Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
productive. Thus, crop intensifi cation, through
mixed cropping and integration of high-value
crops such as horticultural production, is gaining
prominence as a climate change adaptation strat-
egy. Riyannsh (
2008
) noted that “due to shrink-
ing natural resources and ever-increasing demand
for food and raw materials, agricultural intensifi -
cation is the main course of future growth of
agriculture.” Bindhumadhavan (
2005
) stated that
it is time to critically redesign alternative crop-
ping patterns based on agroclimatic zones and to
demonstrate them in farmers' fi elds. Hence the
need for crop diversifi cation from:
Low-value to high-value crops (resulting in a
price-risk benefi t)
Low-yielding to high-yielding crops (result-
ing in a yield-risk benefi t)
High water-use crops to water-saving crops
Single cropping to multiple or mixed cropping
Subsistence food crop to market-oriented crop
Raw material production to processing and
value addition
Diversifi cation of crop varieties, including
replacement of plant types, cultivars, and hybrids,
with new varieties intended for higher drought or
heat tolerance, is being advocated as having the
potential to increase productivity in the face of
temperature and moisture stresses. Diversity in
the seed genetic structure and composition has
been recognized as an effective defense against
disease and pest outbreak and climatic hazards.
Moreover, demand for high-value food commod-
ities, such as fruits and vegetables, is increasing
because of growing income and urbanization.
This is reducing the demand for traditional rice
and wheat. Diversifi cation from rice-wheat
towards high-value commodities will increase
income and result in reduced water and fertilizer
use. However, there is a need to quantify the
impacts of crop diversifi cation on income,
employment, soil health, water use, and green-
house gas emissions. A signifi cant limitation of
diversifi cation is that it is costly in terms of the
income opportunities that farmers forego, i.e.,
switching of crop can be expensive, making crop
diversifi cation typically less profi table than spe-
cialization. Moreover, traditions can often be
diffi cult to overcome and will dictate local
practices.
Shift to growing cash crops with existing
irrigation technologies which will earn more
income and enable farmer to invest in upgrading
irrigation systems among other AWM interven-
tions. Crop diversifi cation also includes integra-
tion of different varieties of crops, both food and
cash crops. In the African context, six crops seem
to have large-scale potential: sugarcane, sweet
sorghum, maize and cassava for ethanol, and oil
palm and jatropha for biodiesel (Sielhorst et al.
2008
).
At the individual farm scale, the simplest
measure of crop diversity is the total number of
different crops per farm. Crop diversifi cation acts
to reduce susceptibility to climatic variability
such as fl oods or droughts that might result in
crop failure. At the same time, it increases the
number of marketable activities such as adding
livestock to a cash crop operation or undertaking
value-added processing and hence serves to
reduce farmers' risks resulting from weather
fl uctuations. Additionally, other risk-reducing
strategies, such as crop insurance or the securing
of off-farm income, may be complimentary.
Increasing diversity of production at farm and
landscape level is an important way to improve
the resilience of agricultural systems (FAO and
OECD
2012
; HLPE
2012
). Diversifying produc-
tion can also improve effi ciency in the use of
land, as is the case in agro-forestry systems, for
instance, and of nutrients with the introduction of
legumes in the rotation or in integrated crop/live-
stock or rice/aquaculture systems. Studies show
that they can also be more effi cient in terms of
income. Farms that both grow crops and exploit
forest generate a higher and more stable income.
Regions growing more diverse varieties of barley
have a higher average yield than areas growing a
single variety. More diversifi ed systems can also
spur the development of local markets.
12.2.8 Relocation of Crops
in Alternative Areas
Climate change in terms of increased tempera-
ture, CO
2
level, droughts, and fl oods would affect
production of crops. But, the impact will be
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