Types of planting system

Three main croping system
Monocropping
Mixed cropping
Monoculture

Monoculture is the process of praticing a farming system by planting a crop on an area of land consistently with the same type of crop with out chamging it.

MONOCROPPING
Monocropping or sole cropping is the practice of growing just one crop on a piece of land during the cropping season.
Monocropping allows for easy mechanization of production e.g. maize, rice and most cereals can be mechanized at planting, during weed control to harvesting and processing. Monocropped fields of some cereal crops can be harvested with the combined harvester.
DISADVANTAGES;

1. The farmer stands the risk of loosing all his crops in the event of natural hazards such as drought, pest or disease outbreak.
   It encourages pest and disease build up.
   It creates imbalance in nutrient removal from the soil.
   MIXED CROPPING
   This practice involves the growing of two or more crops on the same piece of land at the same time.
   TWO TYPES OF MIXED CROPPING
   INTER-PLANTING: When the crop that is first planted is also harvested first e.g. maize interplanted with cassava.INTER-CROPPING: When the long season crop is first planted and then short season crop pia ed with it but short season crop is first harvested e.g. yam inter-cropped with maize or cowpea. There are two kinds of intercropping, namely row intercropping and mixed-intercropping. In row intercropping, each component is planted in alternate single or double rows.
   In mixed intercropping, the component crops are intimately intermingled without any distinct
   row arrangement.
   ADVANTAGES OF INTERC,ROPPING
   It makes for better use of environmental resources such as space, water and nutrient and light. It allows for planting at a higher plant population than in sole crop since all the area between the main crop stands can be cultivated. Also different crops in the mixture obtain their nutrients at different soil depths and complement in light capture and moisture uptake.
   Growing of more than one crop on the same field at the same time reduces the risk of total crop failure resulting from the possible outbreak of pests and diseases, e.g. In case of stem borer attack on maize/cowpea, only maize will be affected while the farmer can realise some income from cowpea which is not susceptible to stem borer attack.
   The more extensive root system of two crops tend to hold the soil particles more than that of a single crop. This will reduce erosion through better vegetative cover.
   Pests and diseases do not spread as fast in crop mixtures as in monocropping.
   The economic returns per unit input (land or labour or capital) is higher as a result of greater total yield.