Crop Diversification

 

Crop Diversification:

 

In the annual Economic Survey, the Department of Economic Affairs said that there is an urgent need for Crop Diversification in view of the severe water stress in areas where paddy, wheat and sugarcane are grown as well as to increase oil seed production and reduce dependency on imports of cooking oil.

• Crop diversification refers to the addition of new crops or cropping systems to agricultural production on a particular farm taking into account the different returns from value-added crops with complementary marketing opportunities.
• Cropping System refers to the crops, crop sequences and management techniques used on a particular agricultural field over a period of years.
• Major cropping systems in India are sequential-cropping, monocropping, intercropping, relay Cropping, mixed-cropping and alley cropping.
• Many farmers also use the mixed crop-livestock system to increase their standards of living and income.
  Animal husbandry or Animal Agriculture is the branch of science dealing with the practice of breeding, farming and care of farm animals (livestocks) such as cattle, dogs, sheep and horses by humans for advantages.
• It refers to livestock raising and selective breeding. It is a branch of agriculture.