Cropping Pattern in India – Associated Determinants and Land Use

INTRODUCTION #

Cropping systems of a region are decided by and large, number of soil and climatic parameters which determine overall agro-ecological setting for nourishment and appropriateness of a crop or set of crops for cultivation. Nevertheless, at farmers’ level, potential productivity and monetary benefits act as guiding principles while opting for a particular crop/cropping system. These decisions with respect to choice of crops and cropping systems are further narrowed down under influence of several other forces related to infrastructure facilities, socio-eco- nomic factors and technological developments, all operating interactively at micro-level. These are:

• Infrastructure facilities: Irrigation, transport, storage, trade and marketing, post-harvest handling and processing etc.
• Socio-economic factors: Financial resource base, landownership, size and type of land holding, household needs of food, fodder, fuel, fibre and finance, labour availability etc.
• Technological factors: Improved varieties, cultural requirements, mechanization, plant protection, access to information, etc.

PREVALENT CROPPING SYSTEMS #

Multiplicity of cropping systems has been one of the main features of Indian agriculture. This may be attributed to following two major factors:

Rainfed agriculture still accounts for over 92.8 million hectare or 65 per cent of cropped area. A

large diversity of cropping systems exists under rainfed and dryland areas with an overriding practice of intercropping, due to greater risks involved in cultivating larger area under a particular crop.

Due to prevailing socio-economic situations (such as; dependency of large population on agricul- ture, small land-holding size, very high population pressure on land resource etc.), improving household food security has been an issue of supreme impor- tance to many farmers of India, who constitute 56.15 million marginal (<1.0 hectare), 17.92 million small (1.0- 2.0 hectare) and 13.25 million semi-medium (2.0-4.0 hectare) farm holdings, making together 90 per cent of 97.15 million operational holdings.

An important consequence of this has been that crop production in India remained to be considered, by and large, a subsistence rather than commercial activity. One of the typical characteristics of sub- sistence farming is that most of the farmers resort to grow a number of crops on their farm holdings, primarily to fulfill their household needs and follow the practice of rotating a particular crop combina- tion over a period of 3-4 years interchangeably on different farm fields.

Subsistence farming is that most of the farmers resort to grow a number of crops on their farm holdings, primarily to fulfill their household needs and follows the practice of rotating a particular crop combination over a period of 3-4 years interchange- ably on different farm fields.

Under influence of all above factors, cropping

systems remain dynamic in time and space, mak- ing it difficult to precisely determine their spread using conventional methods, over a large territory. However, it has been estimated that more than 250 double cropping systems are followed throughout the country. Based on rationale of spread of crops in each district in the country, 30 important cropping systems have been identified.

These are; rice-wheat, rice-rice, rice-gram, rice-mustard, rice-groundnut, rice-sorghum, pearl millet-gram, pearl millet-mustard, pearl millet-sor- ghum, cotton-wheat, cotton-gram, cotton- sorghum, cotton-safflower, cotton-groundnut, maize-wheat, maize-gram, sugarcane-wheat, soybean-wheat, sor- ghum-sorghum, groundnut-wheat, sorghum-ground- nut, groundnut-rice, sorghum-wheat, sorghum-gram, pigeonpea-sorghum, groundnut-groundnut, sor- ghum-rice, groundnut-sorghum and soybean-gram.

NSSO REPORT ON LAND AND LIVESTOCK HOLDINGS #

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) conducted a survey on Land and Livestock Holdings in the rural areas of the country as a part of NSS 70th Round during January, 2013 to December, 2013.

1.     Trends in cultivation pattern #

• The total number of operational hold- ings and the percentage of joint holdings have increased in 2012-13 as compared to 2002-03.
  • The highest percentage of area was used for growing cereals in July, 2012-Decem- ber, 2012 (56.21%) and January, 2013 – June, 2013 (57.74%). The next major use of land was for production of oil seeds (13.75% and 7.34%) and pulses (6.30% and 10.20%) in the two seasons respec- tively.
  • During the season July, 2012- December, 2012, the major States where land area was mostly affected by flood included Andhra Pradesh (26%), Assam (23%), Bi-

har (17%) and West Bengal (13%).

