pasture):This is the system of combining pasture with crop production in alternation. This system is practised where the pasture is of such a quality nutritionally and morphologically that it will fit into a crop rotation system.

After an arable crop is harvested e.g. a cereal, the field is put under pasture and grazed for one or more seasons, before it is again ploughed up. The planted pasture is usually a mixture of grasses and legumes with different grazing characteristics. The system requires fenced fields, supplied with watering points for the livestock.

(c) Ranching: Livestock ranching is a development of nomadic grazing. The land is used all the time so the resources and fertility of the land must be husbanded. Provision must be made to maintain a water supply for the stock and care is taken to maintain and improve breeds. When the farmer wishes to allow a portion of one pasture to regain its vegetation, he practises rotational grazing.

In rotational grazing, animals are restricted to a particular section of the ranch for a certain period and then moved to another section. Ranching normally involves commercial operation on a large scale where one operator may control herds feeding on vast areas, and sell his products to a large commercial market.

Advantages of pastoral farming:

(i) Large financial investment are not required for sophisticated buildings and equipments.

(ii) Animals raised on pasture tend to produce more milk than those kept indoors in feedlots.

(iii) Livestock kept on pasture are more comfortable and sanitary than those kept indoors in feedlots.

(iv) The livestock harvest the pasture crop by

(v) [text cut off] sive is not, therefore required to cut the grass and make hay to feed the animals. The animals improve the fertility of the pasture land as they roam and deposit their manure.

Disadvantages of pastoral farming:

(i) In nomadic farming there is no controlled breeding.

(ii) A very large piece of land is required.

(iii) Animals in the open are affected by the heat of the sun.

(iv) Serious clashes have sometimes occurred between crop farmers and nomadic cattlemen when cattle graze on croplands and destroy crops.

(v) Since the herdsmen travel a long distance with their animals, the animals take a long time to reach slaughter weight. Animals loose weight because of the long distance they travel in search of suitable grass.

Factors determining the adoption of a farming system:* The type of farming system adopted in any given area is determined by several factors, these include

(i) Social factors.

(ii) Environmental factors

(iii) Land tenure

Social factors: Taste and religious considerations of the farmers can determine the farming system to be adopted. Muslims do not eat pork and as a result of this, pigs are not generally raised on their farms.

Environmental factors: Climatic factors such as rainfall, temperature and relative humidity determine the type of crops that can be grown in an area. Soil factors such as texture, structure and nutrient availability determine the suitability of the soil for the cultivation of crops.

Land tenure:Where the land tenure system allows people to acquire large areas of land, farmers can easily develop large farms. If land tenure is complex and allows only small areas of land to be acquired, farmers will tend to practise small scale mixed cropping so as to make maximum utilization of their land.

CROPPING SYSTEMS

Some farmers grow a single crop on their farm at same time on the same piece of land. Farmers at times grow the same type of crops every year and at other times change the type of crops grown each year. These different patterns of growing crops and mixtures of crops are known as cropping systems.

TYPES OF CROPPING SYSTEMS:There are various systems by which crops are produced in Nigeria today. These include:

(a) Monocropping

(b) Mixed cropping

(c) Continuous cropping

(d) Multiple cropping

(e) Crop rotation.

(a) Monocropping (Sole cropping):This is a cropping system which involves the growing of only one type of crop on a piece of farm. The system is common with cash crops like cocoa, kola, oil palm and rubber. It is usually practised on large scale farms.

Advantages

(i) The farmer usually becomes an expert in the operations involved in the production of that crop.

(ii) There is easy mechanization of the crop.

(iii) It is easier to apply fertilizers at proper levels and to control weeds, pests and diseases.

Disadvantages

(i) It is a risky system, analogous to carrying all one's eggs in one basket.

(ii) The farmer will be exposed to the danger of poor harvest in case of adverse climatic conditions or invasion of pests and diseases.

(iii) Will have to depend on other farmers for other food crops which he does not produce.

(iv) There is the possibility that the land may be exposed to erosion after harvest.

(v) Constant application of fertilizer to replenish the soil of the nutrients taken up by the plant is necessary because the same plant occupies the land all the time.

(vi) Even when the farmer has a good crop he may have problems selling it if the market demand for the crop is low, or if there is plenty of it in the market. In such a situation, a farmer who grows only one crop may lose out if his crop is not in high demand.

(b) Mixed cropping: This is a system of farming in which different types of crops are planted on the same piece of land in the same season. E.g. one can plant yams, okro, maize and perhaps cassava. Among these crops the main crop is yam while others may be referred to as inter-crops.

Advantages

(i) It helps the farmers to withstand crop failure and the unstable price system.

(ii) It is practised where there is limited supply of land.

(iii) It is labour saving because one seed-bed or ridge can take a number of crops.

