2. AGR254: FARMING SYSTEM AND SUSTAINABLE
Unit I Introduction to farming system : farming system
and its scope, importance and concept, types and
systems of farming system, factors affecting types of
farming, farming system components and their
Unit II Cropping system and its components :
cropping system and pattern, multiple cropping
system, eﬃcient cropping system and their evaluation,
allied enterprises and their importance, tools for
determining production and eﬃciencies in cropping
and farming system
Unit III Sustainable Agriculture : sustainable
agriculture goals, sustainable agriculture problems
and its impact on agriculture, indicators of
sustainability, adaptation and mitigation
3. UNIT II
Cropping system and its type
Multiple cropping system, eﬃcient
cropping system and their evaluation
Allied enterprises and their importance
Tools for determining production and
eﬃciencies in cropping and farming
Cropping system= Cropping pattern + Management
Cropping system is an important component of a farming
It represents the cropping patterns used on a farm and their
interaction with farm resources
Cropping pattern means the proportion of area under various
crops at a point of time in a unit area
It indicate the yearly sequence and spatial arrangement of
crops and fallow in an area
Crop sequence and crop rotation are generally used
What is cropping system
Type of cropping system:
Depending on the resources and technology available, different
of cropping systems are adopted on farm which are given below.
1- Mono cropping or Single cropping
2- Multiple cropping or Poly cropping
4- Mixed cropping
5- Relay cropping
6- Sequence cropping
1- Mono cropping or Single cropping:
Mono-cropping refers to growing only one crop on a particular
year after year.
Or Practice of growing only one crop in a piece of land year
year e.g. growing only wheat crop in every year.
This is due to climatologically and socio economic
Q.No.1 Growing only one crop on a particular
land year after year is knows as..
1 Mono cropping
2- Multiple cropping
4- Mixed cropping
8. E.g. Groundnut or cotton or sorghum is grown every year
due to limitation of rainfall.
Tobacco is grown in Günter (A.P.) due to specialization of
a farmer in growing a particular crop. Rice crop is grown,
as it is not possible to grow any other area where enough
water is not available.
2- Multiple cropping or Poly cropping:
It is a cropping system where two or three crops are gown annually
on the same piece of land using high input without affecting basic
fertility of the soil.
Growing two or more crops on the same piece of land in one
calendar year known as multiple cropping.
It includes inter-cropping, mixed cropping and sequence cropping.
e.g: Tomatoes + Onions + Marigold
10. Molested (1954) has mention that multiple cropping is a
philosophy of maximum crop production per acre of land with
minimum soil deterioration. E.g. rice, potato, Green gram
Intercropping is growing two or more crops simultaneously on
the same piece of land with a deﬁnite row pattern
e.g. growing of Setaria + Red gram in 5:1 ratio, it means after
every 5 rows of Setaria, 1 rows of Red gram is sown.
or wheat + mustard 9:1.
For successful intercropping, there are certain important
1- The time of peak nutrient demands of components should
not overlap. In Maize + Green gram intercropping system, the
peak nutrient demand for green gram is around 35 DAS while
in maize it is 50 DAS.
11. Mixed cropping
Growing of two or more than two crop simultaneously on
same piece of land without any deﬁnite row pattern or
any ﬁx ratio is known as Mixed cropping.
First of all the scientiﬁc study about mixed cropping was
done by (La Flitze, 1928).
2-Competition for light should be minimum among the
3- The differences in maturity of component crop should
be at least 30 days
12. 4-Relay cropping
This form of intercropping is where second crop
planted before harvesting of ﬁrst crop.
The term actually means an overlapping of growth
periods of two or more crops on the same piece of
land in a 12-month period.
A second crop is usually planted after the ﬁrst
crop has reached its reproductive stage of growth
but before it is ready for harvest.
Q.No.2 Growing of two or more than two crop
simultaneously on same piece of land without any
deﬁnite row pattern or any ﬁx ratio is known as …..
1 Mono cropping
2- Multiple cropping
4- Mixed cropping
14. 5- Sequence crop
Deﬁned as growing of two or more crops in
sequence on the same piece of land in a farming
Crop intensiﬁcation is only in time dimension and
there is no intercrop competition.
Depending on the number of crops grown in a
year. It is called as double, triple and quadruple
cropping involving two, three, and four crops,
E.g. Double cropping: 1-Rice – potato/ mustard 2.
