• Dr. Pooja Rana

Abstract Crop diversification is the product of action, reaction and interaction among physical and non-physical environments. It also highlights spatial variations in farming system prevalent among farmers within physical possibilities of agricultural relevance. It is right to say that greater the diversification, greater is the competition among crops which can be raised under prevailing physical environment, But it is also equally right that the farmers have learnt through experience that the cultivation of a variety of crops ensure economic returns of at least from few crops in areas of having high variability of rainfall. Thus, the feeling for some assure returns from at least some crops is natural among the poor farmers which are having small size of land holdings. With poor agricultural infrastructure in the tradition bound system, farmers grow cereal and non-cereal crops to meet their domestic requirement which generally leads to high degree of crop diversification. Moreover, small and marginal farmers also raise a number of crops for replenishing the soil fertility. Because it is an established fact that monoculture if practiced for a number of years leads to soil depletion. Crop diversification also generates more employment for the small farmers as well as for agricultural labourers throughout the year by growing different crops. While crop specialisation means low competition among growing crops which shows that either the physical environment doesn’t permit crop diversification or the farmers, because of their better economic conditions are interested only in few crops which fetch higher economic returns to them. Thus it is recognized that a study of spatial patterns of crop diversification is of vital importance and almost indispensable to understand the competition that goes on among different crops.

Crop Specialization, Irrigation, Mechanization, Crop diversification.

"CROP DIVERSIFICATION REGIONS: 1980-81 TO 2000-01", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 11, page no.e259-e273, November-2023, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2311437.pdf

"CROP DIVERSIFICATION REGIONS: 1980-81 TO 2000-01", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 11, page no. ppe259-e273, November-2023, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2311437.pdf