Major cropping patterns India ?Relevance of cropping pattern in agriculture ?Trend of cropping pattern in Indian agriculture: determinants and implication?Deficiencies of cropping pattern and its implications?

 Agriculture is one of the very important factors in economic development of a country. Agriculture has also been one of the oldest and very significant means of livelihood in an economy. The role of agriculture in economic development can be identified mainly through two aspects- supply and demand in an economy.

Relevance of cropping pattern in agriculture:

Cropping pattern highlights the degree of extensive and intensive farming. This also highlights the diversified pattern of crops produced considering the need of the economy. The cropping pattern has two important roles:

•  firstly, if the existing cropping pattern is able to meet the domestic demand for different food items and therefore ensures the balanced diet of households in the economy. It also emphasizes the role of agriculture in meeting the demand in the economy. It ensures development of an economy by meeting demand with the sufficient production of different food items keeping in mind the need of balanced diets as well as concern for reducing the dependence on the foreign countries.

• secondly, if the cropping pattern is sustainable in the long-run keeping in mind the limited water resources and erodible fertility of land. Both have got considerable implications for economic development. It also emphasises on the role agriculture in sustainable supply of food products. It also signifies the role and potentialities of different regions in country like India in ensuring supply of different crops as different regions have different natural endowments with varying climatic setup. The cropping pattern also highlights the advancement of agriculture sector towards more mature stage where the potentiality of land is utilized to the optimal level.

The cropping pattern in agriculture sector is structured by the prevailing market incentives, climatic setup, and the intervention of the government. We can illustrate this with an example of Kerala, a South Indian state. It has greater share of its total agricultural products coming from non-food grains items such as plantations, condiments and spices. The share of these high-value crops (non-food grains) is almost at 93 percent of total crops produced in Kerala. In fact, 9.9 percent of Gross Cropped Areas (GCA) is devoted to food grains in Kerala against 63.8 percent of national average.). The dominance of high-value crops has cropped up during the economic liberalization period which has offered international markets for the producers of such crops.

Trend of cropping pattern in Indian agriculture: determinants and implication

India has been a country with varying climatic conditions and diverse agricultural potentialities. Before independence the agriculture sector grew almost at negative rate during the last four decades. The revitalization of agriculture sector was an imperative step to provide economic fillip to the economy and also to secure food security for the Indian population. This was important as at the time of independence the contribution of the agriculture sector was close to 50 percent in the national income and more than 70 percent workforce was dependent on the agriculture sector. 

1.The net availability of food grains was 52.4 million tons in 1950-51. Nine percent of this net availability was imported from outside. The amount of expenditure on imports of food grains was 20 percent of export earnings. The dependency of the country on import of food grains continued till late 1960s. In 1966 the food grains imported from outside was 16 percent. The famous P.L. 480 Agreement signed between India and the USA in 1964 was to provide import of 6.9 million tons food grains which consisted rice, wheat, soya beans and maize

2.The poverty level in India, which is defined in terms of calorie intake, was as high as close to 50 percent in 1959-60 but that further increased to around 60 percent in 1966-67 marking the fall out of stagnating agriculture as well as non-availability or inaccessibility of sufficient food intake for the poor in India during those days. The poverty is directly negatively linked to the food intake. As per some estimates the per-capita consumption was 460 grams per day that was lower than the dietitian’s recommendation of 510-520 grams per day.

3.The onset of green revolution in 1966 was meant to improve the land productivity with the introduction of improved seeds, better fertilizers, new technologies and scientific cropping patterns. As per an estimate the area under High Yield Varieties (HYV) seeds of wheat and rice increased from 10 thousand hectares in 1965-66 to 3 crores hectares in 1977-78. The advantage of HYV seeds for better economic returns

4.They have divided the period between 1962 and 2006 into three sub-periods: (i) initial period of green revolution (1962-65 to 1980-83), (ii) maturing of green revolution (1980-83 to 1990-93) and (iii) post-liberalization period (1990-93 to 2003-06). They found out that mainly the North-Western states, particularly Punjab and Haryana, experienced higher agricultural growth rates during the initial period of green revolution. Based on the value of output of 44 crops, Punjab and Haryana were the fastest growing states between two trienniums of 1962-65 and 1980-83, as both grew at 5.58 percent and 3.74 percent per annum, respectively.

