AG 2214 - Integrated Farming Systems and Agro-forestry

Lecture Number 1

The Concept of Farming Systems –

FARMING SYSTEMS

• A farm is a system in that it has INPUTS, PROCESSES and OUTPUTS

INPUTS - these are things that go into the farm and may be split into Physical Inputs (e.g. amount of rain,
soil) and Human Inputs (e.g. labour, money etc.)
PROCESSES – activities which take place on the farm in order to convert the inputs to outputs (e.g.
sowing, weeding, harvesting etc.)
OUTPUTS - these are the products from the farm (i.e. wheat, barley, cattle)

Environment input/Physical input

Animal output
Temperature, Humidity, Sunshine,
rain, wind, soil type etc. Processes-

sowing ,weeding, irrigation,

fertilizer application, pest and
Inputs Outputs
disease management, harvesting

Farmer inputs / human inputs

Crop output
Seeds, fertilizers,organic matter,
irrigation water, labour, money

Components of Farming Systems

• In the integrated
farming system, It
combines cropping
with other
enterprises/ activities,
such as cattle, sheep
or goat rearing,
poultry, piggery,
rabbit rearing, bee
keeping etc. Any one or more can be combined with the cropping.

• Or Farming system is a result of the allocation of four factors of production, land, labour,capital and
management by an individual farmer, to crop, livestock and other farm enterprises to maximize his goals
in production.( According to Prof. C. Bogahawatte, University of peradeniya)

•
The role of the components in farming systems

• 1) maintain productivity of land

• 2) Effectively allocation of factors of production, land , labour and capital to get more efficient production
from the farm.

• 3) maximize returns to land

• 4) increase income-earning opportunities

• 5) strengthen risk management through diversification of outputs,

Farming systems and their characteristics

• Each individual farm has its own specific characteristics.

• Sustainability

• It is vary with resource endowments and family circumstances.

• The household, its resources, and the resource flows and interactions at this individual farm level are
together referred to as a farm system.

• And it is a social unit supported by crops and livestock. Below figure shows a general Integrated system
showing various possibilities for interaction

Social Unit Food

Home, village, town,

Food Community
Edible

Waste
Chicken

Swill Ducks

Edible Pigs
Excreta
Compost or Unedible
Bio-gass

Food crops Fish pond Offal

Forage crops
Physical
Unedible Biological
Processing Chemical
Residues
By-products
Waste
Forages
A farming system is defined as

a population of individual farm systems

that have

o broadly similar resource bases,

o enterprise patterns,

o household livelihoods and

o constraints,

and for which

similar development strategies and interventions would be appropriate

Classification of the farming systems

• The classification of the farming systems has been based on a number of key factors, including:

• (i) the available natural resource base;

• (ii) the dominant pattern of farm activities and household livelihoods, including relationship to markets;

• (iii) the intensity of production activities.

Based on these criteria, eight broad categories of farming system have been distinguished:

• 1)Irrigated farming systems, embracing a broad range of food and cash crop production;

2)Wetland rice based farming systems, dependent upon seasonal rains supplemented by irrigation

• 3)Rainfed farming systems in humid areas, dominant crops or mixed crop-livestock systems;

• 4)Rainfed farming systems in steep and highland areas, which are often mixed crop-livestock systems;

• 5) Rainfed farming systems in dry or cold low potential areas, with mixed crop-livestock and pastoral
systems with very low productivity.

• 6)Dualistic (mixed large commercial and small holders) farming systems, across a variety of ecologies and
with diverse production patterns;

• 7) Coastal artisanal fishing systems, which often incorporate mixed farming elements;

• 8)Urban based farming systems, typically focused on horticultural and livestock production.

Factors affecting to farming system

• natural resources and climate;

• science and technology;

• trade liberalization and market development;

• policies, institutions and public goods; and

• information and human capital.

 Farming Systems approach

 Three basic inputs in the farming system: land, labour and capital are allocated by the management
into different activities or processes to combine crops, livestock and off-farm enterprises.

 Farmer should acts as a farm manager to get decisions to allocate their inputs to maximize his goals
(maximizing profit, sufficient food for the family etc.)

 These goals may vary from farmer to farmer. Many farmers are likely to maximize their incomes.

 The last production/s they are taken may dependant on the types of sub systems they are using and the
type of farming system adopted.

 Nevertheless, to fullfil their goals, they should have good managerial skills and should get good
decisions in the allocation of inputs

 Farmer should apply the principles of productivity, profitability, stability and sustainability

Forestry

• Forestry is the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated
resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is
practiced in plantations and natural stands. The main goal of forestry is to create and implement systems
that allow forests to continue a sustainable provision of environmental supplies and services

Agroforestry

• Agroforestry is an integrated approach of using the interactive benefits from combining trees and shrubs
with crops and/or livestock. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse,
productive, profitable, healthy, and sustainable land-use systems. [1] A narrow definition of agroforestry is
"trees on farms."

Plantation forestry

• A plantation forestry is a long artificially established forest, where trees are grown for sale, often in
distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption

• There are basically two major farm-operating objectives, profit maximization on market-oriented farms
and household sustenance on subsistence-oriented farms