Final answer:
Integrated crop management (option b) is a form of agriculture where a farmer grows diverse varieties of crops, promoting resilience and mimicking natural ecosystems. It includes intercropping to improve biodiversity and disease resistance, resulting in a sustainable and efficient use of resources.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a farmer practices old-style variabilities and produces numerous dissimilar crops to reduce the possibility of significant loss, it is known as integrated crop management. This approach involves the growing of diverse varieties of crops which can lead to an increase in intraspecific diversity within crop varieties. However, this may cause a decrease in interspecific crop diversity, but it promotes resilience by creating a farming system that mimics nature. Benefits include involvement of diverse types of pollinators, extended range of usable land, improved taste for certain food products, and introduction of resistance to pests.
Intercropping, which means growing two or more crops in close proximity to promote soil improvement, biodiversity, and pest management, is an essential aspect of integrated crop management. It facilitates beneficial interactions between plants, increases the diversity and stability of the crop-ecosystem, and leads to more efficient use of resources. This form of agriculture reduces the need for chemicals and can introduce the necessary genetic variations that reinforce disease resistance
Maintaining the genetic diversity of both crops and related wild species is crucial for crop improvement and our continued food supply. This diversity is especially important for breeding new varieties that are capable of resisting pests and diseases.