15. (D)Multistoried cropping: Cultivation of crops of different
heights in the same ﬁeld at the sametime. e.g. Sugarcane
+ Indian bean or potato or onion, Sorghum+ mung
(E) Ratoon cropping: Raising a crop with re-growth
coming out of roots or stalks after harvest of the crop. e.g.
sugarcane, tur, fodder sorghum, fodder maize. This
minimizes the cost of production of next crop in terms of
land preparation and cost
of seed, also the next crop i.e. ratoon crop gets already
established root system.
16. Q.No.2 Raising a crop with re-growth coming out
of roots or stalks after harvest of the crop is
A) Ratoon cropping
B) Multistoried cropping
C) Sequential cropping
In an integrated farming system, it is always emphasized
to combine cropping with other enterprises/activities.
Many enterprises are available and these primarily include
dairying, sheep & goat rearing, poultry, ﬁsheries, sericulture,
bee keeping etc.
Any one or more can be combined with the cropping
18. Allied enterprises
Agriculture and allied activities support livelihood of nearly
70 % India's rural population.
In recent year, small and marginal farmers are increasingly
becoming unsustainable, since their land are not able to
support the family’s food requirement and fodder for their
As a result, rural households are force to look at alternative
means for supplementing their livelihoods.
In this context, rural resource based micro enterprises have
emerged as alternative livelihood opportunity in rural areas.
19. 1. Dairying
Dairy farming is one of the economically viable enterprises
that could provide constant income throughout the year to
farmers when combined with cropping.
The success of dairying depends solely on the availability of
inputs like feed and fodder and better marketing facilities to
To maximize beneﬁts from dairying selection of proper breed
to suit the local conditions is very essential.
The dairy cattle are broadly classiﬁed into the following 5
20. Dairy cattle
Draft breeds: The bullocks of these breeds are good
draft animals, but the cows are poor milkers e.g,
Nagore, Hallikar, Kangeyam, Mali.
Dairy breeds: The cows are high milk yielders and the
bullocks are with good draft work capacity e.g.,
Sahiwal, Sindhi, Gir.
Dual Purpose: The cows are fairly good yielders of
and the bullocks are with good draft work capacity e.
g., Haryana, Ongole and Kankrej.
Exotic breeds: The exotic breeds are high milk
yielders, e.g., Jersey, Holstein-Friesian, Ayeryshire,
Brown Swiss and Guernsey
Buffaloes: Important dairy breeds of buffalo are
Murrah, Nili Ravi (Which has its home tract in
Pakistan), Mehsana, Surti, Zafarabadi, Godavari and
21. • Q.No.3 The cows are high milk yielders and the
bullocks are with good draft work capacity………..
A) Dairy breeds
B) Dual Purpose
C) Draft breeds
D) All of these
22. 2. Biogas Plant
Biogas plant is a system comprising of a gas-holder and
a digestion chamber, in which “Gobar” (or cow dung)
can be treated anaerobically to produce two important
and useful items viz., fuel gas (or biogas) and organic
In this biochemical process the cellulosic material are
broken down to methane and carbon-dioxide by different
groups of microorganisms.
It is a clean, unpolluted and cheap source of energy,
which can be obtained by a simple mechanism and little
India was the ﬁrst country in the world to have
developed a biogas plant on an experimental basis as
early as 1939.
1. Float dome type: Different models are
available in this category, e.g., KVIC vertical
and horizontal, Pragati model & Ganesh
2. Fixed dome type: The gas plant is dome
shaped under ground construction. The
entire construction is made of bricks and
cement. The models available in this category
are Janta and Deen-Bandhu.
The selection of a particular type depends on
technical, climatological, geographical and
Types of biogas plant:
25. Q.No.4 India was the ﬁrst country in the world to
have developed a biogas plant in ……………
Biogas is composed mainly of methane (55 –
60%) and Carbon Dioxide (35 – 45%).
Hydrogen and hydrogen sulphide can also be
present in small amounts.
Gas production would be maximum at a
temperature between 30-35oC.
The site of biogas plant should be close to the kitchen
and cattle shed to reduce the cost on gas distribution
system and transportation of cattle dung.
Land should be leveled and slightly above the ground
level to avoid inﬂow or run-off of water.
Biogas plant should get clear Sunshine during most part
of the day.
Gas generation is a function of dung availability.
The amount of gas production is considerably higher in
summer followed by rainy and winter seasons.
Site selection and management:
It can be eﬃciently used for domestic cooking and lighting.
It can also be a used as a substitute fuel for running diesel
It does not emit smoke like other conventional forms of fuel
viz., coal, ﬁre-wood and kerosene.
