Crop Production

Jamil Panganiban
BSA 1
BEGINNING OF AGRICULTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES
• Agricultural land (% of land area) in Philippines was reported at 42.54 % in 2021.
• Stone age 30000 BC about 30,000 years ago, the Negritos, who became the ancestors of
today’s Aetas, or Aboriginal Filipinos, descended from more northerly abodes in Central
Asia.
• No evidence has survived which would indicate details of Ancient Filipino life such as their
crops, and architecture.
• In 4000-2000 BC Austronesian groups descended from Yunnan Plateau in China and settled
in what is now the Philippines by sailing using balangays or by traversing land bridges
coming from Taiwan. Austronesians used the Philippines as a stop over to the Pacific islands
or to the Indonesian archipelago. Those who were left behind became the ancestors of the
present-day Filipinos
• The Cagayan valley of northern Luzon contains large stone tools as evidence for the hunters
of big animals of the time: the rhinoceros, crocodile, tortoise, pig and deer. The Austronesians
pushed the Negritos to the mountains, while they occupied the fertile coastal plains
• In 200 BC, Chinese have traded with and settled in Philippines thousands of years before
West even knew of this area
• The emergence of Barangay city-states and trade (200AD-500AD) Each Balangay has a
population of 2000 people.
• The items which were prized by the peoples included jars, which were a symbol of wealth
throughout South Asia, and later metal, salt and tobacco.
• In exchange, the peoples would trade feathers, rhino horn, hornbill beaks, beeswax, birds
nests, resin, rattan.
14TH TO 16TH CENTURY
• The Malays remained the dominant group until the Spanish arrived in the 16th century.
• Natives are in farming, and trading of agricultural products.
• Filipino farmers practicing subsistence farming by kaingin.
17TH – 18TH CENTURY
• Large haciendas owned by Spaniards
• Rice, coconut, tobacco, abaca, sugarcane were planted.
• Farming methods are crude and traditional
• Early colonial economy depended on the Galleon Trade which was inaugurated in 1565
between Manila and Acapulco, Mexico and then across the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean
to Spain (Veracruz to Cádiz).
• The Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade was the main source of income for the colony during
its early years. The Galleon trade brought silver from New Spain, which was used to
purchase Asian goods such as silk from China, spices from the Moluccas, and Philippine
cotton textiles.
• The trade lasted for over two hundred years, and ceased in 1815 just before the secession of
American colonies from Spain
• European population in Philippines grew. They depended on the Galleon Trade for a living.
• In late 18th century, Governor – General Basco introduced economic reforms that gave the
colony its first real income from the production of tobacco and other agricultural exports.
Agriculture was finally opened to the European population, which before was reserved only
for the natives.
• The buwis (tribute) was paid in cash or kind (tobacco, chickens, produce, gold, blankets,
cotton, rice, etc., Depending on the region of the country)
• Also collected was the bandalâ, (a round stack of rice stalks to be threshed), an annual
enforced sale
And requisitioning of goods such as rice.
• By the 1800s, the Philippines had become an important possession of Spain. The European
settlers and their descendants, known as Insulares ( “islanders” ), also adapted to oriental
culture learning to eat rice as their staple and use soy sauce, coconut vinegar, coconut oil and
ginger.
• At the beginning of Spanish colonial rule, most Filipinos lived in maritime societies.
• The irrigated Riceland and metal implements were privately owned. Not only was there wet
rice agriculture but the people also engaged in handicrafts.
18th to 20th CENTURY
• Under US, the Philippines is highly dependent on agriculture and lacks the fundamentals of
a modern industrial economy such as productive enterprises.
• Establishment of SUC’s Establishment of large plantations Development of improved
technologies Accelerated Agricultural Development Introduction of farm machinery.
• Mechanization, the outstanding characteristic of late 19th and 20th-century agriculture, has
eased much of the backbreaking toil of the farmer. More significantly, mechanization has
enormously increased farm efficiency. Productivity.
1970S TO PRESENT
• Biotechnology Computer technology Use of technologies in all fronts of science.
AGRICULTURE
• Modern agriculture is characterized by activities built around production of crops and
livestock.
• Distribution and Marketing Characterized by application of science and technology that
develop new products, improve level of productivity and improve product quality, efficiency.
• Challenges – sustainability, safety, education, relevance.
• Modern agriculture depends heavily on engineering and technology and on the biological
and physical sciences.
• Irrigation, drainage, conservation, and sanitation each of which is important insuccessful
farming-are some of the fields requiring the specialized knowledge of agricultural engineers.
• Biotechnology has been developed and used to increase productivity, control pest, mass
propagate plants, improve quality, delay ripening, produce secondary products etc.
ORIGIN AND DOMESTICATION OF SOME CROPS IN THE PHILIPPINES
Stages and Development:
1. Pastoral Stage
2. Middle Stone Age
- use of bows and arrows
- catching, drying and storing of fish
- storage of seeds, nuts, and fruits
3. Neolithic Age or New Stone Age
- discovery of the relation of seed to plant
- domestication of plants and animals
- village practices “seed agriculture” (mass growing of seeds) and “vegeculture” (vegetative
propagation of taro, sweet potato, yam, banana, and arrowroot).
Early Food – Composed of Gramunae and Legumunoccae families:
The Americas – maize and peanuts
Africa – sorghum and beans
The Middle East – wheat, barley, and beans
Asia – rice and soybeans
Crop / Origin / Current place of Domestication
Soybean (Asia) China USA
Sorghum (North East Africa) Abyssinia USA (Texas)
Maize Central and South America America and Europe
Rice India China, India, Indonesia
Peanuts South America Papua New Guinea
Beans Tropical America Worldwide production
Eggplants South/Easter Asia Warm tropics
Muskmelon (Asia) Iran and India
Okra Asian or African
Tomatoes Central/South America
Asparagus Southern Russia Europe, England, Poland
Onion Central Asia
Bananas Southeast Asia Tropical America
Citrus Southeast Asia Mediterranean countries
Mango India, Bangladesh, Burma
Pineapple Tropical South America
Papaya Central America

