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CRP 507 FARMING SYSTEMS (2 UNITS) Course Team

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CRP 507 FARMING SYSTEMS (2 UNITS) Course Team CRP 507 FARMING SYSTEMS (2 UNITS) Course Team: Dr Godwin Adu Alhassan (Course Writer) Department of Crop and Soil Sciences – NOUN Head of Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (Programme Leader) – NOUN Prof. Isaac S.R.Butswat ( Dean of Agricultural Sciences) – NOUN 1 NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA National Open University of Nigeria Plot 91, Cadastral Zone, University Village Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway Jabi, Abuja Lagos Office 14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way Victoria Island Lagos e-mail: [email protected] URL: www.nou.edu.ng Published by: National Open University of Nigeria Printed 2018 ISBN: 978-058-542-7 All Rights Reserved 2 Table of Contents Introduction ……………………………………………………. What you will Learn in this Course …………………………. Course Aims …………………………………………………… Course Objectives ……………………………………………… Working through this Course …………………………………... Course Materials ……………………………………………….. Study Units ……………………………………………………… Sets of References and other Resources Assessment ……………………………………………………… Tutor-Marked Assignment ……………………………………… Final Examination and Grading ………………………………… Course Marking Scheme ………………………………………... Facilitators/Tutors and Tutorials ………………………………… Summary ………………………………………………………… 3 INTRODUCTION Farming Systems (CRP 507) is one semester course of two credit hours maximum. It will be available to all students offering crop production in their final year of B. Agriculture degree. The course will consist of five units, which involves good knowledge in the natural sciences and rural sociology. What constitutes the farming system of a community or place is dependent upon the culture, soil, vegetation, climate, water availability, income, available markets and diets of the people. The decision to produce a particular crop or rare a particular livestock is the product of the man’s environment. This includes the physical, biological, socio-economic environment of the farmers. Sometimes government or some funding intervention may alter or change the farmers’ decision to produce. Climate change may have significant effect on the farming system of a community. In response to climate change, farmers have adapted the use of short duration crops as against their traditional long to medium duration crops. Tree crops production in some places has given way to other crops due to short falls in volume of annual rainfall that was hitherto supporting the growth of forest trees. Drastic price changes in either the inputs for production or the outputs of the farm enterprise are enough to create a major shift in inputs combination and new outputs, thus the emergence of a new farming systems of a place. This complex interrelationships (climate, disease outbreak, withdrawal of government support, changes in foreign policy of either an importer or exporter, available family labour, price changes) that come to play in the farming environment of the farmer will determine the farming systems of that community. The outcomes of these interactions and interrelationships will give rise to the various types of farming systems like pastoralist, nomadic, crop-based, forestry based, ley farming, dry season farming etc. Prerequisites Your background knowledge of rural sociology, farming systems research and general agriculture is required. What you will learn in this course The overall aim of this course of study is to understand the farmer and his environment as it affects his livelihoods. The farmer has a family which he has to feed and ensure their wellbeing. 4 He organizes the resources available within the environment-land, water, labour livestock etc. As he combines these resources (inputs) to produce food (output), decisions are taken in such a way to go so that the chosen enterprise is sustained over time. Adjustments are made as resources and other socio-economic variables change with a view of remaining in business at least ‘at a subsistence level’. Farming systems encompass all components of a farm enterprise, including cropland, cropping systems, livestock, common grazing land and woodlots managed by several farmers in a community and off-farm activities, within the framework of markets, land, labour, production inputs, farm products, credit and knowledge. Farming systems in Nigeria involve diverse cropping systems, including intercropping, which entails growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same field. It is common among subsistence farmers who practice low- input agriculture and those who lack adequate farm hands. There are several traditional cropping systems in Nigeria, evolving from responses to existing soil, climatic and social conditions. Course aims The course aims to provide you with an understanding of farming systems and types of farm enterprises available in a community and the socio-economic factors that affect the development of a sustainable farming system. Course objectives To achieve the aims set out for this course, each unit has a set of objectives which are included at the beginning of the unit. You should read these objectives before you study the unit. You may wish to refer to them during your study to check on your progress. You should always look at the unit objectives after completion of each unit. By doing so, you would have followed the instructions in the unit. Below are the comprehensive objectives of the course as a whole. By meeting these objectives, you should have achieved the aims of the course as a whole. In addition to the aims above, this course sets to achieve some objectives. Thus, after going through the course, you should be able to: o Understand and define Farming Systems o Know the classification of farming systems o List the factors that determine farming systems (physical, biological and socio-economic) 5 o Identify the characteristics of tropical small scale farming systems (nomadic, shifting cultivation, fallow, rotation, permanent cultivation, ley farming, intercropping, mono- cropping, sole cropping, sequential cropping, relay cropping, strip cropping,) o What are the important crop-based farming systems (low land rice based, upland cereal based, root crop based, small scale mixed farming, irrigated small holder farming, small holder farming with plantation-perennial, crop based and agro-forestry ) o Understand what is a farming systems research: descriptive and prescriptive Working through the course In order to complete this course you are required to read each study unit, read relevant textbooks and references which may be provided by the National Open University of Nigeria. Each unit contains self assessment exercises and at certain points in the course you would be required to submit assignment for assessment purpose. At the end of the course there is a final examination. This course should take you a total of eighteen (18) weeks to complete. From the listed components of the course, you should be able to allocate your time to each unit in order to successfully complete the course on time. In addition to spending quality time to read, I would advise that you avail yourself the opportunity of attending the tutorial sessions with your facilitators. This will give you the opportunity to compare notes with your colleagues and seek explanations where necessary. The course materials The main components of the course are: 1. Course guides 2. Study units 3. References/further reading 4. Assignments (TMA) 6 Study units The study units in this course are as follows: Unit 1: Concepts, Definition and Classification of farming systems Unit 2: Factors that determine farming systems (physical, biological and socio-economic) Unit 3: Characteristics of tropical small scale farming systems (nomadic, shifting cultivation, fallow, rotation, permanent cultivation, ley farming, intercropping, mono-cropping, sole cropping, sequential cropping, relay cropping, strip cropping,) Unit 4: Important crop-based farming systems (low land rice based, upland cereal based, root crop based, small scale mixed farming, irrigated small holder farming, small holder farming with plantation-perennial, crop based and agro-forestry ) Unit 5: Farming systems research: descriptive and prescriptive MODULE 1: Concepts, Definition and Classification of farming systems Unit 1: Concepts, Definition and Classification of farming systems Unit 2: Factors that determine farming systems (physical, biological and socio-economic) MODULE 2: Characteristics of tropical small scale farming systems Unit 1: Characteristics of tropical small scale farming systems: nomadic, shifting cultivation, fallow, rotation, permanent cultivation, ley farming, intercropping, mono-cropping, sole cropping, sequential cropping, relay cropping, strip cropping MODULE 3: Important crop-based farming systems Unit 1: Important crop-based farming systems: Low land rice based, upland cereal based, root crop based, small scale mixed farming, irrigated small holder farming, small holder farming with plantation-perennial, crop based and agro-forestry MODULE 4: Farming systems research: descriptive and prescriptive Unit 1: Farming systems research: descriptive and prescriptive 7 Assessment You will be assessed in two ways in this course – the Tutor-Marked Assignments (TMA) and a written examination. You are expected to do the assignments and submit them to your tutorial facilitator for formal assessment in accordance with the stated deadlines in the presentation schedule and the assignment file. Your tutor-marked assignments will account for 30% of the total course mark. Tutor- Marked Assignment CRP 507 involves a lot of reading and study hours. There are tutor marked
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