Uses of biogas and slurry:
Slurry is obtained after the production of bio-gas.
It is enriched manure containing NPK and humus.
Another positive aspect of this manure is that even after
weeks of exposure to the atmosphere, the slurry does not
attract ﬂeas and worms.
Rearing sheep and goat is one of the important common
livestock enterprises followed in drought prone, hilly and
Goat farming needs less capital compared to dairying, and the
animals can be raised in small farms as well.
This enterprise provides employment opportunities round the
year for the farm household.
Not much ﬁnancial inputs are required but steady income is
assured throughout the year.
Even with the poor grazing facilities and with minimum
managerial resources sheep and goats can return high proﬁts
They not only help the household with regular cash ﬂow but
also improve the health of family members by providing milk
and meat regularly.
Popular goat variety: Alpine, Sanen, Tellichery, Sirohi
Popular breeds of sheep is: [Lincoln, Merino, Dorset, Jacob 31
3. Sheep and goat rearing
4. Poultry Farming
Poultry farming is emerging as an important livestock activity
in Farming system for enhancing economic stability, nutrition
and providing regular employment and cash ﬂow.
Poultry meat accounts for about 27% of the total meat
consumed world wide, and its consumption is growing at an
average of 5% annually.
The average global consumption is 120 eggs per person/
year and in India it is 55 eggs per capita/year
Ponds serve various useful purposes, viz., domestic
requirement of water, supplementary irrigation source to
cropping and ﬁsheries.
With the traditional management, farmers obtain
hardly 300-400 kg of wild and culture ﬁsh per ha annually.
However, poly-ﬁsh culture with the stocking density of
7500 ﬁngerlings and supplementary feeding will boost
the total biomass production.
Pond: The depth of the pond should be 1.5-2.0 m. This depth will
help for effective photosynthesis and temperature maintenance
for the growth of zooplankton and photosynthesis. Clay soils have
higher water retention capacity and hence are best suited for ﬁsh
Poly ﬁsh culture: The phytophagous ﬁsh (Catla, Rohu
and Mrigal) can be combined with omnivorous
(Common Carp), Plankton-feed (Silver Carp) and Mud-
eaters (Mrigal and Calbasu) in a composite ﬁsh culture
system. For example a combination of silver carp
(surface feeder), Mrigal (bottom feeder), rohu (column
feeder), and grass carp (specialized feeder on aquatic
plants) can be successfully used in the ratio of 4:3:2:1 in
poly ﬁsh culture.
Management: The ﬁsh are to be nourished through supplementary
feeding of rice bran, oil seed cakes and poultry excreta. This will
enable faster growth and better yield. This stocking density will
enable to get maximum yield of 2000 to 5000 kg/ha of ﬁsh annually.
Bee keeping is one of the most important agro-based
industries, which does not require any raw material.
Nectar and pollen from ﬂowers are the raw materials,
which are available in plenty in nature.
6. Bee Keeping (Apiculture)
6. Bee Keeping (Apiculture)
Species : There are three species, Apis cerana indica
(Indian Bee), Apis dorsata (Rock bee) and Apis mellifera,
(Italian Bee), are complementary to each other but have
A. cerana is better acclimatized to higher altitudes of
the Himalayan region.
A. mellifera & Apis dorsata is more proﬁtable in the
The bee-keeper should be familiar with the source of
nectar and pollen within his locality.
The most important sources are nectar and pollen.
The sources of nectar are Tamarind, Mango, Guava
and most of the fruit crops.
Whereas the sources of pollen include crops such as
maize, sorghum & other millets, sunﬂower and palm tree.
The plants which will provide nectar and pollen for
honey bees are known as bee pasturages.
The bee keeping activity must begin with ﬂowering
The most suitable time for commencing bee keeping in
a locality is the arrival of the swarming season.
Swarming is a natural tendency of bees to divide their
colonies under conditions that are generally favorable
Sericulture is an agro-industry, the end product of
which is silk.
Sericulture involves the activities viz., Mulberry
cultivation, Silkworm rearing, Reeling the silk from the
cocoons formed by the worms.
The ﬁrst two activities are basically agriculture in
nature and the later is an industry of different ﬁnancial
India is the second largest producer of mulberry silk
The sericulture is practiced in India both in tropical
(Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West
Bengal) and temperate(Jammu and Kashmir) climates.
The mulberry silk goods produced in India are mainly
exported to USA, Germany, United Kingdom etc.