EARLY DEVELOPMENT IN AGRICULTURE

Early civilization like the Mesopotamian, Roman, Greek, and Maya empires failed due to
failure of agriculture as a result of salinization and soil erosion.
Modern agriculture gave rise to plant and animal selection leading to their wide genetic
diversity.
Development of the plow in 3000 BC was man’s greatest achievement then.
Further improvements took place when human power was replaced by oxen and horse power.
Before the time of Columbus, the Incas of Peru used prized guano and bird droppings as
natural fertilizer sources
1760’s led to power-driven machinery replacing manual labor industry and later in farming.
1842 marked the growth of the acid phosphate industry.
1869, large scale use of potassium salts
1913, commercial synthesis of ammonia (based on making nitrogen fertilizers)
1690, use of tobacco as contact insecticides.
1860, insects poison/inorganic materials as Paris green, lead arsenate, calcium arsenate, sulfur
compounds, Bordeaux mixture
Followed by using plant-deruved alkaloids like pyrethrins, nicotine, and rotenone
1940’s, large scale of production of hundreds of synthetic organic compounds for insecticidal
and herbicidal use
1700s and 1800s, plant breeding work and development of commercial varieties
1866, George Mendel postulated the basic law of inheritance
1920, USA developed the first commercial hybrid com
1953, J.D. Watson and F.H. Crick elucidated the DNA structural configuration and received
The Nobel Prize Award in 1962, leading to the development of outstanding crop varieties
1960s and 1970s, a network of 13 International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs), with
successes sich as Green Revolution
Dr. Norman Borlang, pioneer of the Green Revolution developed the widely adapted high
yielding variety in CIMMYT in Mexico; awarded Nobel Price for peace in 1970.
1996, prominent rice breeders Dr. Henry Beachell and Dr. Gurdev Khush were jointly
accorded variety of rice.
Agriculture modern technology characterized by mechanization, extensive fertilizer and
pesticide use, irrigation water and high yielding varieties resulted to high efficiency
USA, in 1990, lest than 2% of the population produced the food for the whole population
with a ratio of 1 producer for every 78 people.
Mexico, India and Southeast Asia, agricultural technology doubled the yields per hectare in
mid 1960s.
THE BASIC CONCERN FOR ECOLOGY
The need to feed the world population growing at 90 million a year but at a tremendous price
to the environment.
Production and ecological balance often viewed to be in conflict but can be reconciled.
A great “balancing act” will have to be exercised where science should play a vital role in
making things differently using the lessons of the past.
Crop Science should embody the knowledge from many basic and applied discipline
translated into crop production principle/practices that will maximize monetary returns to the
individual growers on a per crop basis, and simultaneously contribute to the long term
welfare of the environment and society.
MEANING AND SCOPE OF CROP SCIENCE
Plant – any organism belonging to the kingdom Plantae, typically lacking of active
locomotion or obvious nervous system or sensory organs and has photosynthetic ability.
Crop – domesticated/cultuvated plants that are grown for profit. It usually connotes a group
or population of cultivated plants.

