10. Cropping System Analysis Using Geo-Informatics Approach: A Case Study of Panipat District, Haryana

A cropping system is defined as the cropping pattern and its management to derive benefits from a given resource base under a specific environmental condition. Crop rotation is a time-honored process of planting annual crops. The paper describes methodology and results of cropping system analysis for Panipat district of Haryana, climatologically characterized by hot summer, cold winter and dry air except during rainy season. Multi-date and Multi-season IRS LISS-III digital satellite data of 2007–2008 was geo-referenced with the already geo-referenced master image by collecting GCP’s using second polynomial order and Nearest Neighborhood (NN) resampling approach. District boundary was overplayed on the image and all the data elements (pixels) within this were extracted for further analysis. Multi-layer stacks were prepared for Kharif, Rabi and Summer seasons using multi-date images of each season. The stacked images of different seasons were classified using complete enumeration approach and unsupervised ISO-Data clustering classifier based on some defined conditions such as number of clusters, threshold, standard deviation etc. To improve the accuracy Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of each date and non-agricultural mask was generated and used during the classification. The Kharif, Rabi and Summer cropping pattern maps and statistics were generated using classified images and applying logical combinations. During Kharif season rice is the major crop which occupies 73,700 ha area and in the Rabi season wheat is major crop occupying 82,900 ha area. In the summer season most of the area is lying vacant as fallow and major crops are fodder, vegetables etc. Sugarcane is an annual crop and it is available in all three cropping seasons. Rice-Wheat-Other, and Rice-Wheat-Fallow and the major crop rotations identified in the district.