Crop diversification: Determinants and its impact on income and employment of farm households in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu

Crop diversification is an effective climate smart intervention for agricultural development of coastal areas. The study analyzed the impact of crop diversification on farm households in Nagapattinam, a coastal district in Tamil Nadu based on survey data from 120 farmers in six villages each from high (HDZ) and low diversification zone (LDZ) in Thalainaiyuru block of Vedaraniyam taluk. Major crops were rice, mango and coconut in HDZ and rice and pulses in LDZ. Simpson Index was 0.56 in HDZ and it ranged from 0 - 0.13 in LDZ. Multinomial logit revealed that education, irrigation, access to credit and extension influenced crop diversification. Labour use was high for bhendi (318 mandays/ha) and brinjal (297 mandays/ha) in HDZ; it was 54 mandays/ha and 20 mandays/ ha respectively for rice and pulses in LDZ. Returns Per Rupee of Investment was high for brinjal (4.78) followed by bhendi (4.34), groundnut (2.37) and rice (1.68) in HDZ; and low for rice (1.39) and pulses (1.27) in LDZ.