Crop Production & Crop Protection Management

1. THE MISSION

The Student is the son of a farmer and has come back to his village for their holidays. There is a widespread infestation of crops by weeds, insect pests and diseases. The attack has been carried out by an organisation who is looking to destroy the agricultural growth of the locality and has already started destroying crops to build apartments in those sites.  The player has to strategically protect the crops from further damage and also work on crop production management to restore the crops that have already been lost due to the infestation. The organisation uses large trucks and barrels as well as helicopters to spread the pests and the disease. The player has to stop the large trucks and helicopters from spreading the disease and pests through using their own equipment and strategies. The player later has to work on crop production to retrieve the lost crops as well. The player has an interval of 30 minutes to complete both the levels of the game and will gain 100 points. The player has to creatively design three levels of the game which consists of preventing the organisation from infesting the groups, carrying through the various steps of crop protection and production management. If the player is unable to win the game, the crops will be infested by the pests, 30 acres of land cannot produce crops and there will be absolute starvation in the region.

2. CONCEPTS

In India, as in many other agriculture-based countries, farming ranges from small to very large farms. Different farmers thus have more or less land, money and access to information and technologies. In short, it is the money or financial conditions that allow farmers to take up different farming practices and agricultural technologies. There is a correlation between higher inputs and yields. Thus, the farmer’s purchasing capacity for inputs decides the cropping system and production practices. Therefore, production practices can be at different levels. They include ‘no cost’ production, ‘low cost’ production and ‘high cost’ production practices.

1. Nutrient management

Just as we need food for development, growth and well-being, plants also require nutrients for growth. Nutrients are supplied to plants by air, water and soil. There are sixteen nutrients which are essential for plants. Air supplies carbon and oxygen, hydrogen comes from water, and soil supplies the other thirteen nutrients to plants. Amongst these thirteen nutrients, six are required in large quantities and are therefore called macronutrients. The other seven nutrients are used by plants in small quantities and are therefore called micronutrients. Deficiency of these nutrients affects physiological processes in plants including reproduction, growth and susceptibility to diseases. To increase the yield, the soil can be enriched by supplying these nutrients in the form of manure and fertilizers.

1. Macronutrients: Rogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur.
2. Micronutrients: Iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, chlorine.

1. Fertilizers

Fertilizers are commercially produced plant nutrients. Fertilizers supply nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. They are used to ensure good vegetative growth (leaves, branches and flowers), giving rise to healthy plants. Fertilizers are a factor in the higher yields of high-cost farming. Fertilizers should be applied carefully in terms of proper dose, time, and observing pre- and post-application precautions for their complete utilisation. For example, sometimes fertilizers get washed away due to excessive irrigation and are not fully absorbed by the plants. This excess fertilizer then leads to water pollution. The continuous use of fertilizers in an area can destroy soil fertility because the organic matter in the soil is not replenished and micro-organisms in the soil are harmed by the fertilizers used. Organic farming is a farming system with minimal or no use of chemicals as fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides etc. and with a maximum input of organic manures, recycled farm-wastes (straw and livestock excreta), use of bio-agents such as culture of blue green algae in preparation of bio fertilizers, neem leaves or turmeric specifically in grain storage as bio-pesticides, with healthy cropping systems [mixed cropping, intercropping and crop rotation. These cropping systems are beneficial in insect, pest and wheat control besides providing nutrients.

1. Manure

Manure contains large quantities of organic matter and also supplies small quantities of nutrients to the soil. Manure is prepared by the decomposition of animal excreta and plant waste. Manure helps in enriching soil with nutrients and organic matter and increasing soil fertility. The bulk of organic matter in manure helps in improving the soil structure. This involves increasing the water holding capacity in sandy soils. In clayey soils, the large quantities of organic matter help in drainage and in avoiding water logging. In using manure, we use biological waste material, which is advantageous in protecting by air, water and soil Using biological waste material is also a way of recycling farm waste. Based on the kind of biological material used, manure can be classified as:

• Compost and vermi-compost: The process in which farm waste material like livestock excreta (cow dung etc.), vegetable waste, animal refuse, domestic waste, sewage waste, straw, eradicated weeds etc. is decomposed in pits known as composting. The compost is rich in organic matter and nutrients. Compost is also prepared by using earthworms to hasten the process of decomposition of plant and animal refuse. This is called vermi- compost.
• Green manure: Prior to the sowing of the crop seeds, some plants like sun hemp or guar are grown and then mulched by ploughing them into the soil. These green plants thus turn into green manure which helps in enriching the soil in nitrogen and phosphorus.

