Spatio-temporal Variation in Status of Crop Diversification and Its Impact on Farming in West Bengal

Present paper highlights the spatio-temporal variation in crop diversification and its impact on farming scenario through an integrated analysis at state, district, sub-division, block and village level. The crop diversity in the state of West Bengal (2007–2012) indicated through Simpson Index ranging from 0.715 to 0.764. The cropping scenario in Paschim Medinipur district over a period of TE 2004 to TE 2013 revealed the crop diversity from 0.617 in TE 2004 to 0.641 in TE 2013. Sesame was most preferred oilseeds cultivated in the district covering 7.63 per cent of total area; while the area under rapeseed and mustard was about two per cent that was contrasting to the scenario of West Bengal. Areas under potato (7.29%) and vegetables (5.75%) showed the progress of the district towards diversification from food grains to more remunerative crops. A total of seven different cropping patterns were followed by the farmers, where 13 out of 120 farmers adopted more than one cropping pattern. The cropping pattern of Paddy-Potato-Sesame was preferred by most of the farmers (56.39%). It is worth mentioning here that oilseeds crops (sesame, rapeseed/mustard) were found to be less cost intensive having relatively higher B:C ratio and lesser risk due to low investment as compared to crops like onion, potato, boro rice, etc.