An Assessment of Nature and Extent of Crop Diversification in Bihar

Diversification has emerged as one of the important source of growth of agriculture sector in India. In the post-reform period, diversification towards high value crops was seen as a remedy in accelerating the income and addressing the food security concerns by enhancing the purchasing capacity of the poor. Diversification towards high-value crops not only increase income in agriculture, minimize risks due to crop failures but also earn foreign exchange for the country. It is considered as the best strategy to generate employment, alleviate poverty, achieve food security and conserve environment of the country.

Agriculture and allied sectors are considered as the backbone of the Bihar economy. The State best endowed with fertile Gangetic alluvial soil with abundant water resources, particularly ground water resources, forms the basis of agriculture in Bihar. Unfortunately, agricultural & allied sector witnesses wide fluctuations in Bihar mainly due to the vagaries of monsoon, which tend to cause upswing and downswing in the rate of growth of agriculture and the remaining sectors of the economy. Bihar lags behind in agricultural performance in comparison to other states of India because of its traditional cropping patterns and poor incentives. But in recent years, the state government is trying to reorient agriculture through diversification policy, enhanced cropping intensity, change in cropping pattern etc. This paper provides an assessment of nature and extent of crop diversification in Bihar. The study covers a period from 1980-81 to 2015-16. Different diversity indices have been used to measure the degree of diversification taking place in the state. Considering the objective of this study of assessing the extent of diversity the Herfindhal index, Simpson Diversity Index, Entropy and Modified Entropy Index of diversification has been used.

The nature of crop diversification is examined through changes in land allocation towards cultivation of major crops grown over the years.