Crop rotation is key in vegetable and crop production

The continual practice of ‘monoculture’ planting by farmers is becoming increasingly detrimental to the quality of produce in the longer term, so cyclical rotation is a better option, writes Shane Brody.

- Shane Brody

Having spent my formative years in what eventually became the Transkei region and having rum donor-funded farming projects in the former Ciskei region, over time I witnessed the gradual degradation of crop and vegetable production.

I would, in some instances, see the ongoing practice of ‘monoculture’: this effectively means the planting of the same crops, year-in and year-out, on the same croplands. Because maize is part of the staple diets of many communities in South Africa, the previously mentioned monoculture invariably involved this crop.

Each planting season I would notice maize plants becoming progressively smaller and increasingly yellow in colour and this is invariably caused by nutrient deficiencies, and even perhaps by high pathogen and parasite levels in the soil. Without fail, the food produced by such plants will be substandard.

The problem with monoculture is that many parasites and fungal infections are specific to certain plants, and if new plants are not introduced in cycles onto croplands, and into vegetable gardens, parasites and fungal infections are allowed to systematically and progressively increase in number.

IMPACT ON PRODUCTION