Abstract
Crop diversification is one of the most important risk management and income enhancing strategies for farmers. The study investigates the pattern, trend, and factors influencing crop diversification in different districts of West Bengal, based on secondary data. The Simpson index has been used to estimate diversification. The results show that all the districts of West Bengal and the state as a whole have exhibited a higher crop diversification during new millennium than the nineties. Both the supply side and demand side variables have been found to influence crop diversification. These variables include rural literacy rate, the percentage of urban population to total population of the district, relative earning from high-value crops (HVC) than cereals, the market density of a particular region, the percentage of small landholders and area under high yielding varieties (HYV) of food grains. The magnitude of rainfall and extension of crop insurance facility also have a significant impact on crop diversification. The government should come forward with suitable policies to encourage crop diversification. These policies may encompass the development of rural infrastructure, enhancement of rural literacy rate, the extension of crop insurance facilities and above all, the development of suitable price policy in favor of high-value crops. Key words: Crop diversification, Simpson’s index, panel data regression, high-value crop, smallholder.
Highlights
The agriculture and allied sector continues to be pivotal to the sustainable growth and development of the Indian economy
The study revealed that the crop sector in the West Bengal, in general, has been diversifying towards high-value crops from the traditional ones
There are considerable variations in terms of intensity of the diversification across the districts. Few districts such as Purulia, South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, Birbhum and West Midnapore show no tendency towards crop diversification
Summary
The agriculture and allied sector continues to be pivotal to the sustainable growth and development of the Indian economy. The small and the marginal farmers who dominate the agricultural scenario of most of the Indian states, including West Bengal, can generate higher farm income and employment and mitigate risks by adopting a diversified crop portfolio (Vyas, 1996). Based on the aforementioned discussion, it may be argued that the small and marginal farmers, depending on a small piece of land and having no alternative sources of employment and income due to the existence of a vast population of surplus labor in the countryside, would always try to produce the maximum output on the given piece of land They would try to cultivate as many crops as possible and choose such high-value crops (for example, boro paddy, oilseeds like rapeseed and mustard, potato, jute, fruits and vegetables), which after meeting their consumption needs, would meet their minimum cash requirements for the maintenance of their daily life. West Bengal is one of the leading producers of fruits and vegetables contributing nearly 19.62% to the country‟s total production in 2014-2015 (Government of India, 2016a, b)
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