Friday 22 February 2013

Choosing the Right Combination of Crops - Short Term, Medium Term & Long Term Crops

In our Agriculture for Everybody blog series, we are going to see how to choose the Right Combination of Crops.
In continuation with the filter (criteria) for selecting the crops, we will be covering a very important topic in this blog and it may be a considered a super filter rather than just another filter.  Within this filter, you can ensure that other filters are also taken care of.


What is meant by Short Term, Medium Term & Long Term Crops?

Short Term Crops - Any crop that has life term of about 1 Yr and less (<= 1 Yr) is considered Short Term Crops

For eg, Paddy,  Leafy Green Vegetables, Cereals, Millets etc

Medium Term Crops - Any crop that has life term of greater than 1 Yr and less than 5 Yrs  (> 1 Yr & <= 5 Yrs) is considered Medium Term Crops

For eg, Sugarcane, Banana, Bamboo, Pappaya etc

Long Term Crops - Any crop that has life term of greater than 5 Yrs (> 5 Yrs) is considered Long Term Crops

For eg, Mango, Coconut, Teak etc


Is it necessity to go for only Short Term or Medium Term or Long Term Crops? Does one exclude the other?

Simply putting it, all are necessary.

Short Term Crops provide us with cash flow capabilities and takes care of day-to-day operations cost of the farm.

Medium Term Crops provides with cash flow capabilities that will allow the farmer to extend the farming operations like buying costly machinery which may be required for the farm.

Long Term Crops provides with cash flow capabilities that will allow the farmer to plan for long term.

Please note that in both the Medium Term & Long Term Crops there is the waiting (gestation) period for output and hence keep this in mind while planning for further activities in the farm.


To give a concrete example why having the combined crops is necessary, let us re-visit the recent past.

During the Thane Cyclone, Cuddalore (in Tamilnadu) was affected heavily and most of the farmers have lost their Cashnew & Jackfruit crops which are considered Long Term Crops.

If for example, if they have used the SML (Short, Medium & Long Term) model, their daily survival would not suffer as they can easily re-invest in the Short Term Crops and ensure their survival is not at stake while re-building their Medium & Long Term Crops.

Another example would be the disastrous drop in Turmeric Prices after reaching the peak before those years.

By following the SML model and ensuring diversification well, the farmers profit or loss is well balanced and they can easily carry on without much difficulty.

By adopting the SML model, we can see the following benefits.
  • Cash Flow is maintained at all times
  • Work Load is balanced
  • Need of Labour is balanced and hence can have permanent labour and reduced need of temporary labour (in bulk)
  • Vagaries of the market price affecting our produce is balanced

How much percentage of Short Term, Medium Term & Long Term Crops is required?

We should have a balanced approach here and ensure that all the crops have similar percentage of land allocated to it.

The idea is to have a combination of all the crops so that we have continuous work in our farm as well as to ensure the cash flow is steady.

Friday 15 February 2013

Choosing the Right Combination of Crops - Single (Season) Harvest & Multiple (Season) Harvest Crops

In our Agriculture for Everybody blog series, we are going to see how to choose the Right Combination of Crops.


We will extend the previous blog namely, "Choosing the Right Combination of Crops - Single Harvest & Multiple Harvest Crops" in this blog and understand the difference between them.  The farmers can use this as one more filter (criteria) to choose the right combination of crops.


What do I mean by Single (Season) Harvest & Multiple (Season) Harvest Crops?

Any crop that provides harvest only for one season is considered Single (Season) Harvest Crop.

For eg: Mango

A classical example is the Mango Crop which comes to harvest during the summer season and the season may be close to 3 months in time.

Please note that we can slightly extend the time period of the Single Season Harvest by choosing the right combination of varieties (where possible).  We have already covered this in our previous blogs.


Any crop that provides harvest for more than one season is considered Multiple (Season) Harvest Crop.

For eg: Coconut, Papaya

The Coconut Crop gives harvest throughtout the year and similar is the case for Papaya.


Is it necessity to go for only Single (Season) Harvest or Multiple (Season) Harvest Crops? Does one exclude the other?

Simply putting it, both are necessary.  I am repeating the same just to highlight the point that diversification is the main goal.

In a Single (Season) Harvest Crop, you will get the money in your hand only once during the harvest.

In a Multiple (Season) Harvest Crop, you will get the money as and when the harvest is completed and hence there may not be any cash flow difficulties.


How much percentage of Single (Season) Harvest & Multiple (Season) Harvest crops is required?

We should have a balanced approach here and ensure that both the crops have similar percentage of land allocated to it.

The idea is to have a combination of both the crops so that we have continuous work in our farm as well as to ensure the cash flow is steady.

Friday 1 February 2013

Choosing the Right Combination of Crops - Single Harvest & Multiple Harvest Crops

In our Agriculture for Everybody blog series, we will explore "Choosing the Right Combination of Crops".  The farmers can use this as a filter to choose the right combination of crops.  The filter in this blog is "Single Harvest & Multiple Harvest Crops".

What do I mean by Single Harvest & Multiple Harvest Crops?

Any crop that provides harvest only for one time is considered Single Harvest Crop.

For example, Paddy, Sugarcane, Banana, Teak, Groundnut etc

Multiple Harvest Crops are those crops that provide multiple harvests and not just once.

For example, Tomato, Coconut, Mango, Guava, Flowering Trees etc

Is it necessity to go for only Single Harvest or Multiple Harvest Crops?  Does one exclude the other?

Simply putting it, both are necessary.

In a Single Harvest Crop, you may need to repeat the same activities (from sowing to harvesting) every time.

In a Multiple Harvest Crop, the activities will almost be similar to Single Harvest Crop in the intial stages but maintenance and harvest will differ.

Please note that the activities in a Single Harvest Crop is generally more than the Multiple Harvest Crop.  The financial necessities also will be different as well as the man hours involved.

How much percentage of Single Harvest & Multiple Harvest crops is required?

We should have a balanced approach here and ensure that both the crops have similar percentage of land allocated to it.

The idea is to have a combination of both the crops so that we have continuous work in our farm as well as to ensure the cash flow is steady.