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Is crop diversification vulnerable to climate, agricultural and socio-economic factors in Himachal Pradesh, India?


Affiliations
1 Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141 004, India
2 Department of Social Sciences, Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni 173 230, India
 

Crop diversification is essential for long-term farm income, rural livelihood and agricultural development in Himachal Pradesh (HP), India. The present study aims to examine the effect of climate, agricultural and socio-economic factors on crop diversification. Sirmaur district was found to be diverse, Kangra and Mandi districts were highly diversified, but Solan district was highly specialized in agriculture in HP. The fixed effects were found to be significant, indicating the role of farm-level changes in agronomic and cropping practices as a result of climate change. Crop diversification was led by population density, percentage of marginal and small farmers, cropping intensity, cultivators, marginal workers and total main workers. The important climate parameters like rainfall and minimum temperature, as well as other factors such as irrigation intensity and food crop productivity, had a negative impact on crop diversification, implying crop specialization

Keywords

Agricultural development, climate change, crop diversification, panel regression, socio-economic fac-tors.
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  • Is crop diversification vulnerable to climate, agricultural and socio-economic factors in Himachal Pradesh, India?

Abstract Views: 328  |  PDF Views: 153

Authors

Pardeep Singh
Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141 004, India
Pradipkumar Adhale
Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141 004, India
Amit Guleria
Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141 004, India
Manoj K. Vaidya
Department of Social Sciences, Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni 173 230, India

Abstract


Crop diversification is essential for long-term farm income, rural livelihood and agricultural development in Himachal Pradesh (HP), India. The present study aims to examine the effect of climate, agricultural and socio-economic factors on crop diversification. Sirmaur district was found to be diverse, Kangra and Mandi districts were highly diversified, but Solan district was highly specialized in agriculture in HP. The fixed effects were found to be significant, indicating the role of farm-level changes in agronomic and cropping practices as a result of climate change. Crop diversification was led by population density, percentage of marginal and small farmers, cropping intensity, cultivators, marginal workers and total main workers. The important climate parameters like rainfall and minimum temperature, as well as other factors such as irrigation intensity and food crop productivity, had a negative impact on crop diversification, implying crop specialization

Keywords


Agricultural development, climate change, crop diversification, panel regression, socio-economic fac-tors.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv123%2Fi5%2F707-711