2.     Trends in Livestock Farming: #

• Among the land used for animal farming

(dairy, poultry, piggery, fishery and farm-

ing of other animals) the major use of land was made in dairy (53.8% and 69.7%) in July, 2012 – December, 2012 and January, 2013 – June, 2013 respectively. In about, 18.7% and 11.8% of land area was used for fishery during the two seasons.

• The percentage of area used for all types of farming of animals is 0.97% in July, 2012 – December, 2012 and 1.69 % during

January, 2013 – June, 2013.

3.     Stock of Livestock/Poultry Birds holding in the country #

• The estimated number of bovine livestock has decreased during 70th round as com- pared to the previous livestock survey.
  • There is a nominal increase in the number of sheep & goat and pig populations as compared to previous survey.
  • Poultry population in the 70th round has increased almost 1.4 times the 59th round estimates.
  • The stock of cattle and buffalo of the country was estimated at 204 million during 2012-13. The estimated population of sheep & goat during the period was about 99 million.

CROPPING SYSTEMS OF IRRIGAT- ED ECOSYSTEM #

Depending upon the natural water resources, each region has certain area under irrigated agricul- ture. But, broadly considering, two distinct irrigated ecosystems emerge. One is Indo- Gangetic Plain region comprising the states of Punjab, Haryana, plains of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and plains of Jammu & Kashmir. The other ecosystem may be carved out of coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. At present 51 million hectare net-cropped area is irrigated by different sources, which constitutes about 35 per cent of net cultivated area.

Estimates indicate that more than 56 per cent of total food grain comes from irrigated ecosystem while progress has been considerably sluggish in rain fed agriculture which still accounts for 92.8 million hectare or 65 per cent of net area sown and contributes only 44 per cent to national food grain

production. If past trends are any indication, it may be visualized that in future also the major gain in production, at least 80 per cent of the incremental food needs required by 2025, has to come from irri- gated ecosystem where new genotypes and intensive fertilizer use will continue to play dominant role in enhancing crop productivity.

Issues in Irrigated Cropping Systems #

The major issues emerging in the irrigated crop- ping systems may be categorized into two groups; i.e., general and system specific.

General Issues : Resource characterization #

Adequate information is lacking on site-specific characterization of land and water resources and climatic parameters, which is crucial for efficient land use planning and resource deployment.

Farmer’s Participation #

To develop and improve upon existing agro tech- nologies, it needs to be acknowledged that involve- ment of farmers in conceptualization and extension of technologies is of paramount importance. But in the past, a critical lacuna in agricultural research approach has been an inadequate effort or lack of mechanisms to build up research programmes that take into account the experience and knowledge base that exists within the farming community.

The farm family had never been the focal point of investigations. This top down approach of agri- cultural scientists had given a poor perception of the problems that they tried to solve. Nevertheless, it needed to be considered an integral component of cropping/farming systems research, particularly applied aspects of it.

CROPPING  SYSTEMS  ORIENTED PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY #

The past approach for agricultural research and development had been component based. It is indeed due to this piecemeal approach, that farmers have to encounter increasingly acute problems in managing and protecting natural resources and the environment. It has been hardly realized that field problems to which solutions are sought are rarely amenable to solutions through a single component/ discipline oriented research.

System oriented production research is needed to be strengthened as it is essential for maximizing land productivity by harnessing synergies generated through various interactions in soil-crop systems. Cropping system approach of resource management has been showing immense potential in enhancing resource use efficiencies and pest management.

Low Water Use Efficiency #

Despite the fact that water is a precious and scarce resource, its application and use efficiencies have been quite low. Low water use efficiency is apparently attributable to:

1.     Excessive use of water due to – #

• Improper leveling of fields coupled with improper application methods, even in ag- riculturally advanced areas, and
  • Faulty pricing policy for electricity and canal water leading to over irrigation.

2.     Non-adoption of appropriate cropping sys- tems. For example – #

• Extensive cultivation of rice in sandy soils of Punjab, and
  • Advancement of rice transplanting to April/May in Punjab and Haryana.

Land Degradation Problem #

Soil salinity hazards due to ground water rise and impeded natural drainage in certain canal com- mand areas are well known.

Indiscriminate Exploitation of Ground Water #

The excessive pumping of ground water for irrigation purposes in intensively cultivated areas of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh has caused lowering down of the ground water table in certain pockets.