1. Irrigation

Most agriculture in India is rain-fed, that is, the success of crops in most areas is dependent on timely monsoons and sufficient rainfall spread through most of the growing season. Hence, poor monsoons cause crop failure. Ensuring that the crops get water at the right stages during their growing season can increase the expected yields of any crop. Therefore, many measures are used to bring more and more agricultural land under irrigation.

India has a wide variety of water resources and a highly varied climate. Under such conditions, several different kinds of irrigation systems are adopted to supply water to agricultural lands depending on the kinds of water resources available. These include wells, canals, rivers and tanks.

• Wells: There are two types of wells, namely dug wells and tube wells. In a dug well, water is collected from water bearing strata. Tube wells can tap water from the deeper strata. From these wells, water is lifted by pumps for irrigation.
• Canals: This is usually an elaborate and extensive irrigation system. In this system canals receive water from one or more reservoirs or from rivers. The main canal is divided into branch canals having further distributaries to irrigate fields.
• River Lift Systems: In areas where canal flow is insufficient or irregular due to inadequate reservoir release, the lift system is more rational. Water is directly drawn from the rivers for supplementing irrigation in areas close to rivers.
• Tanks: These are small storage reservoirs, which intercept and store the run-off of smaller catchment areas. Fresh initiatives for increasing the water available for agriculture include rainwater harvesting and watershed management. This involves building small check-dams which lead to an increase in ground water levels. The check-dams stop the rainwater from flowing away and also reduce soil erosion.

1. Cropping patterns

Different ways of growing crops can be used to give maximum benefit. Mixed cropping is growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same piece of land, for example, wheat + gram, or wheat + mustard, or groundnut + sunflower. This reduces risk and gives some insurance against failure of one of the crops. Intercropping is growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same field in a definite pattern. A few rows of one crop alternate with a few rows of a second crop, for example, soybean + maize, or finger millet (bajra) + cowpea (lobia). The crops are selected such that their nutrient requirements are different. This ensures maximum utilisation of the nutrients supplied, and also prevents pests and diseases from spreading to all the plants belonging to one crop in a field. This way, both crops can give better returns. The growing of different crops on a piece of land in a pre-planned succession is known as crop rotation. Depending upon the duration, crop rotation is done for different crop combinations. The availability of moisture and irrigation facilities decide the choice of the crop to be cultivated after one harvest. If crop rotation is done properly then two or three crops can be grown in a year with good harvests.

1. Crop protection management

Field crops are infested by a large number of weeds, insect pests and diseases. If weeds and pests are not controlled at the appropriate time, then they can damage the crops so much that most of the crop is lost. Weeds are unwanted plants in the cultivated field, for example, Xanthium (gokhroo), Parthenium (gajar ghas), Cyperinus rotundus (motha). They compete for food, space and light. Weeds take up nutrients and reduce the growth of the crop. Therefore, removal of weeds from cultivated fields during the early stages of crop growth is essential for a good harvest. Generally insect pests attack the plants in three ways: (i) they cut the root, stem and leaf, (ii) they suck the cell sap from various parts of the plant, and (iii) they bore into the stem and fruits. They thus affect the health of the crop and reduce yields. Diseases in plants are caused by pathogens such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. These pathogens can be present in and transmitted through the soil, water and air. Weeds, insects and diseases can be controlled by various methods. One of the most commonly used methods is the use of pesticides, which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. These chemicals are sprayed on crop plants or used for treating seeds and soil. However, excessive use of these chemicals creates problems, since they can be poisonous to many plant and animal species and cause environmental pollution. Weed control methods also include mechanical removal. Preventive methods such as proper seedbed preparation, timely sowing of crops, intercropping and crop rotation also help in weed control. Some other preventive measures against pests are the use of resistant varieties, and summer ploughing, in which fields are ploughed deep in summers to destroy weeds and pests.

1. Storage of grains

Storage losses in agricultural produce can be very high. Factors responsible for such losses are biotic— insects, rodents, fungi, mites and bacteria, and abiotic— inappropriate moisture and temperatures in the place of storage. These factors cause degradation in quality, loss in weight, poor germ inability, discolouration of produce, all leading to poor marketability. These factors can be controlled by proper treatment and by systematic management of warehouses. Preventive and control measures are used before grains are stored for future use. They include strict cleaning of the produce before storage, proper drying of the produce first in sunlight and then in shade, and fumigation using chemicals that can kill pests.