BASIC CONCEPTS

OF AGRICULTURAL
CROP PRODUCTION
 Lesson 1.
DEFINITION AND
IMPORTANCE OF
AGRICULTURE
Definition and Importance of
Agriculture
• Agricultural comes from the Latin word
“ager” – agri (field)
“cultura”- growing and cultivation
“growing and cultivation of the field”
What is Agriculture?
• Agriculture is the science or practice of farming
which includes the cultivation of the soil for
the growing of crops and fruit-bearing trees.

• It also considers the raising of animals to

provide food and others raw material which
can produce other product.
 Elements in the Definition of
Agriculture
• It is a science, because of systematically organized body
of knowledge which not only based on opinions,
hypothesis and theories but on factual and absolute
knowledge.
• Also, it is a practice because of the actual applications of
the ideas.
• In farming, because is the act or process of working the
ground, planting, seeds, and growing edible plants. It can
also include raising animals for milk, meat and wool.
 VALUE OF AGRICULTURE
• Agriculture has a vital role in the life and progress of an economy.
It does provide food which is the basic needs of mankind, not only
to sustain food and raw materials but also employment
opportunities to a vast number of the population of a country.
• It can be a source of livelihood which can contribute to micro and
macro community, supplying and sustaining food and fodder that
are the basic necessities of human to live, promoting the
diplomatic friendship facilitated by trading system in local,
national and international arena, marketable surplus product,
source of saving of the entire national budget and basis of the
economic development of a country.
VALUE OF AGRICULTURE
•Without agriculture, the economy
will be at high risk to food security
that may result into serious national
problems. The effect may be
adverse or even worse.
Lesson 2. Brief History
of Agriculture
• Agriculture was developed at least 10,000
years ago, and it has undergone significant
development since the time of the earliest
cultivation
 Ancient Origins
• By the 7,000 BC, small-scale agriculture reached
Egypt. From at least 7,000 BC the Indian
subcontinent saw farming of wheat and barley, as
attested by archeological excavation at Mehrgarh
in Balochistan
• The potato, tomato, pepper, squash, several
varieties of bean, tobacco, and several other
plants were also developed in the New World, as
was extensive terracing of steep hillsides in the
much of Andean South America.
• The Greeks and Romans built on techniques
pioneered by the Sumerians but made few
fundamentally new advances.
• Southern Greeks struggled with very poor soils,
yet managed to become a dominant society for
years. The Romans were noted for an emphasis
on the cultivation of crops for trade
 Middle Ages
• During the middle Ages, Muslim farmers in North
Africa and the Near East Developed and disseminated
agricultural technologies including irrigation systems
based on hydraulic and hydrostatic principles, the use
of machine and the use of water raising machines,
dams, and reservoirs. They also wrote location-
specific farming manuals, and were instrumental in
the wider adoption of crops including sugarcane, rice,
citrus, fruit, apricots, cotton, artichokes, aubergines,
and saffron.
MIDDLE AGES MODERN ERA
 Modern Era
• After 1492 early, a global exchange of previous local
crops and livestock breeds occurred. Key crops involved
in this exchange included the tomato, maize, potato,
cocoa and tobacco going from the New World to the
Old, and several varieties of wheat, spices, coffee, and
sugarcane going from the Old to the New
• By the early 1800s, agriculture techniques, implement,
seeds stock and cultivated plants selected and given a
unique name because of its decorative or useful
characteristics had so improved that yield per land unit
was many times seen in the Middle Ages.
 Modern Era
•Agricultural exploration expeditions,
since the late nineteenth century, have
been mounted to find new species and
new agricultural practices in different
areas of the new world
 BRANCHES OF AGRICULTURE
There are four branches of agriculture,
namely;
Livestock production or Animal Husbandry
Crop Production or Agronomy
Agricultural Economics
Agricultural Engineering
 I. Livestock Production or
Animal Husbandry
• It is the branch of agriculture concerned with
animals that are raised for meat, fiber, milk,
eggs, or other products. The term “livestock”
encompasses many species and numerous
breeds within animal species which can produce
food and other raw material.
• Livestock Production or Animal Husbandry has 4
common classification such as:
 Nomadic • Is the husbandry of grazing
Pastoralism animals is viewed as an ideal
way of making a living and the
regular movement of all or part
of the society is considered a
normal and natural part of life.
Pastoral nomadism is
commonly practice where
climatic conditions produce
seasonal pastures but cannot
sustained stationary
agricultural because of the
 Poultry Farming
Raising of birds domestically
or commercially, primarily
for meat and eggs as well as
the feathers. Chickens,
turkeys, ducks, and geese
are the primary importance,
while guinea fowl and
squabs (young pigeon) are
chiefly of local interest.
 Swine Farming

Is the raising and breeding

of domestic pigs as
livestock, and is a branch of
animal husbandry. Pigs are
farmed principally for food
(e.g. pork, gammon) or
sometimes skinned
 Apiculture
• Is the scientific method of rearing honeybees. The word
‘apiculture’ comes from the Latin word apis meaning
bee and colere which means “to culture”.
• Bees are mainly reared for their honey. So Apiculture or
also known as bees keeping is the care and
management of honey bees for the production of honey
and the wax. In the method of apiculture, bees are bred
commercially in apiaries, an area where a lot of
beehives can be placed
 II. Crop Production or
Agronomy
• It is a science dealing with the cultivation of crops and
vegetable on a field scales either under rain fed or
irrigation conditions. These crops are mainly annual
cultivated food. The requirements of each crops are
studied in terms of soils and climate, as well as
planning time and techniques, different cultivars,
fertilization, weeds, disease, and insects control, as
well as the effect of stress factors.
• Crop production or Agronomy includes
 Horticulture
• Is the science and arts of growing and caring for
plants, especially flowers, fruit, and vegetables.
• The word is derived from the Latin hortus which
means “garden” and colere which means “to culture”.
• As a general term, it covers all form of garden
management, but in ordinary use it refers to intensive
commercial production. Horticulture has 3 branches
namely, pomology, olericulture and floriculture
 Pomology
Is the branch of botany that studies
all fruits, specifically the science of
growing fruits and nuts.
The word is driven from the Latin
pomum which means “fruit” and
logia which means field of study.
As a branch of horticulture, it is
focuses to the cultivation of fruits,
nuts, fruit bearing and nut-bearing
tress/plants for human use and
consumption .
 • Is the science and art of vegetable
Olericulture growing, dealing with the culture of
non-woody (herbaceous) plants for
good.
• Latin word oleris “pot herb” and
colere “to culture”
• It deals with the production
storage, processing and marketing
of vegetables. It is also includes
maintenance and care of vegetable.
It also includes maintenance and
care of vegetable crop production.
 Floriculture
Refers to farming, plant care,
propagation and cultivation with one
goal in mind, the maximum
production of flowering and
ornamentals plants from gardens and
floristry, comprising the floral
industry.
The word is derived from the Latin
floris which means “flower” and
colere “to culture”
 III. Agricultural Economics
• Is the study of the allocation, distribution and
utilization of the resources used, along with the
commodities produced, by farming. It concerns
itself with the study of the production and
consumption of food in both developed and
developing countries along with analysis of the
policies that shape the world’s largest country.