Cropping Patterns and Diversification in India

CROPPING PATTERNS

Crop Seasons and Crop Practices

Cropping activities go on all the year-round in India, provided water is available for crops. In northern India, there are two distinct seasons, kharif (July to October), and rabi (October to March). Crops grown between March and June are known as zaid. In some parts of the country, there are no such distinct seasons, but there they have their own classification of seasons. The village revenue officials keep plot-wise record of crops grown in each season. These are annually compiled district-wise, state-wise and on all-India basis. From these records one could calculate the relative abundance of a crop or a group of crops in a region. These crops are grown sole or mixed (mixed-cropping), or in a definite sequence (rotational cropping). The land may be occupied by one crop during one season (mono-cropping), or by two crops (double-cropping) which may be grown in a year in sequence. Of late, the trend is even more than two crops (multiple-cropping) in a year. These intensive cropping may be done either in sequence or even there may be relay-cropping-one crop under-sown in a standing crop. With wide-rowed slow growing cropping patterns, companion crops may be grown.

Cropping Patterns

There are various ways of utilising the land intensively. It is proposed to give a synoptic view of cropping patterns prevalent in the country. Before dealing with the cropping patterns, a brief description of the factors that determine the cropping systems of an individual locality or region are briefly presented here.

In any locality, the prevalent cropping systems are the cumulative results of past and present decisions by individuals, communities or governments and their agencies. These decisions are usually based on experience, tradition, expected profit, personal preferences and resources, social and political pressures and so on. Essentially, they are answers to some of the following questions:

· What with the present pest-and-disease control methods are ecologically practicable?

· What interactions occur among the ecologically practicable crops, and the chosen crops and must be combined in a special way (rotations) in the farming systems?

· Are any of the ecologically feasible crops ruled out by infrastructural factors?

· Which of the crops, now remaining on the list, are most profitable (or yield most food in a subsistence agriculture)?. In what combinations and at what level of input application would they make the best use of local land, climate and input resources in short-term and long-term situations bearing in mind the degree of food and income security required by the individual farmer and the community?

· What operational factors rule out or amend the size and the method of any of the economically preferable crop combinations thereof?

· Finally, are the crop combinations, the farming systems and the input levels suggested by this process of the individual farmers compatible with his own skills, enterprise preferences, health, age and capital?

It is clear that there are innumerable micro variations in the cropping patterns, which cannot be described in this note, some broad contours of farming emerge. The most important element of farming in India is the production of grains and the dominant food-chain is grain-man. On this basis, the country may be divided broadly into five agricultural regions.

I. The rice region extending from the eastern part to include a very large part of the north-eastern and the south-eastern India, with another strip along the western coast.

II. The wheat region, occupying most of the northern, western and central India.

III. The millet-sorghum region, comprising Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and the Deccan Plateau in the centre of the Indian Peninsula.

IV. The temperate Himalayan region of Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and some adjoining areas. Here potatoes are as important as cereal crops (which are mainly maize and rice), and the tree-fruits form a large part of agricultural production.

V. The plantation crops region of Assam and the hills of southern India where good quality tea is produced. There is an important production of high-quality coffee in the hills of the western peninsular India. Rubber is mostly grown in Kerala and parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. There are some large estates, but most of the growers would come under the category of small holders. Sugarcane, which in many countries is a plantation crop, is almost entirely grown by small holders in India.

There had been substantial investments in major irrigation works in the colonial days. The post-Independence era saw many multi-purpose irrigation works. Lately, interest in the medium and minor irrigation works has increased, especially after the drought of 1966. Thus, at present, an all-India irrigation potential of 59 m ha has been created and is expected to increase up 110 m ha by 2025. Irrigation, especially the minor works, has provided a base for multiple-cropping. The All-India Coordinated Crops-Improvement Projects run co-operatively by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the agricultural universities have generated short-season, photo-period-insensitive high-yielding varieties of various crops suitable for a high intensity of cropping. The adaptability of these varieties on the farmer's fields has been demonstrated in the National Demonstration Programme spread all over the country. The various developmental and the educative programmes, especially the High Yielding Varieties Programme, have also resulted in newer cropping patterns involving intensive cropping. The area of rice has increased in Punjab and Haryana. Similarly wheat is now grown in West Bengal and to some extent in the southern states of the country.

