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India economy largely depends on the agriculture sector. Agriculture is the main source of income in the nation as most of the people choose their livelihood from agriculture. But this source of income is under threat as agriculture has become very risky due to extreme climate changes and highly volatile agricultural markets. Each individual sub-sector (horticulture, livestock and fisheries etc.) of agriculture in India is facing different kinds of problems. Mixed farming system is one way of handling such problems because it provides better income returns to farm owners as well as higher productivity. The mixed farming could be in the form of the crop-livestock, crop-forestry, crop-horticulture fish-pig, fish-duck, and paddy-fish etc. Mixed farming system is helpful in decreasing the cost of production per unit area, increasing income and productivity and reducing the risk of farmers.

 

Indian economy largely depends on the agriculture sector. Agriculture is the main source of income in the nation as most of the people extract their livelihood from agriculture. But this source of income is under threat as agriculture has become very risky due to extreme climate changes and highly volatile agricultural markets. In terms of population, India is the second largest country in the world and it is increasing day by day. The natural resources such as land and water are shrinking. Extensive research is being done in all developing countries in order to raise the productivity, to fulfil food and employment requirements of a huge population and for sustainable agriculture. But, these efforts to increase the productivity and employment should neither deplete natural resources nor imbalance the environment. Although extensive use of inorganic inputs (chemical fertilizers and pesticides) has increased the agricultural productivity during last century but they also destabilized natural environment along with a raise in the cost of production enhancing concerns about economic stability and sustainability.

Recent practices followed in agriculture leads to environmental pollution and natural resources depletion. Each individual sub-sector (horticulture, livestock and fisheries etc) of agriculture in India is facing different kinds of problems. For example in the livestock sector, most farmers are small farmers with less education and fewer resources. Further there is substantial loss of income because of livestock diseases. The farmers cannot access veterinary hospital because of poor infrastructure. Unavailability of veterinary doctors and quality medicines also are major problems with livestock sector. In horticulture sector, especially the productivity of fruits and vegetables is low because of poor management, pest disease, lack of credit, lack of technical innovations and because of technical inefficiencies. In the same way the crop and poultry sector is facing similar kind of problems.

Need for mixed farming

Most of the farmers are performing only one activity (crop cultivation) so their earning becomes totally dependent on value of crop. In addition, imperfect market situation, mismanagement of demand and supply of crop also affect adversely the income from crops. Enhancing the potential of the farmers for sustainable agriculture with higher returns is a vital process for food security in developing nations. Mixed farming system is one way of handling such problems because it provides better income returns to farm owners as well as higher productivity. As farmers involved in mono-culture are under more threat as compared to those performing many farming activities under certain market and environmental conditions. Mono-culture activity could be the only cultivation of crops with livestock. Farm integration has brought agriculture income to novel heights. Mixed farming can be defined as the combination of two or more independent agricultural activities on the same farm. It’s to be an agricultural system in which farmers perform different agricultural practices together, such as cash crops and livestock so as to enhance income through different sources and to adjunct land and labour demands across the year. The mixed farming could be in the form of the crop-livestock, crop-forestry, crop-horticulture fish-pig, fish-duck, and paddy-fish etc. Mixed farming system is helpful in decreasing the cost of production per unit area, increasing income and productivity and reducing the risk of farmers.

Factor affecting of mixed farming

It exists in a lot of forms depending on external and internal factors. External factors include weather patterns, market prices, political stability, technological developments, etc. whereas internal factors are associated with local soil characteristics, composition of the family and farmers` skill. Farmers can decide to go for mixed enterprises when they want to save resources by interchanging them on the farm because these allow wider crop rotations and helps in reducing dependency on chemicals and also allow diversification for better risk management. The main reason for farmers to prefer mixed farming is higher income. If mixed farming takes place, then the income of the farmers from the farm will improve as there would be many sources to make use of the land and labour in an effective way.

 Advantage of Mixed farming

 

·   In this type of farming, the fields are never left uncultivated. They would be producing one or other crops continuously.

·   Continuous production of crops / livestocks will improve the productivity of the land.

·   The profit of farmers will be improved as the land will be under production throughout the year.

·   One type of farming can support the other one in the mixed farming which reduces the cost cultivation.

·   When animal husbandry and crop farming is induced together the crop will help animal for fodder and in return, the waste generated by the animal can be used as a manure for crops.

·   Since, recycling of waste generated from plants and animals is used internally; there would be less requirement of input.