THE MAJOR APPLIED SCIENCES IN CROP PRODUCTION ARE THE FOLLOWING

Crop Science – concerned with the observation and classification of knowledge concerning
economically cultivated crops and the establishment of verifiable principles regarding their
growth and development for the purpose of deriving the optimum benefit from them. It is
divided into areas as follows:
Agronomy- from the Greek word “agros” meaning field and “nomos” meaning to manage.
Thus agronomy deals with the principles and practices of managing field crops and soils.
Horticulture – from the Latin words “hortus”, which means a garden, and “colere” to
cutivate. The concept of gardens or plants within an enclosure is distinct from the culture of
field crops. It also implies a more intensive cultivation of crops as contrasted from the
extensive cultivation of field crops.
CONTRIBUTION OF RELATED SCIENCES TO CROP PRODUCTION:
1. Crop breeding and genetics – concerned with the improvement of the inherent of heritable
properties of crops.
2. Botany – concerned with plant structures, processes and relationships among plants as well
as to their environment.
3. Soil Sciences – study of nature and properties of soils; fundamental principles upon which
proper soil management is based.
4. Plant pathology and entomology – concerned with insect pests, pathogens and weeds, their
nature, as well as their control.
5. Agricultural Engineering – concerned with farm structures, farm machinery, water
management as well as waste disposal.
6. Agricultural Economics – concerned with the economics of production and marketing of
agricultural products.
7. Agricultural Meteorology – concerned with the study of weather and climate. The study of
meteorology enables one to do weather forecasting and thus help the farmers minimize
losses due to bad weather.
PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESS IN CROP PRODUCTION
Photosynthesis - Is the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to
create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar. During photosynthesis, water and carbon
dioxide combine to form carbohydrates (sugars) and give off oxygen. Photosynthesis is
needed for animal and plant life.
Respiration - The process of plants using up the sugars made through photosynthesis and
turning them into energy for growth, reproduction, and other life processes. Plant respiration
involves taking in oxygen and releasing it as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (air).
Transpiration - Is the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from
aerial parts, such as leaves, stems and flowers. It is a passive process that requires no energy
expense by the plant. Transpiration also cools plants, changes osmotic pressure of cells, and
enables mass flow of mineral nutrients.
Translocation - Is the movement of materials in plants from the leaves to other parts of the
plant. Nutrients, mainly sugars, are created in the leaves during photosynthesis. These are
then transported throughout the plant through phloem, which are a long series of connected
cells.
MINERAL NUTRITION
Plants require at least 16 mineral elements for their nutrition. These include the
macronutrients;
Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulphur (S)
And the micronutrients;
Chlorine (Cl), boron (B), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni) and
molybdenum (Mo).
MACRONUTRIENTS
Macronutrients are essential for plant growth and a good overall state of the plant. The
primary macronutrients are Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K).
MICRONUTRIENTS
Micronutrients provide plants the nutrients they require to develop properly, achieve degree
of immunity to fight pests, weather elements and bacteria.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF CROP PLANTS
Plant growth could be defined as the increasing of plant volume and/or mass with or without
formation of new structures such as organs, tissues, cells or cell organelles. Growth is usually
associated with development (cell and tissue specialization) and reproduction (production of
new individuals).
Crop growth depends on the capacity of the canopy to capture CO2 and radiation, the
capacity of the root system to capture water and nutrients from soil, and the efficiency of the
crop to transform resources (water, nutrients, radiation, carbon dioxide) into dry matter.
Stresses such as water deficits or soil compaction reduce growth by reducing the amount of
resources captured by the crop, by reducing the efficiency in the use of resources or both.
PLANT MOVEMENTS
Terrestrial plants are sessile and are incapable of changing their location. Yet, plants can sense
their environment and can respond to sensory information through visible movements to
optimize their survival, growth, and reproduction.
Plant movements include movements toward light, opening and closing of flowers, growth of
developing roots in search of water and nutrients, etc. In fact, inflorescence, fruits, and shoots
are all capable of moving by sensing changes in environment, thereby adjusting their
position, function, and behavior accordingly.
CROP ADAPTATION IN DIFFERENT CROPS
Crop adaptation essentially refers to the relationships between the principal environmental
factors and the growth response of crop plants.
There are three types of plant adaptations: structural adaptations, behavioral adaptations, and
physiological adaptations.
STRUCTURAL ADAPTATION
A structural adaptation is a physical feature that makes a plant better suited to its
environment. Structural adaptations of plants can include spines, like those found on a cactus
or rose. These spines protect the plant from predators as they are sharp and dangerous.
BEHAVIORAL ADAPTATION
Behavioural adaptations are something an organism does to improve its survival. An example
of this in plants is how they grow towards the sun, or close their leaves during hot times in
the day.
PHYSIOLOGICAL ADAPTATION
A physiological adaptation is an internal process that increases a plant’s chance of survival.
Physiological adaptations of plants are processes which allow them to compete. An example
of this is the formation of poisons for defence. The nettle plant stings us when we brush the
tiny needles on its leaves, which contain poison.