9. Spatio-temporal Changes of Crop Combination in Selected C.D. Blocks of Purba Bardhaman District, West Bengal, India

Agriculture is the main driving force of the Indian economy contributing 18% country’s GDP, and above 50% of the population has been engaged in agriculture and allied activities (Economic survey, 2017–18). Regional disparities are periodically surveyed in various parts of the world to monitor and measure by the several agricultural practices. Through the regionalization of agriculture, India is divided into some categories. Among a variety of methods, crop combination is the most significant technique for agricultural zoning and mapping purposes. Usually, crops are grown up in permutation and it is occasionally that a certain crop possesses a place of entire separation than additional crops in a given areal unit at a given point of time. Undivided Burdwan district was forever known as the “Granary of Bengal” but now, Purba Bardhaman district has occupied the greater parts of the agriculturally advanced area. To find out the agricultural zones of the district, crop combination is an important technique to understand in which areas how many crops are cultivated and to what extent. So present study is concentrated to find out the spatio-temporal changes of crop combination and their comparative analyses in selected blocks staying on both sides of the Damodar river in Purba Bardhaman district from 2000–01 to 2015–16. The present study is based on mainly secondary data and perception studies of the farmers. QGIS tools and Coppock’s crop combination method have been used. Finally, changing trends have been analyzed that show two blocks are having unchanged status, while four blocks are gradually decreasing and two blocks have been showing the rising trend.