GRAIN CROPS - World Food: Production and Use - page 76

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GRAIN CROPS

3.1 FOOD GRAINS ON THE THREE FARMS

Subsistence Farmer. Donio Derecho does not own land so he must rent or
sharecrop fields. He currently has arrangements for three fields: one for rice and two
for maize. The rice field is small, only 0.2 ha. Both maize fields add up to 1.3 ha.
Donio can plant two rice crops a year. Most of the work is done by hand, as can be
seen in Figure 3.1. The crop is rain fed so yields are irregular and crop failure is poss-
ible. The soil in the two maize fields is more sandy than the rice fields and cannot
support rice. Donio can get three plantings each year, if he does a timely harvest.

Family Farmer. Octavio and his wife, A ´ da, plant maize for use by their livestock
and some for sale in the village. Other crops are in small parcels primarily for family
use. Their farming efforts are primarily designed to supply food and some sale of items
to maintain their family. Their only grain crops are maize and oats, both primarily for
livestock feed. They have no machinery to till the soil or harvest the crops. All farming
operations are done by hand, like turning the compost shown in Figure 3.2.