DYNAMICS OF CROPPING PATTERN IN VISVESVARAYA CANAL COMMAND AREA OF KARNATAKA: AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

V. JALIKATTI¹*, R. PODDAR^2
1Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, 580 005, Karnataka, India
²Director, Water and Land Management Institute, Dharwad, 580011, Karnataka, India
* Corresponding Author : vinayak5255@gmail.com

Received : 16-09-2019     Accepted : 26-09-2019     Published : 30-09-2019
Volume : 11     Issue : 18       Pages : 9053 - 9057
Int J Agr Sci 11.18 (2019):9053-9057

Keywords : Markov Chain, CAGR, Command area, Recommended cropping pattern
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, 580 005, Karnataka, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Visvesvaraya Left Bank Canal from the South region of the Karnataka state was selected for the purpose of analysing the changes in cropping pattern. The time series data on cropping pattern in the selected canal command area was collected for a period of 10 years (2009-10 to 2018-19) and analysed using First Order Markov Chain Approach. In Visvesvaraya command area (VC), during kharif season, acreage under paddy, black gram and sugarcane was stable during the period. The instability in the area under other crops was mainly because of water scarcity and high cost of cultivation of those crops. During rabi season, due to availability of irrigation water the area under sugarcane was stable and when the irrigation water was not available, farmers preferred horse gram crop because water requirement of the horse gram is less and it can be grown on residual moisture also. Therefore, area under sugarcane and horse gram was stable during rabi in VC command area. During summer, area under paddy, black gram and sugarcane was stable because of availability of water farmer preferred paddy and sugarcane otherwise farmers preferred black gram. No significant change was observed in the CAGR of area under other crops in VC command area. The projected area in VC command area for paddy, finger millet, maize, horse gram and sesame for the period 2019 to 2021 has shown an increasing trend whereas the projected area under cowpea, field bean, horse gram shown a decreasing trend. In VC command area the area under major crops was found out to be against the cropping patterns suggested by the CADA, thus the higher deviation from the suggested cropping pattern was found in Garden crops (12.18%) followed by Groundnut (9.99%), Niger (9.53%) and Finger millet (7.71%).This study indicated that there was a violation in the cropping pattern from the recommended pattern in VC command area which was mainly due to farmers allocated more area under water intensive crops such as paddy and sugarcane. Hence, there is a need to bring the discipline among the farmers of the study area through proper training and guidance in order to make them not only to strictly follow the recommended cropping pattern but also in the optimum use of water.

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