Agricultural Economics Research Review

This paper has identified determinants of gross value added (GVA) in agriculture by using sub-district (mandal) level data for East Godavari district for the year 2014–15 using linear regression framework. The study has observed that crop diversification has a positive impact on GVA agriculture per hectare. For getting a deeper insights, all the 60 mandals of the district were mapped into 9 categories along GVA agriculture (aggregate level and per hectare) and diversification (Herfindahl Index and share of high value crops) into two dimensional framework. This grouping can be useful in designing region-based strategies for improving farm income. It is observed that crop holiday mandals were not concentrated in any one category, but were distributed across categories. The study has observed that when GVA/ha was considered along with Herfindahl index parameter, there was no mandal under the category low diversification and high income category. Similarly when GVA/ha was considered along with share of high-value crops, there was no mandal under the category of high diversification and low GVA/ha category. The determinants of crop diversification were average farm size and land inequity, irrigation related variables and population dependent on agriculture. This indicates the need for focus on these structural and demographic issues for enhancing crop-income through crop-diversification.