Crop production is the process of farming or producing crops. It is an important aspect of agriculture and is probably the most practiced area of agriculture. As the population increased, the food supply was not always sufficiently stable or plentiful to supply man’s needs. This probably led to the practice of crop production. Crop production began at least nine thousand (9000) years ago when the domestication of plants became essential to supplement natural supplies in certain localities. The art of crop production is older than civilization, and its essential features have remained almost unchanged since the dawn of history.
Crop production is an intricate enterprise that requires vast knowledge about agronomy, environmental interactions, and the application of available technology to achieve food production. This is exactly what farming in Nigeria needs to revolutionalize food production.
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ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION OF CROPS
- Cereal or Grain crops: Cereals are grasses grown for their edible seeds, the term cereal being applied either to the grain or to the plant itself. Cereals include wheat, oats, barley, rice, maize, sorghum, millets, etc.
- Root and tuber crops: These include sugar beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, yams, cassava, potatoes, and cocoyam
- Legumes: These include groundnuts, cowpeas, soybeans, lima beans, and pigeon peas. They all belong to the family Leguminosae and are grown for their edible seeds.
- Oil crops: The oil crops include soybean, peanuts (groundnuts), sunflower, safflower, sesame, castor bean, mustard, cottonseed, corn, grain sorghum, and flax.
- Vegetable crops: This group includes potatoes, tomatoes, and onions.
- Fiber crops: These are grown for their fiber. They include cotton, jute, kenaf, hemp, ramie, and sisal.
- Sugar crops: These are crops that are grown for their sweet juice from which sucrose is extracted and crystallized. They include sugarcane and sugar beet.
- Forage crops: These are vegetable matters fresh or preserved that are utilized as feeds for animals. They include grasses, legumes, crucifers, and other cultivated crops.
- Rubber crops/latex crops: These crops which include Para rubber are grown for the milky sap or latex which they produce.
- Beverage crops: These crops are also sources of stimulants. They include tea, coffee, and cocoa.
The production requirement and useful guidelines on some of the crops grown in Nigeria are discussed in full detail in different posts: Cassava, Groundnut, Tomato, Cashew, Maize, Soybean, Rice, Oil palm, Cotton, Yam, Cocoa and many more.
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REFERENCES
[1] Birkeland, Peter W. Soils and Geomorphology. 3rd edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
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