What are the advantages of leveling in agriculture.
Answers
Explanation:
ADVANTAGES OF LEVELING
1. Higher yield
Good field leveling increases the rice yield considerably. In two experiments conducted at different localities, a strong correlation was found between the levelness of the land and crop yield.
2. Better weed control
Land leveling increases yield to a large extend because it improves weed control. Improved water coverage from better land leveling reduces weeds by up to 40%. This reduction in weeds results in less time for crop weeding.
A reduction from 21 to 5 labor-days/ha is achieved. This represents a reduction of up to 16 person-days per hectare � a 75% decrease in the labor required for weeding.
Weeds under water and complete eradication of weeds
3. Larger farming area
Good land leveling enables larger fields. Larger fields increase the farming area and improve operational efficiency. Increasing field sizes from 0.1 hectare to 0.5 hectare increases the farming area by between 5% and 7%. This increase in farming area gives the farmer the option to reshape the farming area and can reduce operating times by 10% to 15%.
4. Faster seeding/Less work
Leveling reduces the time needed for transplanting and for direct seeding. Land leveling provides greater opportunity to use direct seeding. The possible reduction in labor by changing from transplanting to direct seeding is approximately 30 person-days per hectare.
Direct seeding on a level field
5. Better use of water
Rice farmers using animal or 2-wheel tractors rely on water to accumulate in the field before starting land preparation. The higher the difference between the highest and lowest portions of a rice field, the more water is needed to achieve complete water coverage. Good leveling may reduce total water requirement to grow the crop by up to 10%.