Overview
This lecture covers essential crop care and maintenance practices, including harvesting, post-harvesting, crop classification, and factors affecting crop production for Grade 7 Agriculture and Fishery Arts.
Crop Classifications and Growth Habits
- Crops are plants cultivated for food, profit, or other uses.
- Food crops are for human consumption, including grains, fruits, and vegetables.
- Cash crops are grown for sale and profit, like coffee and cocoa.
- Forage crops are for animal feed, such as pasture grasses and corn.
- Fiber crops provide material like cotton and abaca.
- Oil crops are cultivated for oil production, e.g., coconut and palm.
- Ornamental crops are grown for decorative purposes, e.g., orchids and roses.
- Industrial crops yield non-edible materials, e.g., tobacco.
- Classified by growth habit: herb (non-woody), vine (climbing), liana (woody vine), shrub (small woody), tree (tall woody), evergreen (keeps leaves year-round), deciduous (loses leaves seasonally).
- Based on life cycle: annual (one year), biennial (two years), perennial (multiple years).
Factors Affecting Crop Production
- Key factors: water, soil, wind, temperature, sunlight, seed selection, and farmer knowledge.
- Proper crop care at each step ensures better yields and quality.
Crop Care and Maintenance Practices
- Cultivation: loosens soil, manages weeds/pests, improves soil aeration.
- Seed sowing/planting: use healthy seeds and proper depth/spatial arrangement (1.5–2 inches deep).
- Irrigation: supplies water based on crop needs via manual, drip, or sprinkler methods.
- Fertilizer application: adds nutrients using organic or commercial fertilizers; applied before planting or during growth.
- Weed control: manual (hand tools), mechanical (machines), or chemical (herbicides—selective or non-selective).
- Pest and disease control: use pesticides (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc.), preferably eco-friendly options.
Plant Support and Harvesting
- Trellises provide support for climbing/crawling crops (e.g., beans, squash).
- Harvest at crop maturity using manual or mechanical methods; timing depends on genetics, planting date, and environment.
Post-Harvest Handling and Storage
- Post-harvest changes: water loss, flavor, color, texture, vitamin content, decay.
- Storage: common (unrefrigerated) or cold storage (refrigerated) for optimal preservation.
- Produce should be mature and free from damage and disease.
Pre-Marketing and Sales
- Pre-marketing steps: washing, trimming, waxing, pre-cooling, grading, pre-packaging, packaging.
- Pre-cooling methods: hydrocooling, contact icing, vacuum cooling, air cooling.
- Grading sorts crops by size, shape, color, and ripeness for market value.
- Packaging ensures safe, efficient transport and storage.
- Sale options: retail (direct to consumers) or wholesale (to retailers/institutions).
Additional Practices to Improve Productivity
- Increase crop diversity and encourage pollinators.
- Use eco-friendly weed control and improve soil quality.
- Manage labor/input costs and keep detailed records.
- Explore creative marketing strategies.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Pesticides — substances controlling pests and diseases in crops.
- Herbicides — chemicals that control weeds.
- Cultivation — loosening and preparing soil for planting.
- Irrigation — artificial application of water to crops.
- Fertilizer — materials added to soil to supply nutrients.
- Annuals/Biennials/Perennials — categories for plant life cycles.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Watch recommended video(s) on crop care and maintenance.
- Answer questions on crop care practices from pre-production to harvesting.
- Review notes on crop classification, care, and post-harvest steps.