Central Luzon State University
Science City of Muñoz 3120
Nueva Ecija, Philippines
Instructional Module for the Course
Practices in Crop Production (Lecture)
Module 10. Farming Systems
Overview
Good day! This module deals with the farming systems in
crop production. Upon the completion of this module, you are
expected to understand the different production practices involve
in the farming system and identify the crops that can be grown
under the different systems.
I. TOPICS
a. INTRODUCTION
Farming systems (FS) is defined as a farming pattern or mix of farming
enterprise that a family allocates its resources (land, labor, capital) to efficiently exploit
the existing environment (rainfall, soil properties, solar radiation, market, credit
infrastructure and service institution) for the attainment of the family’s goal (increased
income and improved quality of life). This is rather a broad definition because it
considers farming systems in a continuum that transcends individual farm boundaries.
In short, it is farming systems in a macro-perspective. Some attributes of farming
systems are the following: a) location or condition specific; b) farmer-based or farmer-
driven; and c) integrative or holistic.
CRSCI 1105 (Practices in Crop Production)
b. PRODUCTION PRACTICES in FARMING SYSTEMS
1. MONO-CROPPING – is a method of crop production in which only one crop is
grown annually in the same parcel of land. Examples are rice production, corn
production or legume production.
2. CROP ROTATION - is the growing of different crops in a definite order of
succession on the same land. Several advantages in practicing rotational growing
different crops in contrast to continuous cropping to single crop such as the following:
• Increase yields. Increased in the average yield of corn of 60 to 100% and of
wheat at 100 to 140% were obtained in experiments in the USA when corn and
wheat were rotated in combination with other cereal crops and forage legumes.
• Better control of weeds, pests and diseases. Planting of different crops in
rotation may check the development of any one species and reduce weed
growth in the field especially if the cover or green manure crops and tall-growing
row crops are employed in the rotation. Regarding pest and disease control,
crop rotation can be most effective especially if crops are botanically diverse.
Pests and diseases have rather specific host ranges; they attack certain crop
species but not others.
• Maintenance of organic matter content in the soil. The differences in the
inherent nature of crops and how they are grown and utilized affect the number
of plant residues that crops return to the soil. In rice, much of the straw is cut
off during harvesting and with the burning of stubbles before land preparation,
very few plant residues are returned to the soil. On the other hand, soybeans
which shed their foliage at pod maturity, other legumes, sweet potato and
vegetable crops return sufficient quantities of plant residues.
• Balance utilization of nutrients in the soil. Crops differ in their consumptive
requirements for soil nutrients. If a given crop is grown continuously in the same
soil, certain elements will be depleted at a faster rate than others.
• Better distribution of farm labor and fewer economic risks. If a unit farm
practices crop rotation in which two or three subunits are put in different cycles
of the rotational scheme, then in essence the farm, as a whole, becomes
diversified such that two or three different crops are grown in the same season.
Consequently, labor becomes more evenly distributed and avoids the occurrence
of season peaks.
2.1 Crop Rotation Practices
a. Lowland and Upland Areas
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CRSCI 1105 (Practices in Crop Production)
In the lowland rice areas of the country where irrigation structures and facilities
make water available year-round, the trend is for continuous rice cropping. This is so
because of the time-honored familiarity of the farmers with the ways of handling the
crop. Now, farmers are learning to use alternate high-value crops during the summer
months. In some particular areas crop like garlic, bell pepper, onion, cucumber, etc.
are grown under the irrigation of two crops of lowland rice.
Rice and Upland Crops Sequential Cropping Pattern – the growing of upland
crops in rice paddies is justified primarily because of the limited water supply at certain
times of the year. Since the water requirement of most upland crops is much lower
than that of rice, it is logical to grow upland crops during those times of the year when
there is insufficient water for rice. Upland crops include corn, sorghum, soybeans,
peanut, mungbean, tomato, eggplant, sweet potato and other vegetables. Below are
the two common approaches of this pattern:
Rice-Upland Crop (crops after rice). The most common use cropping
pattern is rainfed paddies. This is very much applicable in areas where the type of soil
is sandy loam or clay loam. Examples are: rice-mungbean or peanut (Pangasinan,
Iloilo), rice-tobacco (Abra, Ilocos), and rice-watermelon or melon (Nueva Ecija). Note
that sequential cropping is denoted with a hyphen (-) between any two succeeding
crops.
Upland Crop-Rice (crops before rice). The most suitable to areas where the
rainy season starts slowly so that the period between the first rain and the peak rainy
months is long. Only a few species can fit into this sequence like green corn and
cowpea, both of which are popular in densely populated areas with good market
outlets. Examples are cowpea-rice and green corn-rice. Remember that the most ideal
or recommended cropping pattern is a non-legume crop followed by a legume crop.
b. Cropping System for Lowland Rice-Based Cultivation
1. Rice-Rice pattern. The appeal of the rice-rice pattern is simple. Because the
rainy months in many rice areas (humid tropics) span a period of eight or more
months per year (Iloilo), and because rice matures in less than four months, it
is possible to grow two crops of rice per year on the same piece of land even
without irrigation.
