1. Small-scale Crop Production.

2. Questions farmers could ask themselves about their crop production practices.

3. Decisions farmers need to consider for successful crop production.

4. Crop production practices and questions that will help focus the farmer's decisions.

5. Crop distribution for human and animal consumption.

Introduction

The Earth is a sphere (Globe) about 510 million km² (51 billion hectares) in surface (#1). Approximately 2/3 (34 billion ha) of this surface is water and 1/3 (17 billion ha) land. However, the maximum amount of land that could be used to date, if water for irrigation could be developed is 4.2 billion ha. In our world today we use approximately 1.36 billion ha of land to produce food for the world. In other words, land for crop production on this Earth does have a limit as population increases (#2). Thus, the land base for food production becomes smaller and smaller.

From the very beginning of people on the Earth, food production has presented a constant and never ending task in order to sustain life. Different agricultural practices have been developed over time, often by trial and error, that have made it possible for people to live in every country on the earth and in almost every environment. Many agricultural practices are unique to a specific country or location just because the environment and the production costs or needs of the people are also unique. Therefore, corn, for instance, may be planted in a certain way in one location and differently in another. People have developed, adapted and used practices overtime that have made it possible to satisfy their specific needs. In recent years, as people are increasing in number on the earth, we need to increase food production by increasing either or both land cultivation and crop yield. Unfortunately, agricultural land is pretty limited. Many agricultural practices, which have been used for hundreds of years, need to be improved to become more efficient (#3-6).

Thus, we need to give emphasis to increasing crop yields, because more and more of this agricultural land is being used for homes, villages and cities. This increase of people will continue into the future and, therefore, agricultural practices must be adapted that will feed the people. It must be recognized that agricultural crop production is imposed upon "mother nature". People plant what they want and need to grow to meet their food, shelter, and economic needs. Seldom, if ever, are the crops that people plant the same as the native vegetation that mother earth would produce in any given area.

Furthermore, some of the practices, or lack of them, that are used by people to produce crops result in damage to the land. Such damage occurs as depletion of soil nutrients and the washing or blowing away of the soil by water and/or wind (#7). The goal of every farmer should be to grow and produce sufficient food for his family and to earn sufficient income for his family's needs. Farming, however, must be done in such a way that the land used by the farmer may also be used by his children and their children.

Concept #1

Small-scale Crop Production

The "Small-scale Crop Production" portion of the Family Self Reliance Program is only part of a complete package aimed to help the small farmer and his family (#8-9). Crop production is based on a program to help the small farmer become nutritionally self sufficient in food production (#10). A cash crop is considered in the production unit to make the program financially attractive for the small farmer. The income generated by this cash crop is used by the small farmer to buy inputs for the next season and other food items that he cannot obtain from the land (#11).

Before starting to plan the program, it is important to identify the different agricultural practices used and crops grown in the area for the following reasons: 1). The nutritional output for the small farmer's family is going to be based on this information. 2). The cultural practices for all the crops will help to identify probable problems in crop production and find ways to solve them. 3). The information will help identify methods to produce higher yields (#12). Most of this information can be gathered from the government Agricultural Stations, and from the farmers' experience.

Research findings have shown that at least one hectare of land is required to fully implement this program and to help the family become self sufficient in food production (#13). However, in case the farmer has less than one hectare, some modifications can be adopted to the program and still help the farmer through the better use of his land. In case the farmer has more than one hectare of land, he can implement the program in one hectare and use the rest for a cash crop. Research has also shown that the program must be simple to implement. Otherwise, too much complication will discourage farmers to use it.

Concept #2:

Decisions farmers need to make for successful Small-scale Crop Production

For successful implementation of the crop production unit, the farmer must make some important decisions (#14). Based on the potential crops that can be used in the production unit there are some questions that each producer needs to take into account, for instance:

Why am I growing this crop? Is it because I have always grown it? Is it my main source of food? Do I grow it to sell? Am I willing to grow a different crop if it were better? Would a different or newer crop help improve the life of my family? How can I use new crops to help my family?

