1.8. Cropping Pattern5

Cropping pattern refers to the yearly sequence and spatial arrangement of crops and fallows on a given area. The farmer’s decision on crops and cropping pattern depends on several factors – soil and climate, household needs, socio-economic issues, market infrastructure, post-harvest storage and processing facilities, labour availability, technological development, government policies etc. By and large, most of the Indian farmers go for cultivation of a number of crops on their farms and rotate a particular crop combination over a period of 3 -4 years. It results in multiplicity of cropping system which remains dynamic in time and space.

A large diversity of cropping system exist under rainfed and dryland areas with an over-riding practise of intercropping due to greater risk involved in cultivating large area under a particular crop, while in areas of assured irrigation only a few cropping system are followed, they have a considerable coverage across the region and contribute significantly to food grain production at national level.

Three major type of cropping system in India are- (i) Sequential System- In this system, we have sequential multiple cropping using short duration crops and intensive input management. (ii) Intercropping System- Growing of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field; Crop intensification is in both temporal and spatial dimensions. (iii) Alley Cropping System – Growing of annual crops with multipurpose perennial trees or shrubs. It is a way of increasing production potential under fragile environment.

5 The crops of India are divided into mainly two types: (a) Food crops (b) Cash crops. A cash crop is an agricultural crop which is grown for sale to return a profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. Rice, wheat, maize, millet, barley, mower are the examples of food grains. Jute, cotton, sugarcane, oil seeds and rubber are known as cash crops.