Declining water tables not only raise production costs due to higher energy requirements for pumping water from greater depths but such rapid rates of decline sparks serious questions about the long-term sustainability of rice-wheat system itself in these areas. Contrary to this, the vast potential of ground water in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and adjoining areas remains untapped.

In-efficient Land Use #

Diversion of highly productive irrigated land to non-agricultural uses; such as industry, housing etc., especially at rural-urban interface needs to be viewed seriously.

Decline in Factor Productivity #

Due to imbalance in fertilizer use, widespread deficiencies of secondary and micro-nutrients and reduced organic matter contents of cultivated lands, a declining trend for responses to nutrients, specially to nitrogen, in major cropping systems is being observed on farmers’ fields. That is, to sustain earlier yield levels farmers need to apply higher fertilizer doses.

Imbalance in Fertilizer Use #

The problem of imbalance in fertilizer use has been accentuated on three accounts. With intensive cropping, nutrient removal by crops from soil has far exceeded replenishment through fertilizers and manures. This is causing negative balance of nutri- ents in soil. And if this trend continues, a serious threat persists for sustainability of the major crop- ping systems of irrigated areas.

Due to continuous cereal-cereal cropping in most of the irrigated fertile lands during post green revolution period, multiple nutrient deficiencies have emerged. The long term experiments have clearly shown a decline in organic carbon, nitrogen and P in cereal-cereal intensive cropping.

Farmers have developed tendencies to use higher doses of nitrogenous fertilizers, may be because N is comparatively cheaper than P and K. This, therefore, has resulted in widening ratios of N: P and N: K to undesirable levels.

Build up of Diseases/Pests #

With crop intensification under high input use, serious threats of occurrence and build up of some obnoxious pests and diseases have crept in. This factor again hinders the vertical growth and questions are being raised about the sustainability of the environment under intensive input use, which is otherwise needed for maximizing crop yields. Heavy infestation of Phalaris minor in continuous rice-wheat cropping system in north westernplains is a glaring example.

Inadequate Considerations for Environ- mental Quality #

With a pressing need for producing more and more from less and less land resource, a serious threat is lurking upon the environmental quality. A potential danger may be envisioned in the form of pollution of natural water bodies and underground aquifers due to nitrate leaching and phosphates causing irreparable harm to natural ecosystems under high fertilizer use without improving their use efficiencies.

HORTICULTURAL CROPS #

India has made a good place for itself on the Horticulture Map of the World with a total annual production of horticultural crops touching over 1490 million tones during 1999-00. The horticultural crops cover about 9 per cent of the total area contributing about 24.5 per cent of the gross agricultural output in the country. However, the productivity of fruits and vegetables grown in the country is low as compared to developed countries.

Production of fruits and vegetables overtook India’s foodgrain production by a whopping 31 mil- lion tonnes in 2014-15 (284 million tonnes against 253 million tonnes). This was the third straight year when horticulture output outstripped that of foodgrains.

The information with regard to cropping pattern in horticultural crops particularly vegetables and tuber crops are not compiled and readily available. However, the constraints in production in these crops and zones/states of cultivation of these crops is given briefly.

Vegetable Crops #

Vegetable crops in India are grown from the sea level to the snowline. The entire country can broadly be divided into six vegetable growing zones:

1. Temperate Zone: Jammu & Kashmir, Him- achal Pradesh, upper Uttaranchal and Punjab, Darjeeling hill area of West Bengal, Nilgiri hills areas of Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
2. Northwestern subtropical zone: Hary- ana, parts of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

• Northeastern subtropical zone: Most parts of Bihar, northern parts of West Bengal, Me- ghalaya, Assam and Nagaland.
• Central tropical zone: Gujarat, most parts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Western part of West Bengal, Tripura, Manipur and part of Mizoram.
• Southern tropical zone: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and part of Kerala.
• Coastal humid tropical zone: Coastal areas of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa.

Low productivity is the main feature of veg- etable cultivation in India as farm yields of most of the vegetables in India are much lower than the average yield of world and developed countries. The productivity gap is more conspicuous in tomato, cabbage, onion, chilli and peas. Preponderance of hybrid varieties and protected cultivation are mainly responsible for high productivity in the developed countries.

