Assessing Crop-shift in Agriculture of Odisha

Crop shift is considered as a pathway of agricultural development. It basically means crop diversification and crop transformation. The eastern part of India, which is yet to experience a kind of green revolution, requires them more than any other region of the country. The present paper investigates the cropping pattern, the extent of diversification and the crop transformation in Odisha-an eastern Indian state, which has shown a lot of promises. The results revealed that, out of the three crucial regions of the state, the most backward KBK region witnesses the highest level of crop diversification than the other two regions. On the contrary, the relatively rich coastal Odisha, has the lowest level of crop diversification. However, as regards crop transformation, not a single region has witnessed any significant makeover since 1993–94. The cropping pattern has almost remained unaltered in the last two decades. Therefore, the paper argues for a strategic policy intervention so that agriculture gets the dynamism and responds to the market signals.