Source: Dalrymple, D.G. 1971. Social and economic aspects. p. 37-59. In Survey of multiple cropping in less developed nations. Foreign Agric. Econ. Rep. No. 91, Econ. Res. Ser., U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.

While multi-cropping is strongly influenced by social and economic factors, these have neither been studied nor written about extensively before this publication. The implementation of a multi-cropping system appears to require a dense population, both to provide demand for increased crop production and to furnish increased labor input. South and East Asia have the highest population densities and the highest prevalence of multi-cropping in the world. The lowest prevalence of this cropping system is found in areas with low population density in Africa, Latin America, and the Near East. The article cites evidence, particularly from China, that once a multi-cropping system is implemented, population density increases even more, leading to an even greater necessity for multi-cropping; the two are part of a food supply/population cycle. The empirical evidence available suggests that multi-cropping allays employment problems in rural areas. Multi-cropping does incur increased costs, due to increased labor, fuel, and natural resource input, which need to be compared to possible increased returns. The first of three economic questions asked by the author is: "Is multi-cropping the best social use of resources?" Often, this is a bureaucratic concern because it involves the possibility of diversifying the use of already scarce public resources such as irrigation systems. The second question is: "What are the costs and returns at the farm level?" The potential increase in costs with multi-cropping will depend on the level of under-utilized agricultural resources already at hand. These resources include labor, both human and animal; time (i.e. length of growing season of the region); land; and water. The third question is: "How can cropping inter-relationships be analyzed in economic terms?" These crop inter-relationships can be classified as (1) competitive, where increased output of one crop is possible only through decreased output of another; (2) complementary, where increased output of one crop leads to an equal decrease in the other; or (3) supplementary, where the outputs of the crops are independent from one another. The factors most responsible for deterring farmers from implementing a multi-crop system are lack of sufficient profit, lack of knowledge, tradition, water and land rent charges made per crop instead of per season, and reduced leisure time. The chapter concludes that the economic and social aspects of multi-cropping are no less complicated than the biological and physical aspects and need to be further studied.

Abstract author: Bonnie Anglin, 27 October 1995.

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