2. Rice-Rice-Rice. It is possible only in irrigated areas where irrigation is
adequate even during the dry months when hardly any rain is expected.
3. Rice-Garden. It refers to a cropping pattern in which rice is planted in a small
garden–like plots within the farm and harvested continuously at regular intervals
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CRSCI 1105 (Practices in Crop Production)
throughout the year. This is achieved by subdividing the farm into small units,
and by planting each at regular intervals.
3. INTERCROPPING - growing of two or three crop species in mixed cultures on the
same land by putting the crops in alternative strips of rows. Normally, a short and tall-
growing crop or a quick and late-maturing crop are used as intercrops. The two
cropping systems are called “spatial”, and “temporal”, respectively. Examples of
intercropping are: 1) two rows of corn for every four rows of upland rice or mungbean;
2) sugarcane crop at the juvenile stage with mungbean; 3) coconut with coffee,
lanzones, papaya and pineapple.
Example: corn + mungbean
coconut + coffee + lanzones + papaya
Note: Intercropping is denoted with a plus (+) between any two crops grown
simultaneously. Note also that the period of overlap is long enough to include the
vegetative stage. Theoretically, the increases in yield in intercropping are to be
expected due to the favorable light factor since greater quantities of light can penetrate
a tall-growing crop such as corn, in which mutual shading between plants is quite a
problem, when it is interplanted with low-growing crops such as peanuts and soybeans.
A second factor is Allelophaty, the mutual use of root excretions by crops in the mixed
cropping in enhancing growth. Another factor is the reduction in the incidence of pests.
Intercropping cabbages and tomatoes have resulted in the reduced incidence of
Plutella or diamond back moth attacking cabbage.
4. MULTIPLE CROPPING - refers to a system of cropping in which as many crops
as possible are grown on the same land within a year. The concept is geared towards
maximizing productivity per hectare by keeping the land occupied with crops
throughout the year.
To attain the greatest number of crops per year and to maintain the productivity
of the land at a desirable level, certain factors which complement each other are
essential: (1) availability of irrigation water, (2) use of quick-maturing varieties, (3)
change from traditional methods of growing crops to a new system of cropping, (4)
availability of labor, and (5) liberal use of fertilizers and adequate pest control.
Availability of irrigation water during the dry months of the year will readily allow
three short-term crops a year. In the absence of irrigation water, only two crops are
possible under upland conditions. In the case of lowland farms, only one crop of rice a
year is possible, followed by quick-maturing upland crop like mungbean or vegetables.
5. RELAY CROPPING - is the planting of a new crop on a field where there is still a
standing crop. In the case of lowland rice culture, a succession crop like sweet potato,
broad beans, tobacco, or corn is planted in between the row of rice plants 15 to 20
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days before harvesting. There is, therefore, an overlap period between the new crop
and the rice crop and so much time is saved and utilized in devoting the land to crops
than when the usual practice of land preparation and planting after harvesting the
preceding crop is employed. The practice in Pangasinan of seeding mungbean over a
field while there is still a standing crop of rice two weeks before harvesting is a form
of relay cropping.
Example: Rice / Soybean or Watermelon
Rice / Mungbean
Note: Relay cropping is denoted with a slash (/) between crops. That one crop is
planted only after the other crop has flowered.
6. MULTI-STOREY FARMING SYSTEMS – a farming system is very common in
coconut growing areas. Coconut occupies about 3 million hectares or 75% of the total
areas devoted to perennial crops. The benefits of intercropping to coconuts are: 1)
cultivation around trees which is not usually done by farmers produces a favorable
effect in increasing the yield of coconut trees; 2) fertilizer applied to intercrops
improves the nutrition of coconut trees; and 3) noxious weeds are replaced. The crops
and forage species that may do well under coconut will depend on the amount of light
transmission available, which in turn, is dependent on the age and spacing of trees.
Some of the crop species that have been tried with success are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Suitable intercrops under coconut at three stages of growth.
Age of coconut Suitable Intercrops
Trees
Seedling stage to 6 Cereal – corn, upland rice
years Legumes – cowpea, mungbean, peanut, stringbeans
Root crops – sweet potato, taro, cassava, arrow root
Fruit Crops – pineapple, papaya, banana
Vegetables – tomato, eggplant, sweet pepper, cabbage, okra,
ginger, etc.