(iv) Insect pests and diseases cannot spread so quickly as when only a single crop is grown.

(v) It makes very effective use of the available soil nutrients during a growing season.

(vi) If legumes are included, these will raise the nitrogen status of the soil.

Disadvantages

(i) It creates a lot of competition for water requirement, plant food, sunlight and space.

(ii) Management is not easy because different crops may require different management practices.

(iii) Soil becomes depleted after 2 or 3 years of cropping.

(iv) The use of mechanical harvester or mechanization may not be possible.

(i) Intercropping:is the growing of a quick maturing crop in amongst a slower maturing crop. Yams may be planted in March and later inter cropped with melons, between the yams in May, melons can be harvested in July, without disturbing the yams.

(ii) Interplanting:* Is the growing of two crops on the same piece of land. The crop planted first is harvested first. If a farmer plants maize in March, and then cassava in June, he will harvest maize in August

whilst the cassava remains in the ground. If the second crop is planted before the first is harvested, this is known as relay cropping, the first crops being followed by

(c) Continuous cropping: This is a system in which the same crop or mixture of crops is grown on the same piece of land every year for five or more years.

Advantages

(i) It is adapted where there is scarcity of land.

(ii) Environmental conditions limit the type of crops that can be grown.

Disadvantages:it often leads to soil

(i) Exhaustion - Soil nutrients are depleted faster especially in the case of arable crops.

(ii) Erosion

(iii) Low productivity

(iv) Pest and diseases of the crop cause greater damage because the population builds up year after year on the same crop.

(d) Multiple cropping -is the practice of growing two or more crops on the same farm in the same year. There are two types of multiple cropping systems.

(i) Relay cropping

(ii) Intercropping

Relay cropping -refers to the practice of growing two or more monocrops, one after the other, on the same farm in the same year.

Intercropping —is a form of multiple cropping where two or more different crops are grown on the same farm at the same time. There are two types of intercropping viz,

(i) Mixed intercropping

(ii) Strip intercropping

Mixed intercropping — This is the type of intercropping in which the crops grown are mixed in each row. Every stand or every other stand in a row is a different crop type.

Strip intercropping — This is a type of intercropping commonly practised in commercial agriculture. In this type of farming system, a strip (10-30 rows) of a crop such as maize and soyabean is alternated with a strip of a densely growing crop such as pasture grass or wheat. The strips are grown across the slope to reduce soil erosion by water.

(i) It enables the farmer to make maximum use of his land.

(ii) The total income from a peasant farm is higher when a mixture of crops is grown than when individual crops are grown as monocrop.

(iii) The growing of different types of crops provides a form of insurance to the farmer.

(iv) Provides a more complete cover for the soil and therefore shades weeds and reduce their growth.

(v) Crop mixtures discourage the build up of weeds, insects and diseases associated with a particular crop.

Disadvantages of multiple cropping system

(i) It is difficult to use machines to carry out the various farm operations.

(ii) Chemicals, particularly herbicides, are difficult to apply to a mixture of crops.

(iii) Competition between crop plants may be intense and the yield of the less competitive crop may be greatly reduced.

(e) Crop rotation -* This is the practice of growing different crops in a particular order on the same piece of farmland for many years. The cycle is planned in such a way as to restore nutrients removed from the soil.

Advantages

(i) It helps to control pests (weeds, insects and diseases).

(ii) It facilitates the efficient and economic use of soil nutrient.

(iii) It is adopted where there is scarcity of land.

(iv) It helps to maintain the fertility of the soil through the cultivation of leguminous crops in the rotation.

(v) The grasses and legumes in the rotation help to check erosion.

Four year crop rotation cycles with sole crops (a), (b) and mixed crops (c) in each case the four square represent the same farm with a different crop on it each year.

 **(b)** **(c)** Year

**Sorghum** Sorghum Yams Groundnuts Melon Yam + Melon **1**

↓ ↓   

**Groundnuts** Groundnut Millet Maize Cassava Sorghum + Cowpea **2**

↓ ↓   

**Millet** Millet Yam Groundnut Mucuna Cassava + Mucuna **3**

↓ ↓   

**Cowpea** Cowpea Maize Cassava Groundnuts Maize + Groundnuts **4**

**(a)** **(b)** **(c)** 

Factors determining the adoption of a cropping system

(a) Climatic factors

(i) Rainfall

(ii) Temperature

(iii) Photoperiod (length of day light in every 24 hours)

(b) Soil factors

(i) Physical and Chemical condition of the soil

(iii) Nutrient availability

(iv) Topography

(c) Social factors

(i) Peoples taste

(ii) Local beliefs.

(d) Economic factors

(i) Transportation facilities

(ii) Price and Marketing structures

(e) Technological factors

(i) The level of available technology.