5.The rise of agriculture sector growth rate between 1980-83 and 1990-93 was primarily due to rise in land productivity as the data show that almost all the regions witnessed higher annual growth rate of crop yield . This is truer in case of the North-Western and Eastern regions where the average net sown area declined in absolute terms. The factors which affected this better performance of agriculture sector were: (a) increasing use of technologies, (b) changing cropping patterns, (c) increasing use of fertilizers, and (d) growth in irrigated areas. The use of tractors, harvesters and pump sets was observed across all the regions.

6.There was rise in the share of non-foodgrains crops such as oilseeds, cottons, sugar cane, and fruits and vegetables due to introduction of technologies as part of green revolution. In the North-Western region the share of wheat and rice remained unchanged but the fiber crops, cotton crops and vegetables and fruits remained increased marginally on the cost of pulses and coarse cereals. The Eastern region also experienced similar to the North-Western region except that it did not witness rise in the share of fiber crops and cotton crops. But it witnessed sharp rise in the share of fruits and vegetables. The Central region witnessed sharp rise in the share of oilseeds.

7.The period of economic liberalization has been an important phase in the Indian economy as it has brought greater degree of market elements in the agriculture sector. There has been rise in cropping intensity across all the regions between 1992 and 2003 (Table 3). This has been an outcome of rise in the use of technology, fertilizers and greater use of HYVs. But the crop diversification grew at the slower rate than the rate that was observed during the pre-liberalization period; hence the economic liberalization has not worked as per expectation of the policy makers.

Cropping System in India 

The Indian agriculture is decided by the soil types and climatic parameters which determine overall agro-ecological setting for nourishment and appropriateness of a crop or set of crops for cultivation. There are three distinct crop seasons in India, namely Kharif, Rabi and Zaid. 

o The Kharif season started with Southwest Monsoon under which the cultivation of tropical crops such as rice, cotton, jute, jowar, bajra and tur are cultivated. 

o The Rabi season starts with the onset of winter in October-November and ends in March-April. 

o Zaid is a short duration summer cropping season beginning after harvesting of Rabi crops. 

There are four cropping systems in India which is discussed below: 

1. Rainy Season Cropping Systems: In this system of cropping, Rice, Sorghum, Pearl Millet (Bajra), Maize, Groundnut and Cotton are grown. 

2. Winter Cropping Systems: In this system, wheat, barley and oats, sorghum and chickpea are grown.

 3. Plantation and other commercial crops: Sugarcane, Tobacco, Potato, Jute, Tea, Coffee, Coconut, Rubber, and Spices are important crops are grown in this system.

 4. Mixed Cropping: In this system, pulses and some oilseeds are grown with maize, sorghum and pearl millet.

Types of Cropping System in India

 There are three types of cropping system followed in India which is below: 

1. Mono-Cropping or Monoculture: In this system, only one crop is grown on farm land year after year.

 2. Multiple-Cropping: In this system, farmers grow two or more crops on farm land in one calendar year with intensive input management practices. It includes inter-cropping, mixedcropping and sequence cropping. 

3. Inter-cropping: In this system, farmers grow two or more crops simultaneously on the same field in one calendar year.

Factors determining cropping pattern in India 

1. Physical Factors: Cropping pattern of any particular region of the country is depending on its soil content, weather, climate, rainfall etc. As for example, in a wet area having chances of heavy rainfall and water-logging, people will like to cultivate rice whereas in a dry area, farmer can manage to cultivate coarse cereals like bajra, jowar etc. 

2. Technical Factors: 

 The cropping pattern also depend upon the technical factors such as nature and capacity of irrigation facilities available in a region, availability of improved seeds, chemical fertiliser etc. With the development of irrigation facilities, the entire method of cultivation being followed from the traditional period is bound to change. 

 With this, new and better crop rotation system can be followed and new and superior crops also can be grown.  In India, due to the extension of irrigation facilities, the cultivation of sugarcane, tobacco, oilseeds etc. have increased substantially. 

