Multiple cropping
Topic: Land Reforms, the Green Revolution and Farm Subsidies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Multiple cropping means growing two or more crops on the same field in one year. Short-duration high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds and assured irrigation made it possible on a large scale during the Green Revolution. It matters because net sown area is close to its ceiling at about 140 million ha. So more output must come from cropping the same land more often and from higher yields. Multiple cropping raises cropping intensity.
Example
A Punjab farmer grows kharif paddy, then rabi wheat, and then a short zaid fodder crop in summer. That is three crops a year from one field.
Don't confuse with
- Mixed cropping: two or more crops are grown together at the same time, without a row pattern, to reduce the risk of total crop failure. Multiple cropping is about how many crops a field gives in a year.
- Crop rotation: this means changing which crops follow each other over time to keep the soil healthy. It is not about the number of crops in a year.
Related concepts
- Green Revolution
- High-yielding variety seeds
- Research and extension
- Farm mechanisation
- Crop yield
- Seed replacement rate
- Kharif crops
- Rabi crops
- Zaid crops
- Net sown area