Constraints in vegetables production:

1. Lack of planning in Production.
2. Non-availability of seeds of improved variet- ies.
3. High cost of basic production elements.
4. Inadequate plant protection measures and non availability of resistant varieties.
5. Weak marketing facilities.
6. Transportation limits.
7. Post harvest losses.
8. Abiotic stresses.

Tuber Crops #

Tuber crops have good potential as secondary staple food, vegetable and industrial raw material. Many of the crops find favour with tribals as a rich source of carbohydrates. Many promising varieties of important tuber crops have been recommended and suitable agro techniques and plant protection measures have been standardized.

The important crops are Potato, Sweet potato, Colocasia, Cassava and Lesser yam. These crops except potato are grown in poor soils with less

inputs and even under drought and unfavourable conditions.

Potato #

For getting high production, the potato crop is required to be planted at optimum time using proper cultural, manurial and irrigational practices. Remu- nerative potato based cropping systems are also required to be developed to ensure stability of crop area and production and good returns to the farmers. The major potato producing belts are as follows:

• Himachal Pradesh (Shimla, Lahaul spiti & Mandi).
• Punjab (Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana & Patiala) and Haryana (Ambala, Kurukshetra, Hisar, Karnal).
• Uttar Pradesh (Farrukhabad, Etawah, Mainpuri, Barabanki, Allahabad, Badaun, Moradabad, Agra, Aligarh, Mathura, Faiza- bad).
• Madhya Pradesh (Sidhi, Satana, Rewa, Sar- guja, Rajgarh, Sagar, Tikamgarh).
• Gujarat (Khera, Dissa, Banaskantha, Jamna- gar, Baroda, Mehsana).
• Orissa (Cuttack, Dhenkamal, Puri & Sam- balpur) and West Bengal.
• Maharashtra (Pune, Satara, Kolhapur, Nasik).
• Karnataka (Belgaum, Dharwad, Hassan and Kolar).
• Andhra Pradesh (Medak and Chitture).
• Tamil Nadu (Dhindigulanna, the Nilgiris).

Future Thrusts #

Due to diminishing availability of land resources, the increase in area under potato that occurred in the past is not expected to continue. The possibility of some increase in Kharif potato areas in the plateau regions of Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka exists provided suitable production technologies are avail- able. Increasing the cropping intensity by identify- ing suitable, companion crops with potato and the development of add to the area under Rabi potato.

For increasing the production levels from the present 15.2 million tons to 30 million tones and

the productivity from 16.2t/ha to 20 t/ha in the country there is need to pay special attention to the problems of potato growing areas like eastern UP, North Eastern Bihar and the states of Assam and Karnataka which have large areas under the potato crop but their productivity levels are low.

Cassava #

In Kerala, cassava is grown as a rainfed crop. Best planting season is April-May with the onset of southwest monsoon. June planting is ideal for Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Jagadalpur under rain- fed conditions. Under irrigated conditions of Tamil Nadu, planting in September is found suitable.

Legumes are most suited inter-crop in cassava. Intercropping of blackgram in Tamil Nadu, green- gram or blackgram in Andhra Pradesh and French bean in Assam are suitable and profitable. Bunch varieties of groundnut like TMV-2 and TMV-7 are also found to be ideal as an inter crop in cassava.

RESEARCH   GAP   AND   FUTURE THRUST #

Tuber crops, in general, are low priority crops

and are grown in marginal fields by poor farmers. Naturally, crop production techniques involving high inputs may not have much relevance with the majority of farmers. Hence, identification of stress tolerant lines with reasonable yield potential is one of the important mandates in the crop improvement programme.

Short duration lines with good yield potential, quality and tolerance to pests and diseases will be very useful in a cropping system with other econom- ically important crops.

Tuber crops, being vegetatively propagated, the multiplication rate is very low. This coupled with the absence of a proper seed distribution agency poses problems in the propagation and spread of the high yielding varieties released by the state and national agencies. Lack of proper infrastructure for virus elimination and multiplication of CMD free planting material is the real problem which comes in the way of boosting cassava production in non-traditional areas. So, the establishment of an effective seed production and distribution network at the national level is a pre-requisite for boosting production of tuber crops.