 Moreover, with the availability of irrigation water, even double or triple cropping is also successfully done. Again, in the absence of irrigation facilities in some other parts of the country, the concept of “dry land farming” is also gaining its importance in recent year.

3. Economic Factors: 

Economic factors are playing the major role in determining the cropping pattern in a country like India.

The following are some of the economic factors influencing the cropping pattern of our country: Price and income aspect: 

 Movement of price of agricultural products is having some correlation with the changes in cropping pattern. A remunerative and steady price of a particular crop will provide a better incentive to the producer to produce that crop and un-remunerative price will induce the farmer to change the cropping pattern. 

 In India, fixed procurement price of wheat and rice and other controls imposed by the Government induced the farmers to shift to cash crops like sugarcane. Again, the unremunerative prices of jute prevailing in Assam and other adjoining states also led to shift in the production of food crops.

  Moreover, income maximisation aspect is also playing an important role in influencing the cropping pattern in the country. Relative profitability per acre is also having considerable influence on the cropping pattern of the country. 

Farm Size:  A good relationship also exists between farm size and cropping pattern. In a small farm, farmers are very much interested to produce food grains for household consumption. After meeting their own food requirements small farmers may go for cash crops in order to maximise their money income. On the other hand, in a big farm farmers like to follow that cropping pattern which maximise their income.

Tenure:  Land tenure system prevailing in the country also influences the cropping pattern. In a system of crop sharing, it is the landlord who finalizes the cropping pattern guided by profit maximising principle

Availability affirm inputs:  Cropping pattern is also depending upon the farm inputs available, seeds, fertiliser, controlled and assured water supply through irrigation etc. and among these irrigation is the most important.

Deficiencies of cropping pattern and its implications

The emergence of agriculture in India and its cropping pattern are characterised by few deficiencies which are discussed below

1.Emergence of unsuitable cropping pattern: The Wheat-Rice cropping pattern has emerged as major cropping pattern in India since the Green Revolution.

2. Wide variation in region-wise agricultural performance:wide variation in the performance of agriculture sector across different regions in India. Once we assign major role to the agriculture sector in the well being of population as majority of population in India is dependent on agriculture sector then wide variation in agricultural performance has major implications for varying economic wellbeing of people in different regions.

3.Dismal performance of agriculture during globalization: It has been highlighted that performance of agriculture sector during the globalization period has been lower than expected by the proponents of globalization. The globalization was to offer the greater market access to the agricultural products and thereby causing spurt in the agricultural development in India.

 Future scope and challenges of agriculture for economic development in India:

1.International integration creates an additional source of demand for agricultural products apart from the domestic sources of demand. If India wants to grow at the rate of 8 percent then it has to be accompanied by faster expansion of agriculture so that rising demand for food by the industrial and service sector is met appropriately.

2.As India progresses economically, the diversity of demand for agricultural products will also grow. Therefore agriculture sector has very important role to play in sustenance of buoyancy in economic performance. As per some estimate the demand for food grains has been projected to around 450 million tons per annum by 2025 and India needs to propel the agricultural sector to achieve higher rate of growth.

 The biggest constraint on the expansion of agriculture sector is the irrigation facility as in 2012 only 45 percent of net cropped area was irrigated. Such data on irrigated land in 2012 shows very little progress since 2003 when the net irrigated area was at 41 percent (Economic Survey, Govt. of India, 2013).

. It has also been observed that marginal and small farmers recorded greater crop intensity than large farmers. Such performance of marginal and small farmers asks government to speed up the land reforms towards greater share of land in the hands of marginal and small farmers by imposing the ceiling provisions. The credit needs of marginal and small farmers are met by primarily the money lenders at very high interest rates while the large farmers enjoy the luxury of formal sources for their credit requirements

If India wants to sustain the economic progress on the higher trajectories then it requires ensuring greater availability of infrastructural factors such as irrigational facilities, modern techniques of agricultural production, agricultural training institutes, and fertilizers etc. It also has to bring appropriate change in the cropping pattern based on suitability of different regions for different crops. It has to ensure certain institutional factors such as greater availability of credit from the formal sources and implementation of land reforms related measures.