Rop diversification pattern in Haryana: A comparative study of organic and inorganic farmers

Abstract

The adoption of organic farming helps increase agriculture's profitability, enhancing food'snutritional value and sustaining the health of soils, ecosystems, and people. It became popularin Haryana during the recent period. The present study analyses the salient features of the adop-tion process of organic farming, and its impact on cropping patterns, crop combinations, anddiversification. It is a primary data-based comparative study of organic and inorganic farmers ofthe state. The data has been collected from 234 farm households with the help of a structured questionnaire. The study analyses the main factors in the adoption of organic farming in the state.The comparisons of cropping patterns, crop combination, and crop diversification have been doneby applying statistical techniques such as the Doi method, and Herfindahl Index. The study bringsout that farmers having small land holdings but higher education levels prefer organic farming.Though organic farming is carried out at a small scale in the state, it has been pursued earnestly asabout half of the organic farmers devote more than three-fourths of their land to this form offarming. Organic farmers are found to grow a larger number of crops and have quite a diversified cropping pattern compared to inorganic farmers. There is a perceptible difference in this regard inorganic farming across agro-ecological regions. The lesser irrigated mixed-crop region has muchmore diversified than the wheat-rice region of the eastern parts of the state.