Concept #3:

Questions farmers could ask themselves about their crop production practices

As the lessons are presented, the producer can review the way things are normally done and compare them with the alternatives that are proposed. The purpose of these training sessions is to provide ways for farmers to improve their crop production and their quality of life (#15-16). There can be many agricultural production practices that can be changed to have better production. Some of the questions that may arise as the farmer goes trough the training could include:

Are the production practices I use the best for my farm? Why do we plant crops the way we do? Are there other crops that might be better? Is it possible for us to get higher crop yields from our land? Should we use fertilizer or not? Will it help our crops? How can we make enough money to purchase fertilizer? How much fertilizer should we apply and what kind for our crops?

These are just examples of questions every farmer should ask himself. His answers, of course, pretty much determine what he is going to do. But answers are not enough. There must also be doing. It may mean changing some production practices, if that is what is wanted and needed. Crop production practices must fit the farmer's needs, works, and capabilities. Some farmers have little control over what they can do (rented land). Others may make changes if they choose. This part of the training provides alternatives for the farmers. It will be up to the individual farmers to decide what it is that they want and can do (#17).

Concept #4:

Crop production practices and questions that will help focus the farmer's decisions (#18).

The format of the training is a series of lessons on specific topics. Technical information is provided in the form of notes for each lesson and suggestions on how to use this material. Following is a list of questions on crop production practices which will help focus the farmer's decisions as discussed in each lesson.

Lesson # 1:Crop Production Plan:

What do I need for my family and for profit that can be grown where I live? What are the choices? How can I best utilize the land that I have for the crops I want to grow? How much land should I put into each crop to best serve my family needs? (#19).

Lesson # 2: Seed quality and quantity:

Where can I purchase the seed I need? How much does it cost? How can I tell how good it is? How much do I need? (#20).

Lesson # 3: Land Preparation:

How I must prepare the land for the crops I want to grow? (#21).

Lesson # 4: Planting Methods:

Each crop is different--some have large seeds, some small. How do I plant them to get the best crop production? How deep? How far apart should I plant the rows? How many seeds in each planting place? How far apart should I put the seeds in the row? When do I plant each crop? (#22).

Lesson # 5: Fertilizer:

What will fertilizer do for my crops? Will it increase yields? What kind do I use for each different crop? How much do I use? How do I put it on? Where do I put it? When do I put it on? (#23).

Lesson # 6: Weed and Pest Control:

How effective is weed control? How often do I need to weed? Is it necessary to use chemical weed killers in my production unit? How do I control insect pests and diseases in my crops? (#24).

Lesson # 7: Water:

How much water do crops need? Will the crops I want to grow produce with my area rainfall only? What about irrigation? (#25).

List of figures for lesson 1.0

(Click on the numbered links below to view and print full-sized figures)

1. Drawing of the earth with scale of land available for crop production.

2. Graph of world population increase projections.

3. Drawing of corn planted on hills and with large spaces vs. row planting.

4. Drawing of a healthy crop field.

5. Drawing of plants used for food.

6. Drawing of crop diversification vs. monocultivation.

7. Drawing of eroded soil.

8. Drawing of The "Family Self Reliance Program" diagram.

9. Drawing of a Small-scale Agriculture plot (Crop Production Unit).

10. Drawing of a family eating corn tortillas, beans.

11. Drawing of money $ $ $

12. Drawing of farmer thinking questions around his head.

13. Drawing of field with narrow and wide row spacings.

14. Drawing of a farmer thinking comparing different production practices.

15. Drawing of a farmer looking at pamphlets with production practices.

16. Drawing of two farmers talking things over.

17. Drawing of farmers attending a training session.

18. Drawing of family working on the crop production unit.

19. Drawing of family making a farm plan in his mind (show family farm & crop choices).

20. Drawing of bags of seed, seed store, husks hanging from roof.

21. Drawing of farmer preparing land.

22. Drawing of farmer looking at two different seed sizes and thinking how to plant them.

23. Drawing of farmer looking at 3 different kinds of fertilizers and a pile of manure.

24. Drawing of a crop field infested with weeds.

25. Use table 1 on lesson 7.

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