Crop Diversification in Western Uttar Pradesh: Emerging Trends, Determinants and Policy Options

This paper has examined crop diversification from food grain crops to high-value crops (HVCs) in western Uttar Pradesh at the district level as well as farm sector of Bulandshahar and Ghaziabad districts. It has investigated empirical relationship between magnitude of crop diversification and its determinants using Simpson index of diversification (SID) and pooled regression analysis. The study has revealed that cropping pattern at the districts level indicates a shift in production portfolio from staple cereals towards high-value food commodities but the transformation is not found evenly distributed across the districts. The values of SID have confirmed that agrarian economy of western Uttar Pradesh has diversified in all the districts with some instability. At the farm level, the study has been conducted in one developed district and one less-developed district on the random sample of 240 farm households. The study has indicated that per-hectare returns from non-food grain crops are much higher than from food grain crops. There is need of policy support in terms of enhanced irrigation, farm mechanization, fertilizer consumption, agricultural markets and research and development of appropriate technologies.