All these factors have led to the present cropping patterns, which are getting more and more intensive both in respect of the number of crops grown per year and in respect of the intensity of inputs utilized in the production of these crops.

The Present Cropping Patterns

As indicated earlier, we can hardly describe all the cropping patterns within the framework of this paper. Therefore only important ones are highlighted. There are many ways in which a cropping pattern can be discussed.

A broad picture of the major cropping patterns in India can be presented by taking the major crops into consideration. To begin with, the south-westerly monsoon crops (kharif), bajra, maize, ragi, groundnut and cotton. Among the post-monsoon crops (rabi), wheat, sorghum (rabi)and gram can also be considered to be the base crops for describing the cropping patterns. With such an approach, the crop occupying the highest percentage of the sown area of the region is taken as the base crop and all other possible alternative crops which are sown in the region either as substitutes of the base crop in the same season or as the crops which fit in the rotation in the subsequent season, are considered in the pattern. Also these crops have been identified as associating themselves with a particular type of agroclimate, and certain other minor crops with similar requirements are grouped in one category. For example, wheat, barley and oats, are taken as one category. Similarly the minor millets (Paspalum, Setaria and Panicum spp.) are grouped with sorghum or bajra. Certain other crops, such as the plantation crops and other industrial crops are discussed separately.

Among the kharif crops, rice, jowar, bajra, maize, groundnut and cotton are the prominent crops to be considered the base crops for describing the kharif cropping patterns.

Kharif Season Cropping Patterns

The rice-based cropping patterns: Rice is grown in the high-rainfall area or in areas where supplemental irrigation is available to ensure good yields. If the crop has to depend solely on rainfall, it requires not less than 30 cm per month of rainfall over the entire growing period. However, only 9 per cent of the area in the country comes under this category, and it lies in the eastern parts. Nearly 45 per cent of the total rice area in India receives 30 cm per month of rainfall during at least two months (July and August) of the south-westerly monsoon and much less during other months. In contrast to these parts, the eastern and southern regions comprising Assam, West Bengal, coastal Orissa, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka (most part), Tamil Nadu and Kerala receive rainfall of 10 to 20 cm per month in four to eight consecutive months, starting earlier or going over later than the south-westerly monsoon months. With supplemental irrigation, 2 or 3 crops are taken in these areas. However, it has been observed that on an all-India basis, nearly 80% of rice is sown during June-September and the rest during the rest of the season. Areawise the mono-season belt occupies 53.6 per cent of the area (comprising Assam, West Bengal, coastal Orissa, coastal Andhra Pradesh, parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala).

On an all-India basis, about 30 rice-based cropping patterns have been identified in different states. In the most humid areas of eastern India comprising Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram, rice is the exclusive crop. In Meghalaya, rice is alternated with cotton, vegetable and food-crops, whereas in Arunachal Pradesh, where rice is not grown exclusively, the alternative crops being maize, small millets and oilseeds. In parts of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and northern coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, jute forms an important commercial crop alternative to rice. In West Bengal, besides rice and jute, pulses and maize are grown on a limited scale. In Bihar, rice is grown over 49 per cent(5.3 m ha) of its cropped area(14.2 per cent of all-India area), whereas pulses, wheat, jute, maize, sugarcane and oilseeds are the alternative crops. In Uttar Pradesh rice is grown on 19 per cent(4.6 m ha) of its cropped area and represents about 12.4 per cent of the all-India area under this crop. Rice is concentrated in the eastern districts of Uttar Pradesh where the alternative crops are pulses, groundnut, sugarcane, bajra and jowar in the decreasing order of their importance. Tobacco is grown in some districts.

In Orissa, rice is grown on more than 50 per cent of the area, whereas the alternative crops are: pulses, ragi, oilseeds, maize and small millets. in Madhya Pradesh rice is grown in the Chattisgarh area on 4.3 m ha(11.7 per cent of the all-India rice area), but the crop suffers because of inadequate rainfall and irrigation. The important alternative crops of this area are: small millets, pulses and groundnut. Wheat is also grown on a limited scale.

