Crop Diversification and Land Productivity in Odisha: Role of Rural Infrastructure

Abstract

The present study examines the role of rural infrastructure, and some other factors like seed, fertiliser, marketable surplus and rural credit in crop diversification and land productivity in an eastern Indian state, Odisha. By using district-wise cross section official data for the year 2011-12, an index for rural infrastructure is prepared with help of the Principal Components Analysis, and crop diversity index is measured by the Entropy Index. An attempt has also been made to examine the regional divide in crop diversification and land productivity vis-à-vis rural infrastructure. The study observes that rural infrastructure has significant positive impact on land productivity. However, along with high yielding variety paddy, infrastructure contributes to concentration rather than crop diversification. In addition, the study also observes persistence of regional divide in infrastructure, which may be considered as a major concern having wider implications. However, due to limitations in data, such inferences need micro-level verifications before generalisation.