Crop diversification in rainfed regions of India

Abstract

India is a country of about one billion people. More than 70 percent of India's population lives in rural areas where the main occupation is agriculture. Indian agriculture is characterized by small farm holdings. The average farm size is only 1.57 hectares. Around 93 percent of farmers have land holdings smaller than 4 ha and they cultivate nearly 55 percent of the arable land. On the other hand, only 1.6 of the farmers have operational land holdings above 10 ha and they utilize 17.4 percent of the total cultivated land. Due to diverse agro-climatic conditions in the country, a large number of agricultural items are produced. Broadly, these can be classified into two groups - foodgrains crops and commercial crops. Due to the challenge of feeding our vast population and the experience of food shortages in the pre-independence era, 'self reliance' in foodgrains has been the cornerstone of our policies in the last 50 years. Around 66 percent of the total cultivated area is under foodgrain crops (cereals and pulses). Concurrently, commercial agriculture developed for whatever reasons in the pre-independent phase also kept flourishing during the post independent period. Commercial agriculture not only catered to the domestic market but has also been one of the major earners of foreign exchange for the country.

Crop diversification is intended to give a wider choice in the production of a variety of crops in a given area so as to expand production related activities on various crops and also to lessen risk. Crop diversification in India is generally viewed as a shift from traditionally grown less remunerative crops to more remunerative crops. The crop shift (diversification) also takes place due to governmental policies and thrust on some crops over a given time, for example creation of the Technology Mission on Oilseeds (TMO) to give thrust on oilseeds production as a national need for the country's requirement for less dependency on imports. Market infrastructure development and certain other price related supports also induce crop shift. Often low volume high-value crops like spices also aid in crop diversification. Higher profitability and also the resilience/stability in production also induce crop diversification, for example sugar cane replacing rice and wheat. Crop diversification and also the growing of large number of crops are practiced in rainfed lands to reduce the risk factor of crop failures due to drought or less rains. Crop substitution and shift are also taking place in the areas with distinct soil problems. For example, the growing of rice in high water table areas replacing oilseeds, pulses and cotton; promotion of soybean in place of sorghum in vertisols (medium and deep black soils) etc.