In the southern states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala rice is grown in more than one season and mostly under irrigation or under sufficient rainfall. Together, these three states have over 6.0 m ha, representing over 17 per cent of the all-India area under rice. Important alternative plantation crops in Andhra Pradesh are: pulses, groundnut, jowar, maize, sugarcane and tobacco. In Karnataka the crops alternative to rice are: ragi, plantation crops, bajra, cotton, groundnut, jowar and maize. In Kerala plantation crops and tapioca form the main plantation crops alternative to rice. in Maharashtra rice is grown mostly in the Konkan area over 1.3 m ha, along with ragi, pulses, rabi jowar, sugarcane, groundnuts and oilseeds. in other states, namely Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, rice forms a minor plantation crop and is mostly grown with irrigation. However, in Punjab and Haryana and to some extent in western Uttar Pradesh owing to high water-table during this monsoon season, rice has become a major crops in such areas.

The kharif cereals other than rice. Maize, jowar and bajra form the main kharif cereals, whereas ragi and small millets come next and are grown on a limited area. by and large, maize is a crop grown commonly in high-rainfall areas, or on soils with a better capacity for retaining moisture, but with good drainage. Next comes jowar in the medium rainfall regions whereas bajra has been the main crop in areas with low or less dependable rainfall and on light textured soils. The extent of the area under these crops during the south-westerly monsoon season is maize, 5.6 m ha; jowar (kharif), 11 M.ha, and bajra,12.4 m ha. Even though these crops are spread all over the western, northern and southern India, the regions of these crops patterns are demarcated well to the west of 80o longitude (except that of maize). Ragi as a kharif cereal (2.4 m ha) is mainly concentrated in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh which account for main than 60 per cent of the total area under this crop in India. The cropping patterns based on each of these kharif cereals are discussed.

The maize-based cropping patterns. The largest area under the kharif maize is in Uttar Pradesh (1.4m ha), followed by Bihar (0.96 m ha), Rajasthan (0.78 m ha), Madhya Pradesh (0.58 m ha) and Punjab (0.52 m ha). In four states namely Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, the area under maize ranges from 0.24 to 0.28 m ha in each, whereas other states have much less area under it. Taking the rainfall of the maize growing areas under consideration, over 72 per cent of the areas receive 20-30 cm per month of rainfall in at least two months or more during the south westerly monsoon season.

On the all-India basis, about 12 cropping patterns have been identified. They have maize as the base crop. In the maize growing areas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, rice in kharif and wheat in rabi are the main alternative crops. In some areas, bajra, groundnut, sugarcane, ragi and pulses are taken as alternative crops. In Rajasthan maize is grown as an extensive crop in some areas, whereas at other places, it is replaced by small millets, pulses, groundnut and wheat(rabi) as alternative crop. in Madhya Pradesh mainly the kharif jowar is replaced by maize, whereas rice and groundnut are also grown to a limited extent. In Punjab maize has groundnut, fodder crops and wheat(rabi) as alternative crops. In other states, e.g. Gujarat, rice, groundnut, cotton and wheat form the alternative crops in the maize-growing areas of Himachal Pradesh, whereas in Andhra Pradesh, rice, kharif jowar, and oilseeds are grown in these areas.

The kharif jowar-based cropping patterns. The area under the kharif jowar in India is highest in Maharashtra (2.5 m ha), closely followed by Madhya Pradesh (2.3 m ha), whereas in each of the states of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat, the area under this crops is between 1.0 and 1.4 m ha. Jowar is mainly grown where rainfall distribution ranges from 10-20 per month at least for 3 to 4 months of the south-westerly monsoon or is still more abundant.

On the all-India basis, about 17 major cropping patterns have been identified. In them the base crops is kharif jowar. Most of the alternative crops are also of the type which can be grown under medium rainfall.

In Maharashtra cotton, pulses, groundnut and small millets are sown as alternative crops. In the adjacent states of Madhya Pradesh, besides the above alternative crops, wheat and fodder are sown. In Rajasthan wheat, cotton, bajra and maize are grown in the kharif-jowar tract, whereas in Andhra Pradesh, groundnuts, cotton, oilseeds and pulses form the main alternative crops. Besides cotton and groundnut, ragi is sown in the kharif-jowar tract of Karnataka, whereas in Gujarat, bajra, cotton and groundnut are the major alternative crops.