7 – 25 years Root crops – arrow root
Plantation crops – black pepper, cacao, coffee, vanilla,
pachouli
Fruit crops – lanzones, rambutan, durian, mangosteen
Trees – gmelina
26 – 60 years Cereal – corn, upland rice
Legumes – peanut, mungbean, cowpea, sitao
Root crops – sweet potato, taro, cassava, yam, arrow root
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Vegetables – tomato, eggplant, cabbage, okra, ginger, etc.
Plantation crops – coffee, cacao, black pepper, vanilla,
pachouli
Fruit crops – lazones, rambutan, durian, mangosteen, papaya,
pineapple,
Trees – gmelina, mahogany
Pature grass – para grass, guinea grass
Another practice is raising animals under coconut trees like cattle, goat and
carabao. Raising animals under coconut is a sound proposition provided the stocking
rate is made sparse at one animal for every two hectares. Small farmers can raise a
few animals for draft or fattening by including forage grasses and legumes in the
intercropping system and fed to animals on a cut-and-carry basis. This kind of feeding
can make a hectare of forages to sustain 5 – 6 animals.
7. HILLY-BASED FARMING SYSTEMS - Hilly lands or sloping uplands are of rugged
terrain with 18% slope or greater and in elevations ranging from near sea level to
about 1000-m, the estimate was that about 17.8 million or almost 30% of the total
production of the Philippine lived in the hilly areas (Cruz, Zosa-Feranil 1988). These
upland dwellers transform the hilly landscape into farmlands that constitute a fragile
ecosystem. To make hilly land farming systems sustainable, soil erosion must be
effectively checked and crops should receive adequate nutrition. There are several
systems that have been adopted in the country and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Contour hedgerow and alley cropping system. This system follows an alternate
succession of a strip of hedgerows of leguminous tree species established along the
contour of the slope and open space or alley of 5 to 6 m which is devoted to food crop
production. The hedgerow of closely spaced plants produce the barrier to soil erosion
and at the same time the supply of green leaf manure to the cereal crops growing in
the alleys and fodder to ruminant animals. Pruning of the hedgerows is done 3 to 10
times each year and pruning is incorporated to the soil at the alleys. The most
commonly used hedgerow species is ipil-ipil, Leucaena leucocephala and is very
effective in reducing run-off and soil erosion. Aside from Leucaena, the fast-growing
nitrogen-fixing tree legumes such as Gliricidia sepium (kakawate), and Cassia
spectabilis have been used as hedgerow planting.
Contour hedgerow and alley cropping was an initiative of the Mindanao Baptist
Rural Life Center (MBRLC), started in the mid – 1970s, geared to evolve a system of
agriculture in sloping lands. The practice became known as the “sloping agricultural
land technology” (SALT).
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8. INTEGRATED FARMING (IF) SYSTEMS – it may be simply defined as the linking
together of two normally separate farming systems which become subsystems of a
whole farming system (Edwards, 1985). Major features of IF are the utilization of by-
product (the waste of one subsystem becomes an input to other subsystems) and
utilization of improved space (two or more subsystems essentially occupy part or all of
the space required for an individual subsystem).
Models of the Different IF
Crop-Based Farming Systems
a) Rice + Fish Culture
The irrigated rice paddy is provided with a center trench; dikes are constructed
slightly wider and higher than the traditional rice paddy dike and screened gates on
the dike are provided for water entry and drainage. Insect-resistant and high-yielding
IRRI or PSB rice varieties are used. Recommended species are nile tilapia (Oreochromis
niloticus) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) stocked at 5,000 pcs per hectare and
3,000 pcs per hectare, respectively under monoculture or 3,000 pcs per hectare nile
tilapia and 2,000 pcs per hectare common carp under polyculture system.
Rice production ranges from 90-95 cavans per hectare while fish production is
from 100-200 kilograms per hectare. Reasons for the decline and failure of expansion
of rice + fish culture are intensive use of pesticide, lack of motivation for farmers to
change work and social habits, the fish yield from rice + fish system with no
supplemental feeding can be discouragingly low and stealing of fish
b) Rotational Rice - Fish Culture
This system was developed as an alternative to the simultaneous rice + fish
culture system to reduce pesticide hazards. The scheme involves the culture of rice
and fish in the same paddy alternately or at different times. Several advantages of this
system have been reported by Dela Cruz and Lopez (1980) such as: reduced
accumulation of pesticide, better control since the life cycle of insects is disrupted,
mutually beneficial interaction of fish and rice crops and decreased rice production
cost.
c) Sugarcane-Based Farming Systems
The intercropping or integration of crops and livestock on sugarcane. Studies
on the intercropping of upland rice and legumes on sugarcane show very promising
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results, in between rows, 1.3 m wide, of sugarcane, two rows of rice or legumes were
planted.
d) Corn-Based Farming Systems
Corn is planted in about 1.2 million ha or a potential area of 2.4 million ha, if
cropped twice. Cornfields may be intercropped, rotated with other crops or relay
planted. Example: peanut intercropped between corn reduced corn borer infestation,
peanuts provide a hiding place for spiders which prey on the larvae of the corn borer.
