Abstract
A methodological study was made at the Agro Climate Research Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, and Coimbatore during 2012 to identify the potential districts for cultivation of rice, maize and groundnut in Tamil Nadu. The data on area, production and productivity of study crops for 2000–‘01 to 2009–‘10 were collected and indices such as Relative Spread Index (RSI) and Relative Yield Index (RYI) were computed and the potential cropping districts for the study crops were identified. In Tamil Nadu, nine districts were found to be prospective regions for rice, seven districts for maize and three districts for groundnut as in these areas both the RYI and the RSI were high. In some of the districts, RSI is more for a particular crop, while the RYI is low indicating non suitability of that crop. However, due to other factors such as market demand and value of the produce, farmers cultivate the crops that are not suitable for their location which relates in high RSI with low RYI. Keywords: Efficient Cropping Zone, Relative Spread Index, Relative Yield Index.
Highlights
The productivity level of crops has to be enhanced and sustained and this is possible only when efficient locations have been identified for the crops [1]
Perambalur district fell under Highly-Inefficient Zone (HInEZ) where both Relative Spread Index (RSI) and Relative Yield Index (RYI) values were below 100 per cent
The Most Efficient Cropping Zone (MECZ) which has high RSI and RYI for maize was found in Coimbatore, Dindugul, Erode, Salem, Tiruppur, Theni, and Virudhunagar districts in Tamil Nadu
Summary
The productivity level of crops has to be enhanced and sustained and this is possible only when efficient locations have been identified for the crops [1] This information would help to replace the uneconomical crop in the identified areas. Horticultural crops fetch 20–30 times more foreign exchange per unit area than cereals due to higher yields and higher prices available in the international market. One such tool for identifying the potential area of crops is by calculating Relative Yield Index and Relative Spread Index and in turn Efficient Cropping Zone of the crops [3]. The present investigation was carried out to find the potential areas for rice, maize and groundnut in Tamil Nadu
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