The bajra-based cropping patterns. Bajra is more drought-resistant crop than several other cereal crops and is generally preferred in low-rainfall areas and on light soils. The area under the bajra crop in India is about 12.4 m ha and Rajasthan (4.6 m ha) shares about the 2/3 total area. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh together have over 4.6 m ha, constituting an additional 1/3 area under bajra, in India. Over 66 per cent of this crop is grown in areas receiving 10-20 cm per month of rainfall, extending over 1 to 4 months of the south-westerly monsoon.

On the all-India basis, about 20 major cropping patterns have been identified with bajra. However, it may be observed that jowar and bajra are grown mostly under identical environmental conditions and both have a wide spectrum adaptability in respect of rainfall, temperature and rainfall.

Considering the cropping patterns in different states, bajra is grown along with pulses, groundnut, oilseeds and kharif jowar in Rajasthan. Gujarat has a similar cropping pattern in its bajra areas, except that cotton and tobacco are also grown. In Maharashtra besides having some areas solely under bajra, pulses, wheat, rabi jowar, groundnut and cotton are substituted for it. In Uttar Pradesh, maize, rice and wheat form the main alternative crops to this crop.

The groundnut based cropping patterns. Groundnut is sown over an area of about 7.2 m ha, mostly in five major groundnut-producing states of Gujarat (24.4 per cent area), Andhra Pradesh (20.2) per cent), Tamil Nadu (13.5 per cent), Maharashtra (12.2 per cent) and Karnataka (12.0 per cent). Five other states viz. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Orissa together have about 17.3 per cent of the total area under this crop. The rainfall in the groundnut area ranges from 20-30 cm per month in one of the monsoon months and much less in the other months. In some cases the rainfall is even less than 10 cm. per month during the growth of the crop. The irrigated area under groundnut is very small and that too, in a few states only, viz. Punjab(16.4 per cent), Tamil Nadu (13.3 per cent)and Andhra Pradesh (12.5 per cent).

On the all-India level, about 9 cropping patterns have been identified with this crop. In Gujarat besides the sole crop of groundnut in some areas, bajra, is the major alternative crop, whereas the kharif jowar, cotton and pulses are also grown in this tract. In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, this crop receives irrigation in some areas and rice forms an alternative crop. Under rainfed conditions, bajra, kharif jowar, small millets, cotton and pulses are grown as alternative crops. In Maharashtra both the kharif and rabi jowar and small millets are important alternative crops. In Karnataka also, jowar is the major alternative crop, whereas cotton, tobacco, sugarcane and wheat are also grown in this tract.

The cotton-based cropping patterns. Cotton is grown over 7.6 m ha in India. Maharashtra shares 36 per cent (2.8 m ha), followed by Gujarat with 21 per cent (1.6 m ha), Karnataka with 13 per cent (1 m ha) and Madhya Pradesh with 9 per cent (0.6 m ha) of the area. Together, these four states account for about 80 per cent of the area under cotton. Other cotton-growing states with smaller areas are Punjab, with 5 per cent (0.4 m ha), Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu each with 4 per cent (0.31 m ha), Haryana and Rajasthan with 3 per cent of each (0.2 m ha each). Most of the cotton areas in the country are under the high to medium rainfall zone. The cotton grown in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh (4.8 m ha) is rainfed, whereas in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu (1.93 m ha) it receives partial irrigation 16-20 per cent of the area). The area under cotton in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (0.8 m ha)gets adequate irrigation, ranging from 71 to 97 per cent of the area. These growing conditions, together with the species of cotton grown, determine the duration of the crop which may vary from about 5 to 9 months.

On the all-India basis, about 16 broad cropping patterns have been identified. In Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the cropping patterns in the cotton-growing areas are mostly similar owing to identical rainfall. These patterns include jowar (kharif and rabi), groundnut and small millets. Pulses and wheat are also grown in a limited area. In some pockets, where irrigation is available, rice and sugarcane are also grown. In Gujarat, rice, tobacco and maize are grown, besides the rainfed crops, e.g. jowar and bajra.

