Cropping pattern

Topic: Rural Development: Diversification, Allied Sectors and Organic Farming · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Indian Economy on the Eve of Independence"; Class 11, Ch 5 "Rural Development"

Meaning

Cropping pattern is the share of land under different crops in a region at a given time, usually one agricultural year.

Formula: share of crop X (%) = (area under crop X ÷ gross cropped area) × 100

Gross cropped area is the total area sown in a year. Land sown twice in the same year is counted twice.

Cropping pattern matters because it shows what a region's farmers depend on. That affects their income risk, the region's water use and the country's food supply.

Explanation

How it is measured

• You take the area under each crop and divide it by the gross cropped area, not by the land area.
• If a field grows rice in kharif and wheat in rabi, it is counted once under rice and once under wheat.

• So the shares of all crops together add up to 100% of gross cropped area.

• Worked example:

• A district sows 1,00,000 ha in a year.
• Rice covers 45,000 ha, wheat 35,000 ha, pulses 8,000 ha and others 12,000 ha.

• The shares are rice 45%, wheat 35%, pulses 8% and others 12%.

• When the pattern changes:

• Suppose rice falls to 35,000 ha and pulses rise to 18,000 ha.
• Rice is now 35% and pulses are 18%.
• The cropping pattern has diversified, because land is now spread over more crops.

The seasonal side: kharif and rabi

• Kharif crops, such as rice, are sown with the south-west monsoon (June-July) and harvested in autumn.
• Rabi crops, such as wheat, are sown in winter and harvested in spring.
• Land without irrigation usually cannot grow a rabi crop.
• So in dry areas the cropping pattern is thin, often just one kharif crop.
• This leaves farm workers with little paid work for several months.

What shifts a cropping pattern: prices, technology and policy

• Prices
• Farmers grow the crops that pay more or carry less risk.

• If one crop's price becomes more certain, more land moves to it.

• Technology

• Irrigation makes a second (rabi) crop possible.

• Better seeds raise the yield of some crops, so those crops become more attractive.

• Policy

• MSP (Minimum Support Price) is a price the government announces before sowing. It promises to buy the crop at that price.
• Procurement is the government actually buying the crop, mostly rice and wheat, for the PDS (Public Distribution System).

• Assured purchase → low risk → farmers keep planting rice and wheat year after year.

• Colonial example

• Under British rule, farmers moved from food crops to commercial crops such as indigo, cotton and jute.
• This change was driven by British demand, not by what Indian farmers or consumers needed.

In India

• Rice-wheat lock-in
• MSP and procurement pull farmers in Punjab and Haryana toward rice and wheat.

• Farmers keep growing paddy there even though it uses large amounts of groundwater.

• Crop Diversification Programme (CDP)

• It is a sub-scheme of RKVY (Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana) and has run since 2013-14 [2].
• It covers the original Green Revolution states: Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh [2].
• It aims to move land from paddy to maize, pulses, oilseeds, cotton and agro-forestry [2].

• From 2018-19 to 2024-25, alternate crop demonstrations covered 1,86,546 ha and replaced paddy and tobacco [2].

• Mera Pani Meri Virasat ("my water, my heritage"), Haryana, since 2020

• It pays farmers to switch from paddy to crops that need less water, so that groundwater stops falling [2].

• Punjab promotes millets and has set up centres of excellence for pear, peach, guava and citrus [2].

• Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses (2025-26 to 2030-31)
• It has an outlay of ₹11,440 crore [4].
• Its targets for 2030-31 are an area of 310 lakh ha, production of 350 lakh tonnes and a yield of 1,130 kg/ha [4].
• NAFED and NCCF will buy 100% of the tur, urad and masoor that registered farmers grow, for four years in participating states. The purchases go through the Price Support Scheme (PSS) of PM-AASHA [4].

• Pulses now get the same assured-purchase pull that rice and wheat get. That could change the cropping pattern.

• Millets (Nutri-Cereals)

• Millets were notified as Nutri-Cereals in April 2018 [3].
• A Sub-Mission on Nutri-Cereals has run under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) since 2018-19 [3].
• Millets need little water, so moving land to them makes the cropping pattern less water-heavy.

Don't confuse with

• Crop diversification: cropping pattern is a snapshot (the shares of crops at one time). Crop diversification is a movement: shifting from one or a few crops to a wider mix.
• Agricultural diversification: this is broader. It has two aspects: (i) a change in cropping pattern, and (ii) workers moving from crop farming to allied activities (livestock, dairying, poultry, fisheries) and to non-farm work. Cropping pattern covers only the first.
• Cropping intensity: this measures how many times the same land is sown in a year (gross cropped area compared with net sown area). Cropping pattern measures which crops take up that sown area.
• Kharif/Rabi season: these are sowing seasons. Cropping pattern is the mix of crops across all seasons.

Prelims Hooks

• Cropping pattern = (area under crop ÷ gross cropped area) × 100. Gross cropped area counts land sown twice as two.
• Three things shift cropping pattern: prices, technology and policy. In colonial times the shift was from food crops to commercial crops such as indigo, cotton and jute.
• A change in cropping pattern is one of the two aspects of agricultural diversification. The other is the shift of workers to allied and non-farm activities.
• CDP is a sub-scheme of RKVY, running since 2013-14 in Punjab, Haryana and western UP. It targets paddy and tobacco [2].
• Trap: Mera Pani Meri Virasat (2020) is a Haryana state scheme, not a central scheme [2].
• The pulses mission guarantees 100% procurement of tur, urad and masoor by NAFED/NCCF for 4 years [4].

Mains Points

• MSP bias distorts the cropping pattern
• Open-ended buying of rice and wheat locks Punjab and Haryana into a paddy-wheat cycle.
• This drains groundwater and adds to stubble burning.

• Demonstrations and advice alone, as under the CDP, cannot break the cycle. Other crops need matching price and procurement support, as the pulses mission now gives tur, urad and masoor [4].

• A diverse cropping pattern lowers risk

• A single-crop region can lose a whole year's income to one bad monsoon or one price crash.

• A wider mix of crops (pulses, oilseeds, horticulture, millets) spreads that risk and supports sustainable livelihoods (ways of earning that last and do not collapse after one bad year).

• Millets link cropping pattern to nutrition and climate

• Moving land to millets saves water, copes with heat and drought, and fights "hidden hunger" (a lack of vitamins and minerals).
• But the shift lasts only if demand grows too, through PDS inclusion, processing and markets. Producing more millets is not enough.

Related concepts

• Agricultural diversification
• Sustainable livelihoods
• Kharif and Rabi seasons
• Crop diversification
• Nutri-cereals

Read more

• Diversification: why rural livelihoods must diversify and how cropping patterns shift