Variability, Stability, and Risk in Intercropping: Some Theoretical Explorations

Abstract

Reviews and bibliographies of intercropping and multiple cropping are not difficult to come by (e.g., International Rice Research Institue [IRRI], 1974, 1975; Papendick, et al., 1976; Sanchez, 1976; Kass, 1978; Willey, 1979, 1979a, 1981; Lamberts, 1980; Beets, 1982; Steiner, 1984; Govinden et al., 1984; Francis, 1986; Vandermeer, 1988), and chronicle an immense quantity of research in all corners of the globe on an incredible diversity of crop combinations. One might thus expect an excellent data base to have been accumulated along with something of a solid theoretical framework, given the ubiquity of the phenomenon and quantity of scientific attention it has received. But neither an excellent data base nor a wellaccepted theoretical framework is evident. The practice of intercropping is apparently more complicated than monocultural production and has been resistant to the development of a central core of theory that might guide empirical work. Consequently, the voluminous empirical literature is eclectic, scattered, and sometimes confusing. This vast empirical base has led to only modest gains in our ability to understand extant systems.