The Rabi Season Cropping Patterns

Among the rabi crops, wheat, together with barley and oats, jowar and gram, are the main base crops in the rabi cropping patterns. Generally, wheat and gram are concentrated in the subtropical region in northern India, whereas the rabi sorghum is grown mostly in the Deccan. The extent of these areas in different states is as follows:

The wheat-and-gram-based cropping patterns. These two crops are grown under identical climate and can often be substituted for each other. The core of the wheat region responsible for 70 per cent of the area and 76 per cent of production comprises Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, flanked by Rajasthan and Gujarat in the western region and Bihar and West Bengal in the eastern region. This area has an extensive irrigation system ranging from 85 per cent area in Punjab to 51 per cent in Bihar. The rainfall during the south-westerly monsoon is also fairly high with over 20 cm to 30 cm of rainfall in at least two out of the four months of the rainy season. However, winter showers are scattered and form less than 2.5 cm in each month from November to February.

On the all-India level, about 19 cropping patterns have been identified with wheat and 7 cropping patterns with gram. In Uttar Pradesh, maize, rice, jowar (K), small millets and groundnut form the main crops preceding wheat and gram. Generally, gram is grown on more moisture- retentive soils, but with little irrigation or in areas with less of rainfall. In Madhya Pradesh, wheat is grown with stored moisture, with little irrigation and rainfall during the crop period. The crop suffers heavily for want of adequate moisture with the resultant low yields (57 per cent of the all-India yield). The kharif jowar, groundnut, oilseeds, cotton, small millets and fodders form the alternative crops to wheat and gram. In Punjab, 85 per cent of the wheat area is under irrigation and, therefore, has rice, maize, fodders, bajra and cotton as the crops preceding wheat. The area under gram in Punjab is very meagre (4.2 per cent of the all-India gram area). In Rajasthan, the kharif jowar fodders and bajra precede wheat, whereas gram and other oil seeds form alternative crops in winter. In Bihar, rice, maize and pulses are the main preceding crops, wheat, in the wheat-growing areas, whereas oilseeds and bajra are also grown as alternative crops. In Haryana, wheat and gram are the main alternative crops in winter. Rice, maize, bajra and jowar form the main preceding crops. In Maharashtra, most of the wheat crop is grown on residual moisture, bajra and other small millets or short-duration pulses form the monsoon crop in the wheat areas. Generally, heavy black cotton soils of Maharashtra and the adjacent Madhya Pradesh are left fallow in the kharif season for operational difficulties and wheat is grown after the cessation of rains with stored moisture. In Maharashtra, the rabi jowar is a crop alternative to wheat.

Rabi jowar-based cropping patterns: On the all-India level, about 13 cropping patterns have been identified with the rabi jowar. Maharashtra has the largest number of these cropping patterns, wherein starting with the exclusive rabi jowar, bajra, pulses, oilseeds and tobacco are grown as alternative crops. In Karnataka, small millets, groundnut, bajra, pulses and oilseeds form alternative crops to the rabi jowar. Cotton and tobacco are also grown in some parts of the rabi-jowar area of Karnataka. In Andhra Pradesh, short-duration pulses, small millets, paddy and oilseeds form the main alternative crops in the jowar area.

Plantation and Other Commercial Crops: Crops under this category include sugarcane, tobacco, potato, jute, tea, coffee, coconut, rubber and other crops, such as spices and condiments. Some of them are seasonal, some annual and some perennial. Generally, the areas occupied by them are very limited as compared with food and other crops. Nevertheless, they are important commercially. Most of them require specific environmental conditions and from the point of view of cropping patterns, they are concentrated in some particular regions. Be- sides, certain horticultural crops, such as apple, mango and citrus, are important. The extent of the area and the regions in which they are grown are shown below:

In several sugarcane-growing areas, mono-cropping is practised, and during the interval between the crops, short duration seasonal crops are grown. In U.P., Bihar, Punjab and Haryana, wheat and maize are the rotation crops. rice is also grown in some areas. In the southern states, namely Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, ragi, rice and pulses are grown along with sugarcane. In Maharashtra, pulses, jowar and cotton are grown.

