Cropping intensity

Indian Economy glossary

Topic: Land Reforms, the Green Revolution and Farm Subsidies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Cropping intensity measures how many times the same piece of farm land is cropped in one year. The formula is:

Cropping intensity = (Gross cropped area ÷ Net sown area) × 100

India has almost no new land left to bring under the plough. So cropping intensity is one of the few ways left to grow more food from the same land. It shows how well a country uses its farm land over the year.

Explanation

How the formula works

  • Net sown area (NSA) is the area sown with crops and orchards. Land sown more than once in a year is counted only once [1].
  • Gross cropped area (GCA) is the total area sown. Land sown more than once is counted as many times as it is sown.
  • Dividing GCA by NSA shows the average number of crops each hectare grows in a year. Multiplying by 100 turns that into a percentage.
  • Worked example:
  • NSA = 100 ha. Of this, 60 ha is double-cropped (two crops a year).
  • GCA = 100 + 60 = 160 ha.

  • Cropping intensity = 160 ÷ 100 × 100 = 160%.

  • Reading the number:

  • 100% means every field grows one crop a year.
  • 200% means every field grows two crops a year.

  • A value above 200% is possible only when some fields also grow a third crop, such as a zaid crop (a short summer crop grown between rabi and kharif).

  • The lowest possible value is 100%. GCA can never be smaller than NSA, because every sown field is counted at least once in both.

What makes it rise

  • Assured irrigation means water every time the crop needs it. With it, farmers do not have to wait for the monsoon, so they can sow a second crop in the dry winter.

  • Rural electrification powered tubewells (deep wells with electric pumps), and tubewells gave assured irrigation.

  • Short-duration HYV seeds: high-yielding variety seeds that ripen faster. The field is free sooner, so there is time for another crop.

  • Farm mechanisation: tractors, threshers, harvesters and pumpsets.
  • Harvesting and sowing get faster.
  • The gap between two crops shrinks.

  • This leaves time in the year for a second crop.

  • The crop calendar shows how this works in practice:

  • kharif paddy (sown with the south-west monsoon in June-July) is followed by rabi wheat (sown in winter, Oct-Dec);
  • a zaid crop is often grown in summer as well.

What keeps it low

  • Rain-fed farming: without irrigation, fields sit empty after the monsoon crop.
  • Long-duration crops that keep the land busy for most of the year.
  • Small, poor farmers who cannot buy seed, fertiliser or water for a second crop.
  • Drought years, when fewer fields can be sown a second time.

In India

  • Who measures it: the ratio is built from Land Use Statistics, and MoSPI uses the same ratio [1]. The latest figure, 155.4% for 2021-22, was released through PIB [2]. NCERT rounds it to "about 155%".
  • The long-term rise:
  • Between 1950-51 and 2006-07, cropping intensity rose from 111% to 138% [1].
  • Over the same years, GCA rose from 132 to 194 million ha. The main reason was this rise in cropping intensity [1].
  • Area sown more than once rose from 13 to 53 million ha [1].

  • Total cropped area rose from 201.18 to 219.16 million ha in recent years [3].

  • Why the rise matters: NSA has hit a ceiling.

  • From 1970-71 to 2006-07, NSA stayed between 140 and 141 million ha. That is about 46% of the reporting area [1].
  • From 1988-89 to 2018-19, NSA stayed at about 140 million ha, while GCA grew from 182.28 to 196.50 million ha [2].

  • So all of the extra cropped area came from sowing the same land more often, not from new land.

  • Green Revolution link: HYV seeds, tubewell irrigation and machines made the kharif paddy → rabi wheat cycle possible in Punjab-Haryana. That cycle pushed cropping intensity up there.

Don't confuse with

  • Crop yield (output ÷ area, in kg or tonnes per hectare): it measures how much grain one crop gives per hectare. Cropping intensity measures how many times the land is cropped in a year. 40 tonnes of wheat from 10 ha gives a yield of 4 t/ha, and that figure says nothing about how many crops were grown.
  • Net sown area vs Gross cropped area: NSA counts double-cropped land once, while GCA counts it twice. In the formula, GCA goes on top and NSA goes at the bottom. Switching them is a common MCQ trap.
  • Multiple cropping: this is the practice of growing two or more crops on the same field in one year. Cropping intensity is the measure of how much of that practice happens.
  • Seed replacement rate (SRR): this is the share of crop area sown with certified or quality seed in one season. It is about seed quality, not about how often the land is used.

Prelims Hooks

  • Cropping intensity = (GCA ÷ NSA) × 100. Land sown twice counts once in NSA and twice in GCA.
  • India's cropping intensity rose from 111% (1950-51) to 138% (2006-07) [1], and then to 155.4% (2021-22) [2].
  • NSA has stayed at about 140 million ha for decades [1][2]. The rise in GCA came mainly from higher cropping intensity [1].
  • Area sown more than once rose from 13 to 53 million ha between 1950-51 and 2006-07 [1].
  • A value of 100% means one crop a year on every field, and 200% means two crops a year on every field. The value can never fall below 100%.
  • Trap: a higher cropping intensity does not mean a higher yield per hectare. They are two different measures.

Mains Points

  • With no new land left, growth must come from each hectare.
  • NSA has been stuck at about 140 million ha [1][2].
  • So food output can grow only through higher cropping intensity (155.4% in 2021-22 [2]) and higher yields.

  • This needs more irrigation, short-duration varieties and renewed research and extension (field staff taking new methods to farmers). Research and extension lost funding after the 1991 reforms.

  • High intensity has costs.

  • In Punjab-Haryana, the paddy-wheat double crop is supported by MSP, free power and fertiliser subsidies.
  • It drains groundwater and damages soil.
  • The short gap between the two crops leads to stubble burning (setting fire to crop remains to clear the field quickly).

  • This links to the GS-III debate on crop diversification and farm-subsidy reform.

  • The gains have been uneven across regions.

  • Irrigated states moved ahead, while rain-fed and eastern India still crop much of their land only once.
  • A "second Green Revolution" there would need irrigation, credit and strong institutions like ICAR and the state agricultural universities. That would raise cropping intensity and reduce the gap between regions.

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1MoSPI, Compendium of Environment Statistics, Ch. 5 "Land and Soil"mospi.gov.in · tier 1
  2. 2PIB press release (Land Use Statistics 2021-22; cropping intensity 155.4%)pib.gov.in · tier 1
  3. 3PIB, "Total cropped area increases from 201.18 million hectares to 219.16 million hectares"pib.gov.in · tier 1