4. Status of Crop Diversification

The present chapter focuses on “in which way agricultural development impacts crop diversification under different crop categories by land size classes in the district”. The available literature on crop diversification suggests that diversifying crop is a panacea of many problems like employment, income, sustainable agriculture and others, irrespective of land size. The data on crop categories by land size classes is obtained from Agriculture Census of India. The diversification indices are calculated on 1995–1996 and 2015–2015 census data. For absolute diversification index Gibbs-Martin technique is used. And to measure homogeneity in diversification, Simpson diversity index is employed. The crop counting method is also used to show the extent of diversification under different crop categories. The absolute diversification trends under all crops show that the district is booming in crop diversification across the block in different land size types. The diversification under cereals, vegetables and fruit crops has increased, but the same falls in pulses, spices, oilseeds and fibre crops in the district. The maximum gained in index value is found in marginal land size category under vegetables and fruit crops. The primary survey reports that the marginal and small farmers do diversification mainly because of profit opportunities backed by previous market demands.