In the potato-growing region, maize, pulses, wheat are the alternative crops. in the tobacco-growing areas, depending on the season and the type of tobacco, jowar, oilseeds and maize are grown in rotation. in the jute-growing areas, rice is the usual alternative crop.

In the case of plantation-crops, intercropping with pulses and fodder crops is common. Spices and condiments are generally grown on fertile soils. Chillies are rotated with jowar, whereas onion, coriander, turmeric and ginger are grown as mixed crops with other seasonal crops.

Mixed Cropping. Crops mixtures are widely grown, especially during the kharif season. Pulses and some oilseeds are grown with maize, jowar and bajra. Lowland rice is invariably grown unmixed, but in the case of upland rice, several mixtures are prevalent in eastern Uttar Pradesh, with Chotanagpur Division of Bihar and in the Chhatisgarh Division of Madhya Pradesh. During the rabi season, especially in the unirrigated area of the north, wheat and barley and wheat and gram or wheat + barley + gram are the mixtures of grain crops. Brassica and safflower are grown mixed with gram or even with wheat. Mixed cropping was considered by researchers a primitive practice, but now many researchers regard mixed cropping as the most efficient way of using land. Several new mixtures have recently been suggested. They ensure an efficient utilization of sunshine and land. Breeders are developing plant types in pulses and oilseeds, with good compatibility with row crops.

DIVERSIFICATION OF CROPPING PATTERNS IN INDIA

The Cropping Patters in India underwent several changes with the advent of modern agricultural technology, especially during the period of the Green Revolution in the late sixties and early seventies. There is a continuous surge for diversified agriculture in terms of crops, primarily on economic considerations. The crop pattern changes, however, are the outcome of the interactive effect of many factors which can be broadly categorized into the following five groups:

I. Resource related factors covering irrigation, rainfall and soil fertility.

II. Technology related factors covering not only seed, fertilizer, and water technologies but also those related to marketing, storage and processing.

III. Household related factors covering food and fodder self-sufficiency requirement as well as investment capacity.

IV. Price related factors covering output and input prices as well as trade policies and other economic policies that affect these prices either directly or indirectly.

V. Institutional and infrastructure related factors covering farm size and tenancy arrangements, research, extension and marketing systems and government regulatory policies.

These factors are not watertight but inter-related. For instance, the adoption of crop technologies is influenced not only by resource related factors but also by institutional and infrastructure factors. Similarly, government policies - both supportive and regulatory in nature - affect both the input and output prices. Likewise, special government programmes also affect area allocation and crop composition. More importantly, both the economic liberalization policies as well as the globalization process are also exerting strong pressures on the area allocation decision of farmers, essentially through their impact on the relative prices of inputs and outputs. Although the factors that influence the area allocation decision of farmers are all important, they obviously differ in terms of the relative importance both across farm groups and resource regions. While factors such as food and fodder self-sufficiency, farm size, and investment constraints are important in influencing the area allocation pattern among smaller farms, larger farmers with an ability to circumvent resources constraints usually go more by economic considerations based on relative crop prices than by other non-economic considerations. Similarly, economic factors play a relatively stronger role in influencing the crop pattern in areas with a better irrigation and infrastructure potential. In such areas, commercialization and market networks co-evolve to make the farmers more dynamic and highly responsive to economic impulses.

Changes in Cropping Patterns

What is most notable is the change in the relative importance of these factors over time. From a very generalized perspective, Indian agriculture is increasingly getting influenced more and more by economic factors. This need not be surprising because irrigation expansion, infrastructure development, penetration of rural markets, development and spread of short duration and drought resistant crop technologies have all contributed to minimizing the role of non-economic factors in crop choice of even small farmers. What is more, the reform initiatives undertaken in the context of the ongoing agricultural liberalization and globalization policies are also going to further strengthen the role of price related economic incentives in determining crop composition both at the micro and macro levels. Obviously, such a changing economic environment will also ensure that government price and trade policies will become still more powerful instruments for directing area allocation decisions of farmers, aligning thereby the crop pattern changes in line with the changing demand-supply conditions. In a condition where agricultural growth results more from productivity improvement than from area expansion, the increasing role that price related economic incentives play in crop choice can also pave the way for the next stage of agricultural evolution where growth originates more and more from value-added production.

