Trends and Pattern of Crop Diversification in Kheri District, Uttar Pradesh, India
Abstract
Crop diversification in India is visualized as the shift from traditionally cultivated less remunerative crops to more remunerative crops. The process of crop diversification is a result of government efforts, market conditions, and farmers' decisions according to the physical conditions of a particular area. The study has been carried out considering Lakhimpur Kheri district as the study area. The crop diversification was estimated by applying three techniques given by Gibbs and Martin, Bhatiya and Singh. Two agricultural years 2006-07 and 2016-17 are taken for the study. The study focused on the spatial comparison in which the block is the minimum unit area for the analysis. The maps for the spatial distribution of crop diversity are generated in the Arc GIS 10.2.2. A change in the crop diversification in a decade has also been examined. There was great similarity in the results by applying all the techniques, but there was some exception in some cases. The results show that, in 2006-07, the diversification was high in the northern and southern blocks like Nighasan, Dhaurehra, Isanagar, Mitauli, and Pasgawan while the blocks lying in the western and central region registered the low intensity of diversification. While, in 2016-17, southern blocks registered high crop diversification and the diversification was low in the central region in almost all the techniques applied.
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Introduction
Crop diversification, fundamentally, refers to the inclusion of a wider choice in the production of a variety of crops in a given area in order to accelerate the agricultural efficiency and to reduce risk (Papademetriou and Dent, 2001). Regional studies dealing with agricultural geography of a specific area in India illustrate the agricultural distribution in terms of their locale. Regional studies dealing with all of India have been so few and are so out of date that they are partly forgotten. Engelbrecht, in 1914, examined the distributional patterns of different crops with statistical analysis. Thus, it is the need of the hour to analyze the crop patterns of India from a regional perspective by focusing on the areal concentration and diversification of crops (Bhatiya, 1965; Radhakrishnan, 1930; Engelbrecht, 1914). Presently, Indian agriculture is passing through significant resource allocation. Two drastic phenomena that are occurring are crop diversification and agricultural-land conversion for industrialization. The policies of the government also shifting from the basic cereals to the production of so-called high value non-food commercial crops, mainly vegetables, fruits and flowers (Chakrabarti and Kundu, 2009). The period of 1970-71 to 2006-07 was avery crucial period in Indian agricultural history. The decade of the 1960s and 1970s witnessed the successful operation of the Green Revolution in a few selected areas of the economy followed by a significant change in the 1980s. The further decade of the 1990s affected by globalization led to the diversification of crops at the local level (Ghosh, 2011). The diversification of crops is very essential to generate agronomic, ecological, and risk management benefits. Cropping diversity helps to deal with the reduction in pest and disease pressures and increase nutrient cycling. These processes can decrease input requirements, enhance productivity, and reduce environmental threats from high fertilizer and pesticide applications. A shortcoming of crop diversification is potentially enhanced production risk associated with mastering the technology and biology of new crops (Smith and Young, 2003). However, agricultural diversification is seen as a possible solution for rural poverty, as distinct from the objective of strengthening the national economy (Courtenay, 1984).
Conclusion
The findings of the study show that the intensity of crop diversification in all the blocks quite lies in the same range. In some cases, the differences are found, which is due to the differences in the formulas of various techniques. The blocks lying in the high crop diversity may be slipped to moderate in the other technique’sapplication but it did not fell in the category of low diversification and vice versa. Thus, all the techniques depict the resembling picture of diversification in the 15 blocks of the Kheri district. The results suggested that, in 2006-07, the diversification was recorded high in the northern and southern blocks like Nighasan, Dhaurehra, Isanagar, Mitauli, and Pasgawan while the blocks lying in the western and central region registered the low intensity of diversification. While, in 2016-17, southern blocks registered high crop diversification and the diversification was low in the central region in almost all the techniques applied.
