Global Ecovillage Network/Solution Library/Intercropping

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Monoculture can lead to several issues down the road: planting the same crop in the same place each year depletes nutrients from the soil and leaves it weak, unable to support healthy plant growth. Due to the poor soil structure and quality, farmers are compelled to use chemical fertilizers to stimulate plant growth and fruit production. These fertilizers, in turn, disrupt the natural composition of the soil and contribute to further nutrient depletion. Recent research on indigenous methods suggests that world hunger and soil degradation result at least partly from the abandonment of traditional agriculture and intercropping practices.

Intercropping offers farmers the opportunity to engage nature's principle of diversity on their farms and have the following advantages:

• Benefits of intercropping are crop yield, productivity of various plant constituents, economic return, yield stability, social benefits, pest control, and nutrient use efficiency.
• Furthermore, because of some favorable exudates from the component legumes, greater land-use efficiency, greater yield stability and increased competitive ability towards weed, intercropping is advantageous over mono-cropping.

• Seeds, Food & Soil.

• http://harithaorganicfarms.com/
• http://www.iatp.org/
• http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/environmental/monoculture-gardening.htm
• http://friendsofthetrees.net/
• http://www.iiste.org/