The major change in cropping pattern that have been observed in India is a substantial area shift from cereals to non-cereals. Although cereals gained a marginal increase in area share in the first decade of the Green Revolution, their area and share declined gradually thereafter. Between 1966/67 and 1996/97, 3.35 percent of the gross cultivated area (GCA) - representing approximately about 5.7 million hectares (m/ha) - has shifted from cereal crops to non-cereal crops. Since the area share of pulses taken as a group also declined by 1.57 percent during the same period, the area share of food grains as a group declined by 4.92 percent during 1966-97. In area terms, the shift from food grains to non-food grains involves an approximate area of about 8.36 m/ha. While cereals and pulses have lost area, the major gainers of this area shift are the non-food grain crops especially oilseeds. The area share of oilseeds as a group that has gone up by 4.08 percent accounts for about 83 percent of the 8.36 m/ha involved in the area shift between 1966/67 and 1996/97. As we consider the share of individual crops within cereals, although the share of cereals as a group has declined, the area share of rice has increased continuously over all the four periods. Wheat, although having a declining area share until 1986/87, also gained in its share when the entire period is considered. Thus, the area loss of cereals can be attributed entirely to the declining area share of coarse cereals, especially sorghum, pearl millet, barely and small millets. It can be noted that even within coarse cereals, the area share of maize shows a marginal improvement over the years. Within oilseeds, the crops showing steady improvement in their area share are: rapeseed and mustard, soybean and sunflower. Among these three oilseeds gaining in area share, rapeseed and mustard are substantially grown as intercrops with wheat. On the other hand, the area shares of other oilseeds including groundnut (that has a dominant area share within oilseeds) but excluding coconut, which is more a plantation crop than field crop, have either fluctuated or declined. The area share of groundnut, though improved during the last period, has declined as compared to its share in the pre-Green Revolution period.

But, the declining area share of crops - especially those with only a marginal change in their area share - need not necessarily imply a decline in the actual area under these crops. Since the Gross Cropped Area (GCA) is constantly increasing over time, partly through an expansion of net sown areas as in the initial stages of the Green Revolution and partly through increasing intensity of cropping mainly by irrigation expansion, the declining area share can coincide with an increase in absolute increase in the area under crops. This can be seen from Tables 4 and 5 showing actual area under various crops and their groups. Although the increase in the area share of other commercial crops is not as dramatic as that of oilseeds, it is still notable because of its implications for the direction of Indian agriculture. But, among these other commercial crops that cover fibres, spices, fruits and vegetables, and other field crops such as tobacco and sugar cane and plantation crops, only spices, fruits and vegetables show a steady improvement in their area shares, whereas others show mostly a declining trend. This is particularly true for fibres and other field crops that have over four fifths of the total area under the broad group of other commercial crops. However, sugar cane, included in the category of other field crops, shows an increase in its area share. This is also true for cotton included in the fibre category. While all spice crops show a gradual increase in their area share, only three of the six crops included in the fruits and vegetables category show a gain in their area share over the years. These crops are banana, potato and onion.

References

i. Bhalla, G.S and Singh, Gurmail (2001) Indian Agriculture: Four Decades of Development, New Delhi, Sage Publications.

ii. Deshpande, R.S, Bhende, M.J, Thippaah, P and Vivekananda, M(2004) State of the Indian Farmer Vol. 9: Crops and Cultivation, New Delhi, Academic Foundation

iii. --------, Handbook of Agriculture, New Delhi, ICAR

iv. Hazra, C.R. Crop Diversification in India. http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6906e/x6906e06.htm

v. http://www.krishiworld.com for material on cropping patterns.

vi. http://wrmin.nic.in/resource for material on physiography.

vii. Velayutham & Bhattacharyya, (2000) NBSS&LUP, ICAR, Nagpur: http://www.faidelhi.org/general/statistics/soil-group.htm for material on Soil groups and distribution.

Hand out relevant for Programmes on Financing Agriculture prepared by C P Mohan, Deputy General Manager and Member of Faculty, Reserve Bank of India, College of Agricultural Banking, Pune