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Intercropping is a multiple cropping practice that involves the cultivation of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field, a form of polyculture. [1] [2] The most common goal of intercropping is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land by making use of resources or ecological processes that would otherwise not be utilized by a single crop.
A well-studied example of an agroforestry hillside system is the Quesungual Slash and Mulch Agroforestry System in Lempira Department, Honduras. This region was historically used for slash-and-burn subsistence agriculture. Due to heavy seasonal floods, the exposed soil was washed away, leaving infertile barren soil exposed to the dry season. [44]
A Central American polycultural "milpa" in 2011. Beans are growing among the drying maize; banana trees are in the background. A well-known traditional example is the intercropping of maize, beans, and squash plants in the group called "the Three Sisters". In this combination, the maize provides a structure for the bean to grow on, the bean ...
Intercropping is a natural agricultural practice that often improves the overall health of the soil and plants, increases crop yield, and is sustainable. [ 158 ] One of the most significant aspects of indigenous sustainable agriculture is their traditional ecological knowledge of harvesting.
Adopting the practice of multiple cropping on a large scale can help in reducing the food crises of a country. The overall cost of input decreases, cost spent on fertilizers, irrigation, labour, etc. reduces because of growing two or more than two crops on the same field.
It is based on in-depth understanding of chemical ecology, agrobiodiversity, plant-plant and insect-plant interactions, and involves intercropping a cereal crop with a repellent intercrop such as Desmodium uncinatum (silverleaf) [4] (push), with an attractive trap plant such as Napier grass (pull) planted as a border crop around this intercrop ...
The combination of knowledge and practices of agriculture and forestry, resulting in a system of land use in which forest trees or shrubs are grown around or among agricultural crops or pastureland, with the goal of enhancing the functionality and sustainability of a farming system. Agroforestry shares principles with intercropping but may ...
Studies indicate that agroforestry systems, including silvopastures, typically take 3–6 years to generate returns, leading to a delayed return on investment (ROI) [15]. Furthermore, silvopasture systems often require more labor and specialized knowledge than conventional farming, increasing costs for training and implementation [ 16 ] [ 17 ] .