Trends in Crop Diversification by Agro-ecological Zones of India
2013
Mittal, Surabhi | Aryal, Jeetendra | Mehar, Mamta | Hariharan, Vinod
Using district level data from all Indian states and classifying them according to the agro-ecological zones and irrigation types, this paper has examined the pattern of crop diversification using descriptive statistics and has also computed the Simpson Index for diversification to show the pattern of diversification during the period 1966–67 to 2007–08. The paper has shown that the climatic changes, demand side pulls and urbanization are some of the major factors that explain the diversification across different ecological zones in India. The paper has posed questions for future analysis to check if this pattern of diversification can be an adaptive measure to manage climate risk and what should be carefully thought over in the broader policy scenario to make the farmer more responsive to manage climate risk through diversification as an adaptive strategy. The paper has suggested that future policy needs to address the problem of food security by stimulating shifts towards more sustainable, diversified, stress-tolerant and resource-saving options.
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