Vegetable and Medicinal Plant Production�                                                                        Plant Science (9-12)��                                Unit 2: Vegetable farming

KRISHNA POUDEL

SENIOR AGRICULTURE INSTRUCTOR

TRIVENI SECONDARY SCHOOL

DEPARTMENT OF PLANT SCIENCE

KATARI 4, UDAYPUR

Course content and mark breakdown

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• Kitchen gardening
• Roof gardening
• Truck gardening
• Organic farming
• Off-season farming
• Peri-urban farming

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Estimated teaching period: 5

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Multiple choice questions (2): 2 x 1 = 2

Short questions : 0

Long questions : 0

                    Total : (2) : 2 marks 

Vegetable farming

• Vegetable farming is comparatively better source of income as it yields 5-10 times more income than cereals in per unit area. 
• Vegetables play an important role in human nutrition and are a good source for capturing foreign markets. 
• In addition to providing food, vegetables cultivation help in solving the problem of unemployment, improve economic status and purify the surrounding environment. 
• Depending upon the area and purpose of vegetable cultivation, different types of farming systems are developed in Nepal. 

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Kitchen garden

• The farming system in which an individual or a family grows vegetables with the purpose of household consumption is known as kitchen garden. 
• It is the most ancient type of garden.
• It is a growing of vegetable crop behind the residential house to meet the requirement of the family all the year round. 
• Various vegetable crops are grown intensively on a small piece of land year around based on  interest and taste of the family.  
• It should be established in the backyard of the house, the land must be fully exposed to light and should be located close to a well or tap water or the r source of irrigation. 
• The design of a kitchen garden depends upon the character of land, its extent and situation.

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To establish a kitchen garden various points are to be kept in mind that are stated below:

• Land must be selected at the backyard of the house and should be of rectangular shape.
• The lay-out should be attractive consisting of small plots with narrow path/borders accessing all parts. 
• The site should receive an ample sunlight during day hours.
• Several sowing are practiced at short interval to get steady supply for longer period.
• The ridges separating individual plot should be utilized by planting root crops or cucurbits which can be trailed on the fences.
• Strong fencing should be maintained to save the growing vegetables against pests like: goats, cows, etc. 
• Intercropping is preferred in each plot.

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Advantages

• It saves time and money by saving the time required to go shopping due to the availability of vegetables in the kitchen garden. 
• It encourages better utilization of unused land space in home. Eg. Climbers can be grown on fences and root vegetables in ridges/borders of small vegetable plots.
• Almost all kinds of fresh vegetables can be available all the year round.
• It helps maintain good health due to time spent cultivating vegetables  by physical exercise.
• It helps to utilize the leisure time.
• It helps to reduce erosion by holding the soil in a place.
• It gives high return per unit are with a limited effort
• Manuring of kitchen garden can be made by incorporating organic composts from kitchen wastes and thus encourages organic farming.

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Disadvantages

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• It occupies some portion of our lawn which makes difficulty in case of limited area. 
• It requires a great investment of time from planting to harvesting.
• There is a chance of limited choice of shape, size and location.
• The kitchen garden demands enough time which is not possible in reality. 

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Truck garden

• Production of special crops in relatively large quantities for distant market is called Truck grading. 
• It follows more extensive and less intensive method of vegetables production than market. 
• The farmers are concerned to grow one or two crops at commercial scale. 
• In this type of gardening, production site is far from the market or cities where the cost of land & labors are usually cheap. 
• On large holding, mostly mechanized farming is practiced which leads to reduction of cost of cultivation. 
• In Nepal, truck is gardening is practiced in some Rural Municipality of Illam, Tistung, Palung and Daman of Makwanpur district and are dispatched in Indian Market of terai region. 
• Here middle men are also involved in marketing. 
• Only few vegetables which have longer storage life and can thrive long distance transportation without any damages are suitable for truck garden e.g. potato, garlic, onion, chilly, pumpkin etc.

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This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC.

Advantages

• It facilitate the vegetable production at the commercial scale.
• Compared to market gardening, land and labour is available at a low cost. 
• On large holding, mechanized farming is practiced which reduces the production cost. 
• Supply of vegetable to distant market is possible with refrigerated trtransport. Perishable vegetables can also be suitable for truck gardening  general. 

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Disadvantages

• Net profit is less due to the involvement of middlemen and high cost of transportation.
• Chances of loss during the transportation due to injuries, cold, bruises, etc. on the way. This can be serious especially for perishable vegetables if no refrigerated transportation is done. 

Roof gardening

• It is a special type of urban agriculture growing agricultural crops in roof. 
• It is also called as rooftop gardening in general.
• It includes the growing of trees, shrubs, bushes, grasses, vegetables, etc. 
• Due to the growing population growth, industries, automobiles, and impermeable concrete and asphalt surfaces, the need for roof gardening is felt necessary. 

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Advantages

• It buffers against heating and cooling in summer and winter respectively.
• It beautifies the roof environment.
• It helps to create new ecological sites for birds, butterflies, bees, etc.
• It helps in reduction of noise pollution by absorption of noise.
• It provides outdoor space for exercise (exercise for working) and for enjoyment.
• It provides food assisting to reduce global hunger.
• It helps in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and energy use.
• It helps to capture and harvest rainwater and reduce storm water runoff and discharge.
• It converts Carbon dioxide emissions and produces oxygen.  