Livestock-Based Farming Systems
a) Pig + Fish
Under this system, the pigs are raised in pens constructed on the fishpond dikes.
The pens can also be constructed above the fishpond. Manure from the pens is directly
loaded or channeled into the fishpond. No other fish production input is needed. Two
patterns can be followed such as: 1) raising pigs for six months (180 days) and having
two 90-day fish culture cycles; and 2) having a single fish growing cycle within the six-
month pig growing period. The recommended manure loading rate (number of pigs/ha)
is 80 – 100 heads at a fish stocking density of 20,000 pcs. per hectare composed of
tilapia (85%), common carp (14%) and mudfish (1%). The latter is added to control
tilapia reproduction.
b) Chicken + Fish
Chicken houses with slatted floors are constructed over the ponds or in battery
cages constructed on top of the dikes where manure trays are emptied every day. The
recommended broiler density is 3,000 – 4,000 birds per hectare raised in batches of
750 – 1000 birds per batch at 15 days intervals. This technique will allow for the
continuous supply of manure. Fish stocking density is similar to the pig + fish
combination. The production cycle is for 90-day-period.
c) Duck + Fish
The principle is similar to the chicken + fish combination wherein the duck feces
are utilized for fish culture. The main difference is that the ducks live partly in the pond
and thereby spreading their manure while they roam around the pond. The duck house
should be constructed over the pond surface either on floating rafts or on structures
with slits in the flooring. Ducks should not be allowed to live or roam over the dikes to
ensure that all droppings enter the pond. The recommended stocking density is 750-
1250 ducks per hectare. Fish stocking density is similar to the chicken + fish and pig
+ fish combination. The production cycle is 180 days with two 90-day-fish growing
periods
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d) Goat + Fish
Goat houses are constructed over the pond. The goat manure (urine) serves as
the source of food/feed for the fish. The recommended stocking rate is 300 heads of
goat per hectare. Fish stocking density is similar to the chicken + fish combination.
The production cycle is two (2) 120-day growing periods. The yield of fish ranges from
1170 – 1305 kg/ha.
e) Buffalo + Fish
A neglected integration of livestock and fish is the buffalo + fish system. If there
is one to receive more attention on integration, then this one, since the majority of our
farmers own one or two heads of either buffalo or cattle. In Thailand, the results of a
study on the buffalo + fish system show a very encouraging result. Four (4) kilograms
of dry manure (approximately 22 kg wet manure) were loaded daily in a 200 m2 pond,
estimated to be equivalent to the daily manure production of two buffaloes. The net
extrapolated fish yield ranged from 0.9 to 2.4 or 1.7 tons per hectare per year.
II. ASSESSMENT TASK
Accomplish the assessment task in our google classroom.
III. REFERENCES
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Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO- SEARCA)
and University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).
Canare, J. G., Jr. 2015. Planting In: Crop Science Review Manual. 2015 Agriculturist
Licensure Examination Review
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Cayabyab, E.T.(Compiler). 1992. Harvesting and Threshing. In Training Course on
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Coronel, R. E. 1985. Planting and Care of Fruit Crops in the Home Garden. Institute of
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Hartman, H.1990. Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices. 5th Edition. Prentice
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“Strengthening Extension-Research Linkage”. March 15-16, 1989. Cebu City.
Mendoza, T.C. 1989. Understanding the Situation of Small Upland Farmers. Lecture-
Training Handout written for the Training participants of DENR Social Forestry
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Rural Development Paper No. 5. MSU East Lansing Michigan.
Reily, H.E. and C.L.Shry, Jr. 1991. Introductory Horticulture. 4rth Edition. Delmars
Publishers Inc., USA
Rutherberg, H. 1980. Farming Systems in the Tropics. Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1 –
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Ryan, J.G. and Thompson, H.L. (eds) 1979. Socio-economic Constraints to
Development of Semi-Arid Tropical Agriculture, Hyderabad, India.
Spedding, W. 1979. Introduction to Agricultural Systems. Applied Sciences Publisher.
London.
Stevens, R.D. (ed) 1977. Tradition and Dynamics in Small Farm Agriculture. Iowa State
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Tapic, RT. 2000. Lecture Module in CS 1105. Department of Crop Science, College of
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Umali, D.L. 1989. Agricultural Technology for Small Farms. Manila Bulletin, pp 7 and
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Weaver, R.J. 1972. Plant Growth Substances in Agriculture. W. H. Freeman and
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Note: This material is prepared by SUC-ACAP. No commercial use is allowed.
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