Traditionally, the increase in food production has come from putting more land in cultivation. However, in large areas of the world, especially in Asia, all the land that can be cultivated economically is already being used. In the future, most of the additional food requirements must come from increased production of land already being cultivated. An important part of this increase is likely to come from the increase in the number of crops produced per year on a given land through the use of improved cultivars. This multiple crop offers potential not only to increase food production but also to reduce land degradation.
A system is defined as a set of components that are interrelated and interact with each other. A cropping system refers to a set of cropping systems, which constitute the farming activities of an agricultural system.
The culture system comprises all the components necessary for the production of a particular crop and the interrelations between them and an environment
In other words, a culture system generally refers to a combination of cultures in time and space. The combination in time occurs when the crops occupy different periods of growth and the combinations in the space happen when the cultures are interplanted. When considering annual crops, a cropping system generally means combining crops within a given year
In India, the pattern of cultivation follows two distinct seasons; The Kharif season from July to October and the season of Rabi from October to March. Cultures produced between March and June were called Zaid. Crops are grown alone or mixed (mixed cultures) or in a defined sequence (rotational culture). The land can be occupied by a harvest during a session (mono-culture) or by two crops during a season (double crop) that can grow in a year in a sequence.
Growing pattern
1. Annual sequence and spatial arrangement of crops or crops and fallow in a given area.
2. The crop pattern indicates the proportion of area under different crops at any given time. Cultivation activities are carried out throughout the year in India provided that crop water is used.