Types

1. Direct producing green roofs

• In this type, vegetables, spices, flowers, etc. are grown in shallow beds in a soil based growing media on top of waterproof membrane or additional layers placed above roof. 
• A waterproof membrane or additional layer such as waterproof cement or silicon coating, silpauline plastic, etc. should be applied above the roof to prevent from damage that might be used by soil and water. 
• Irrigation and drainage system can be provided in this type of gardening.
• Prepared soil media is placed above these waterproof membranes and the growing of crops is performed in this media. 

2. Rooftop container gardens:

• In this type, different structures like: pots, buckets, container bottles, etc. are placed in the roof and are filled with soil based growing media.
• These media are prepared by mixing of soil, compost, woodchips, cocopeat, etc. and the nutrients are supplied by applying various fertilizers.
• The plants are grown in this media. 

3. Rooftop hydroponic systems

• In this system, plants are grown using water based nutrient solutions placed in rooftop.
• Hydroponic is slightly expensive method of cultivation due to the expensive installation of hydroponic system compared to soil-based farming systems. 

Technical aspects of rooftop gardening

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• Rooftop gardening imposes more load to the roof that may damage the roof or whole house. 
• So, priority should be given to the use of less weight as much as possible along with good production. 
• Use of shallow beds or containers. Light-weight media such as coco peat, vermiculite, wood chips, a larger portion of compost, etc. Should be prioritized for roof gardening.  

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Comparison of different types of roof gardening

Organic farming

• Organic farming is a holistic food production and management that aims to maintain the health of an   agro-ecosystem, nurturing and growing crops with the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. It favors the maximum use of organic materials (crop residues, animal excreta, legumes and off-farm )

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Characteristics

• Protecting the long term fertility of the soil by maintaining organic matter level encouraging soil biological activities providing crop nutrients. 
• Weed, disease, and pest control primarily on crop rotations, natural predator diversity, organic manuring, resistant varieties and limited thermal, biological and chemical interventions.
• Avoiding highly intensive livestock production by ensuring sufficient space to meet their needs. 
• No use of chemical fertilizers, Synthetic drugs, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
• Prevention of soil from erosion and protecting the long-term fertility of the soil.
• Use of agronomic, biological and mechanical method rather than chemical means.
• Promotion of different types of bio-diversity.

Benefits

Constraints

Principles of organic farming

Principle of health:

• This principle states that organic farming is concerned with health of soil, plant, and animals with various measures of crop management practices like: crop rotation, green manure, biological pest control, and mechanical cultivation.  

Principle of Ecology:

• This principle states that an organic agriculture should help sustain and develop the ecological system via natural system and the conventional methods of recycling. 

Principle of Fairness:

• This principle states that organic farming is based on equity, fairness, respect, and justice among the participants of business: farmers, suppliers, traders, and consumers.

Principle of care: 

• This principle states that the organic farming should be managed in a way so as to protect the human health and well be well-being of a current and future generations and of the environment. 

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Off-season farming

Vegetable seed farming

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• The farming system generally targeting the production of vegetable seeds is called as vegetable seed farming.
• Such type of farming is adopted in large areas to produce the seed of high quality. 
• Soil, climate and disease free condition are the main consideration in the selection of seed production areas. 
• The producer should have thorough knowledge of the crop including growth habit, mode of pollination, isolation distance, rouging, harvesting, curing, threshing, cleaning, field seed standards, grading, packaging and storage condition. 
• Special care should be done for seed farming.
• The crop should be protected by wind break in highly windy areas

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• Isolation distance should be maintained adequately in crops e.10-200m in the case of self-pollinated crops and 300-1600m in cross pollinated crops to avoid natural crossing. 
• The site of the seed should be free from major soil borne diseases and insect pests with adequate moisture in the soil.  
• Periodical roguing of crop is practiced at vegetative growth, at flowering and at fruiting stage. 
• Also most of the crop is cross pollinated by insect so provision of honey bee hives around the farm ensure proper pollination and increased seed yield.
• vn Nepal vegetable seed production is practiced in remote part hills at an altitude ranging from 1000-2700 masl where roads are lacking. e.g. Cabbage, cauliflower, radish, tomato, chili, brinjal, okra etc. are grown for seed.

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Peri-urban farming

• Cultivation of vegetable crop around the periphery of the city or town to fulfill the demand of vegetable is termed as peri-urban farming. 
• It is one of the most intensive types of farming where most skillful method for production of vegetables for commercial purpose is employed. 
• As the land is mostly situated near the city, land and labor is very costly. 
• It is practiced in small areas where each and every parts of land is fully utilized adopting intercropping and planting crop in succession to get extra income from the same piece of land.
• Here the farmers are very skilled and have knowledge of cultivating of various vegetable crops. 
• The vegetables are selected for cultivation on the basis of demand of the market. 

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• The farmers have to supply variety of vegetables continuously over a long season which is highly demanded by the urban market. 
• Following points should be considered while selecting site for peri-urban farming:
• The topography of land should be even in plain and terraced in slopes.
• The soil should be fertile and productive.
• There should be adequate irrigation facility.
• Labor should be available any time at cheaper rate.
• There should favorable climatic condition for selected crop.
• The site should be near to the market with adequate transportation facility.

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• TT

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