LA CARLOTA CITY COLLEGE

Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (First Year)

CROP SCIENCE I

Principles of Crop Production

MODULE 1. AGRICULTURE & CROP SCIENCE

Staging Expectations: In this module, students will be able to understand the basic concepts of
agriculture and its related fields of understanding which includes science, art, business, crop science,
& crop production. Moreover, students will be knowledgeable of the organization that specializes on
commodity-specific concerns as well affiliations from international organizations in agriculture
existing to help address problems in the agriculture-specific perspective.

A. The Concept of Agriculture

a. Systematic raising of useful plants and livestock under the management of man & woman.
b. Purposeful work through which the elements of nature are harnessed to produce plants
and animals to meet human needs
c. Broad industry engaged in the provision for agricultural supplies and services and the
processing, marketing and distribution of agricultural products.
B. The Concept of Crop Science
a. Science – systematized body or systematically accumulated body and/or tested knowledge
b. Plant - any organism belonging to the Kingdom Plantae, typically lacking active locomotion
or obvious nervous system or sensory organs and has photosynthetic ability.
c. Crop – domesticated/cultivated plants growth for profit. It usually connotes a group or
population of cultivated plants.
d. Crop Science – It is concerned with the observation and classification of knowledge
concerning economically cultivated crops and the establishment of verifiable principles
regarding their growth and development for the purpose of deriving the optimum
benefit from them. It is divided into areas as follows:
i. Agronomy – deals with the principles and practices of managing field crops and
soils.
ii. Horticulture – deals with the gardens and plants within an enclosure. It includes:
1. Pomology (fruits)
2. Olericulture (vegetables)
3. Floriculture (flowers)
4. Nursery management
5. Landscape gardening
C. Crop Production as a Science, Art & Business
a. Its science is derived from the adoption or application of the basic sciences of chemistry,
mathematics, physics and from various applied science like physiology, meteorology,
anatomy, plant breeding, etc.
b. It requires skills to produce crops even with the little or no scientific training.
c. Plants are not grown simple to satisfy the needs of human but to realize some profit in the
process of production.
Agricultural research in the Philippines has been established through schools and research
centers, in both private and public sectors. These are:
1. State colleges and universities offering degrees in Agriculture
2. Department of Agriculture networks
3. National commodity research centers
a. FIDA – Fiber Industry Development Authority
b. NTA – National Tobacco Administration
c. PhilRice – Philippine Rice Research Institute
d. PCA – Philippine Coconut Authority
e. SRA – Sugar Regulatory Administration
f. PRCRTC – Philippine Rootcrops Research and Training Center
g. NPRCRTC – Northern Philippines Rootcrops Research and Training Center
h. NARC – National Abaca Research Center
4. Specialized discipline-oriented research centers
a. IPB – Institute of Plant Breeding
b. NCPC – National Crop Protection Center
c. NPGRL – National Plant Genetic Research Laboratory
d. PHTRC – Postharvest Horticulture Training and Research Center
e. BIOTECH – National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.
5. Private Seed Companies
a. East West
b. Monsanto
c. Pioneer
d. Syngenta
e. Allied Botanicals
Major international research organization mandated to do research and development in
crop species important to food and agriculture include the following:
1. IRRI – International Rice Research Institute (Philippines)
2. CIMMYT – Centro International de Mejoramiente de Maize y Trigo (Mexico)
3. CIP – Centro International de Patatas
4. ICRISAT – International Center for Semi-Arid Tropics (India)
5. CIAT – Centro de International de Agricultural Tropical (Colombia)
6. ICARDA – International Center for Agricultural Research for Dry Areas (Syria)
7. IITA – International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (Nigeria)
8. ICRAF – International Center for Research on Agroforestry (Kenya)
9. AVRDC – Asian Vegetable Research & Development Center (Taiwan)
10. Biodiversity International – for International Plant Genetic Resources
Institute (Italy)

Reference: Green Empire Licensure Examination in Agriculture Reviewer. No copyright infringement

intended. This module is not for reproduction.