Efficient cropping systems
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1. It depends on farm resources, farm enterprise and farm technology.
2. Farm resources are land, labour, water, capital and infrastructure.
3. When land is limited, intensive cropping is adopted to fully utilise available water and labour.
4. When sufficient and cheap labour is available, vegetable crops are also included in the cropping system.
5. When capital is not a constraint, commercial crops like sugarcane, banana, turmeric etc can be fitted in cropping system.
6. In low rainfall (<750 mm/annum) mono cropping is followed
7. When rainfall is > 750 mm, intercropping is practiced
8. When water is plenty, triple and quadruple cropping is adopted while other climatic factors are not limiting.
9. Farm enterprises like dairying, poultry etc also influence the type of cropping system.
10. When farm enterprises includes dairy, the cropping system should contain fodder crops as component crops
11. The day to day changes in available technology in agriculture/horticulture also determines the cropping systems.
12. Four crop sequences are followed in Gangetic alluvial plains which pave way for multiple cropping.