Crop Diversification and Land Configurations for Nutritional and Food Security under Irrigated Rice-Wheat System

The paper has reported the results of a field experiment conducted at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, during 2014–2015 to intensify and diversify rice-wheat cropping system by inclusion of legumes, cash crops, fodder and vegetables under different land configurations for developing need-based biointensive cropping system for small landholders of irrigated tarai region of Uttrarakhand. Among the tested diversification options, rice (DSR) – Potato – Cowpea (Grain) has been found most productive with highest productivity (30.9 t/ha), followed by Maize + Cowpea+ Sesbania – Vegetable pea + Toria – Groundnut + Mentha (21.3 t/ha) under broad bed system, both being significantly higher than the rice-wheat system. These were more efficient in productivity (219%) than the rice-wheat system and rice (TPR) - vegetable (pea) – summer rice (TPR) (system productivity 19.8 t/ha), the widely adopted cropping pattern of irrigated tarai region. Therefore, diversification and land configuration changes have helped in not only obtaining better soil productivity, fertility, better efficiency in terms of water and energy savings but have also helped in nutritional food security.