Disadvantages of Mixed farming

 

·   This type of farming is difficult to maintain than the monoculture type. This is because of more number of activities involved in mixed farming. Monitoring and maintenance of farming is difficult.

·    There is also a chance that a mistake in one crop will affect the other one.

·   The farmer must have complete knowledge of all the enterprises involved in mixed farming as there are many activities involved in it.

·   The main drawback of mixed farming is its limited capacity to grow a crop. If multiple crops are grown then commercial cultivation of one will be difficult due to the limitation of space

 Method of mixed farming system

Mixed farming systems can be classified in several ways:

 Co-cultivation farming

Cultivating another crop with one crop in which one crop does not have any adverse effect on the other crop, rather if beneficial to each others, such a method is called co-cultivation farming. For example, growing wheat and gram on the same land at the same time is co-cultivation. These practices minimize the risk of failure of one crop and insure against crop collapse due to adverse weather conditions. The crops to be grown jointly should have a different maturation of time and also different water requirements. One tall and one dwarf crop should be grown jointly. The nutrients required by one crop should be not as much of as those required by the other crops. One crop should have deep roots, others should be shallow. All these criteria lead to a successful co-cultivation pattern. In the country, the following combinations of crops are used by farmers:

 

1. Maize + potato
2. Cotton + Moong bean
3. Groundnut + Sunflower
4. Sorghum + Pigeon pea
5. Wheat + Chick pea
6. Barley + Chick pea

 Agricultural crops with garden system

It is a system in which any agricultural crops are grown in the fertile wasteland lying in the fruit crops / garden. Growing spices in a coconut garden is good example of this system.

Agricultural with forestry system

Forestry plants as well as agricultural crops are grown together in this system. In many places trees are grown around bunds of a field crop are taken in the field.

Beekeeping with agricultural crops

In this system farmers can cultivate agricultural crops along with bee keeping, so that there is no shortage of flowers for bees. Beekeeping with agriculture crops gives to the farmer additional income per box with compare to the single crop system. Sunflower, mustard and some other crops are suitable for bee keeping.

 Fish with pig farming

In this system farmers can do fish rearing with pig farming. In general, 30-40 pigs provide so much manure so that fish can be raised in one hectare of pond (Sharma et al. 1985).

 Farm pond system

In this system the rain water gets stored in the ground or takes the form of a drain or gets washed away and to store rain water, a small pond can be constructed and fish farming can be done in it. Vegetables can also be produced from moisture waters. In this way, farmers get more income from the pond with vegetables framings compare to single farming system.

 Fish with duck farming

 

In this system, farmers can cultivate paddy as well as fish farming. By this method the yield of paddy is more than 50% income to the farmers in addition to their normal paddy crops (Saikia et al. 2008).

 Characteristics of mixed farming system

·   The mixed farming is finished for (a) Sustenance of the animals, (b) own utilization, and (c) commercial sale in the market.

·   In the mixed farming, a crop rotation is followed in order to maintain soil fertility of land.

·   The sequence cultivation of the mixed farming is cereal vegetable and fruit production for own utilization, followed by hay, alfalfa, clover, etc., for livestock consumption, and finally, some amount of cereal production (wheat, maize rice etc), for commercial sale.

·   Generally, the mixed farming is more mechanized. The use of heavy equipment like tractors, Harrowers, thrashers, etc., is familiar.

·   There is a large-scale use of organic fertilizers in mixed farming.

·   The degree of commercialization varies considerably. In the west-central Europe, the Northern America and Argentina, mixed farming is highly commercialized, while in other areas, it is limited.

 

       Conclusion

Mixed farming has a very significant role to play in the sustainability of farming in future. The ability to include a grazing land or green manure into the system is paramount in building the soil and profitability of farm. Adding up livestock is basically means there is a return on the money invested instantly. As farmers struggle to achieve the correct sense of balance in these systems they will rely more and more on external suggestion. This will not only take the form of agronomic suggestion, but also include learning from another groups of farmer, and experts of different disciplines.

References

 

Biswas, A. (2015) Fish Duck Integrated Farming.

Saikia, S. K., & Das, D. N. (2008). Rice-fish culture and its potential in rural development: A lesson from Apatani farmers, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Agriculture & Rural Development, 6(1), 125-131.

Sharma, B.K., Das, M.K. and Chakarbarty, D.P. (1995) Fish cum livestock farming, Information and Extension Divisions of CIFRI, Barrackpore west Bengal. New series-5

 

 

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Mixed Farming A viable option for Sustainable Agriculture_compressed.pdf