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80<br />
70<br />
60<br />
Small farm<br />
Medium farm<br />
Large farm<br />
50<br />
40<br />
30<br />
20<br />
10<br />
0<br />
Aurepalle Dokur<br />
Shirapur Kalman<br />
Kinkheda Kanzara<br />
Mahbubnagar D i s t r i c t<br />
Sholapur D i s t r i c t<br />
Akola D i s t r i c t<br />
[ A l f i s o l s , uncertain<br />
[Deep and medium-depth<br />
[Medium-depth Vertisols,<br />
r a i n f a l l (71 cm)]<br />
V e r t i s o l s , uncertain<br />
stable rainfall (82 cm)]<br />
rainfall (69 cm)]<br />
Figure 87. Proportion of postrainy season cropping to gross cropped area in six SAT villages of India,<br />
1975-1976.<br />
system on Vertisols (Fig. 90). Here more than 90<br />
percent of intercrop sorghum fields are intercultivated<br />
two or more times. More than 60 percent<br />
of the intercultivation operations are initiated<br />
within 15 days after sowing. Other crops in<br />
Akola follow a similar pattern.<br />
In the Alfisol area of Mahbubnagar, where the<br />
rainfall pattern is relatively less assured, weed<br />
growth is somewhat less vigorous and rapid.<br />
Intercultivation operations are less frequent and<br />
are generally initiated 26 or more days after<br />
sowing. Little hand weeding is carried out on<br />
rainfed crops, and most weed control is given to<br />
irrigated or cash crops.<br />
In the deep Vertisols of Sholapur District<br />
where postrainy season sorghum is a prevalent<br />
crop, little intercultivation and no hand weeding<br />
occurs. The single intercultivation performed by<br />
most farmers is very much delayed (more than 6<br />
weeks after sowing) and its purpose is to close<br />
cracks in the soil for moisture conservation<br />
rather than for control of weeds, which appear<br />
much less of a problem in postrainy season crops.<br />
Several harrowings are performed on fallow<br />
lands during the rainy season; these substitute<br />
for intercultivation in the postrainy season crop.<br />
The conclusion from the examination of present<br />
weed-control practices in the six villages is<br />
that, in general, farmers allocate weed-control<br />
effort rationally across regions and crops. The<br />
higher the crop value and the more vigorous the<br />
early weed growth, the more intensive and timely<br />
weed control becomes. This indicates that under<br />
improved farming systems which embrace<br />
HYVs, fertilizers, improved implements, and<br />
land and water management, farmers would tend<br />
to increase weed-control efforts.<br />
An evaluation was made of the estimated<br />
203
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