What are agricultural practices ?

What are agricultural practices?

There are following 7 step agricultural practices?
1) Soil Prepration
a) ploughing
b) levelling
c) manuring
2) Sowing
3) Manuring
4) Irrigation
5) weeding
6) Harvesting
7) Storage

Soil Preparation
The preparation of the soil is the first step involved in good agricultural practices. Before growing a crop, plow, level, and manure the soil. Loosening and digging the soil using a plow is called plowing. After plowing, level the soil evenly and manure it. This is how the soil is prepared before growing a crop.

Sowing
The process next to soil preparation is sowing. Select seeds belonging to high-quality crop strains. Disperse the seeds in the field either manually with hands or mechanically using drilling machines.

Addition of fertilizers and manure
The process of the addition of fertilizers and manure to the soil to improve its fertility is called manuring. Manuring is done to provide the crop with essential nutrients and minerals. Fertilizers could be either natural or chemical. Natural fertilizers called manure are composed of animal & plant waste. Manuring not only provides essential nutrients to the crop but also enhances soil fertility.

Irrigation
Irrigation is the process of supplying an adequate amount of water to the crop. Oversupply of water results in waterlogging whereas undersupply of water leads to death of the crop. Irrigation should be adequate and timely. The interval and frequency of the water supply should be controlled.

Weeding
The unwanted plants growing amidst the crop are called weeds. The process of eliminating weeds from the crop is called weeding. Weeds may be removed manually, mechanically, or chemically.

Harvesting

After the crop matures, it is harvested. It is cut and gathered. The grains are then separated either manually (winnowing) or thrashing. There are a few best practices that need to be followed while harvesting. The best practices include:

Ensure that the harvesting is done at the right time.
Ensure that the yield contains the right moisture content. The ideal moisture content ranges from 20 to 25%.
Threshing should be done at the right time. Do not delay threading schedules to avoid grain breakage and rewetting.
If you are a machine for threshing, make sure the settings are made appropriately.

Storage of the yield
The last and significant activity involved in agriculture is storing the yield appropriately. The yield may be stored in bins or granaries. This is the stage where the yield needs utmost care and protection from rodents & other pests. The yield must be subjected to processes like fumigation, cleaning, and drying before storing.