CROPPING PATTERN IN INDIA (Pages 01-11) by in THE INTERNATIONAL MANAGER / ISSN: 2348-9413 (Online); 2348-9405 (Print)

Indian economy is primarily based on agriculture and its major challenges are growth, sustainability efficiency and equity. If growth is to be sustained, all resources, particularly the ones that are relatively finite, needs to be used efficiently. Thus, looking at land productivity alone may not serve the purpose, particularly due to the growing scarcity of water. Traditionally, increased food production has come from putting more land under cultivation. Gradually new concepts on multiple-cropping have started coming in and now there has been some accumulation of useful scientific information. The information is based on analytical work on different crop combinations and sequential growth of the crops. There had been substantial investments in major irrigation works in the colonial days. The post-Independence era saw many multi-purpose irrigation works. Lately, interest in the medium and minor irrigation works has increased, especially after the drought of 1966. Thus, at present, an all- India irrigation potential of 59 mha has been created and is expected to increase up 110 m ha by 2025. Irrigation, especially the minor works, has provided a base for multiple-cropping. The All-India Co- ordinated Crops-Improvement Projects run co-operatively by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the agricultural universities have generated short-season, photo-period-insensitive high- yeilding varieties of various crops suitable for a high intensity of cropping. Keywords: Indian economy, sustainability efficiency & equity, scarcity of water, multiple-cropping, substantial investments, irrigation potential, short-season, photo-period-insensitive high- yeilding varieties etc.