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H Horticulture. To have a more regular supply of vegetables throughout the
year, a study of vegetable production in a kitchen garden was conducted at
the FSR site.
m Training program. To familiarize farmers with FSR technologies and
research methodologies, regular training was conducted at the FSR site.
Cropping patterns
IMPACT OF FARMING SYSTEMS RESEARCH
In 1984-85, the predominant cropping patterns in the lowlands were rice - fallow -
fallow (61 and 50% of the aggregated total area of the intervened and control farms,
respectively), rice - wheat - maize (13 and 21%), rice - fallow - maize (10 and 1470),
and other patterns (less than 1070) (Hawkins et al 1987). In 1988-89, after the
implementation of the FSR program at Pumdi Bhumdi, the cropping patterns used
were different.
In the lowland area, the predominant cropping patterns of the intervened
farmers were rice - wheat - maize, rice - fallow - fallow, and rice - barley - fallow. On
the control farms, the predominant cropping patterns were rice - wheat - maize, rice
- fallow - fallow, and rice - mustard - maize (Table 5). In the upland areas, the
predominant cropping patterns were maize/finger millet - wheat (71 and 73%),
maize/finger millet - mustard (20 and S%), and maize/finger millet - potato (5 and
16%) in 1984-85. These patterns were chan ed into maize/finger millet - wheat,
maize + vegetables - vegetables and maize7finger millet - mustard for both the
intervened and control farms.
FSR has played a positive role in changing the cropping patterns from rice -
fallow - fallow to rice - wheat - maize in the lowland areas and from maize/finger
millet - potato to maize + vegetables - vegetables in the upland areas. Changes in
the cropping patterns for the intervened and control farmers were identical both in
the upland areas and the lowland areas. This is because the changes used by the
intervened farmers were followed later by the control farmers.
Production
Table 6 presents the farm practices and annual production of the different crops in
the lowland and upland areas in 1984, and the productivity of the FSR-recom-
mended technologies in 1985-90. Table 7 presents the crop yields obtained by the
farmers in 1988-89. A comparison of the average crop yields of intervened and
control farmers shows a substantial increase in yield for rice and maize as a result of
the recommended practices. The increase in rice yield of intervened farmers was
43% more, and that of control farmers was 59% more. The yield was only 30%
more than the rice yield in 1984. In the case of maize, the increase in yield was 55%