Crop production

What Is Crop Production?

Crop production is a common agricultural practice followed by worldwide
farmers to grow and produce crops to use as food and fibre. This practice
includes all the feed sources that are required to maintain and produce
crops. Listed below are few practices used during crop production.

 Preparation of Soil.
 Sowing of Seeds.
 Irrigation.
 Application of manure, pesticides, and fertilizers to the crops.
 Protecting and Harvesting Crops.
 Storage and Preserving the produced Crops.

Land preparation
Land preparation is the first operation in ensuring that crops can achieve
the best yields. It is essential to provide plants with the best soil conditions
for their development. A proper seedbed should be prepared with the right
nutrients and conditions that can allow, first of all, seed sprouting and then
the crop's establishment for its later development

CRop operations
Several operations determine a crop's performance, including seeding and
weeding. Adequate seeding rates, spacing and placement are crucial for
the development of the plant. This is also influenced by soil conditions and
the cropping system. From manual broadcast seeding to precision
pneumatic seeding, there is a wide range of tools and equipment that can
improve seed operations in the specific socio economic and environmental
context of farmers.

Weeding
Weeding by hand using traditional hoes takes about 140 hours for one
person to weed one hectare (which falls to 65 hours per hectare by the
third weeding). Weeding is conducted at critical times to avoid the
establishment of weeds and crop damage.
Harvesting
Once the crop is matured or fully ripen, they are cut and gathered
(Reaping) which are collectively called as harvesting. Harvesting depends
on many factors like season, crop variety, maturity period, etc.

Storage of Crops
In the case of small-scale cultivation, farmers use the harvested crop for
themselves while large-scale production is mainly for marketing. Thus the
cultivators have to store the grains. For this, proper storage space has to
be arranged. Inadequate storage space and improper storage methods can
lead to a huge grain loss

What are the factors affecting crop production?

The factors affecting crop production are:

 Soil fertility
 Availability of water
 Diseases
 pests
 Climate

What are the major food crops?

Potato, rice, sorghum, soybeans, maize and wheat are some of the
important food crops.

What are the major food crops grown across the world?
Wheat and maize are the two major crops grown across the world. Rice
and soybeans are other crops grown across the world