Cropping systems of a region are decided by and large, by a number of soil and climatic parameters which determine overall agro-ecological setting for nourishment and appropriateness of a crop or set of crops for cultivation. Nevertheless, at farmers’ level, potential Productivity and monetary benefits act as guiding principle while opting for a particular crop / cropping system. These decisions with respect to choice of crops and cropping systems are further narrowed down under influence of several other forces related to infrastructure facilities , socio – economic factors and technological developments , all operating interactively at micro – level. These are:
Infrastructure facilities : Irrigation, transport, storage trade and marketing , post – harvest handling and processing etc.  
Socio – economic factors : Financial resource base, land ownership , size and type of land holding , household needs of foods, fodder, fuel, fibre  and finance , labour availability etc.

Technological factors : Improved varieties, cultural requirements , mechanization, plant protection, access to information , etc.

Prevalent Cropping Systems

Multiplicity of cropping systems has been one of the main  features of Indian agriculture. This may be attributed to following two major factors:
Rainfed agriculture still accounts for over 92.8 million hectar or 65 per cent of cropped area. A large diversity of cropping systems exists under rainfed and dryland areas with an over riding practice of intercropping, due to greater risks involved in cultivating larger area under a particular crop.
Due to prevailing socio – economic situations, improving household food security has been an issue of supreme importance to many million farmers of India.  An important consequence of this has been that crop production in India remained to be considered, by and large, a subsistence rather than commercial activity. One of the typical characteristics of subsistence farming is that most of the farmers resort to grow a number of crops on their farm holdings, primarily to fulfill their household needs and follow the practice of rotating a particular crop combination over a period of 3 – 4 years interchangeably on different farm fields.
Under influence of all above factors, cropping systems Remain dynamic in time and space, making it difficult to precisely determine their spread using conventional methods, over a large territory. However, it has been estimated that more than 250 double cropping systems are followed through out the country . Based on rationale of spread of crops in each district in the country, 30 important cropping systems have been indentified. These are; rice – wheat, rice – rice, rice – gram , rice – mustard , rice – groundnut , rice – sorghum , pearlmillet – gram , pearlmillet – mustard , pearmillet – sorghum,  cotton - Wheat  , cotton – gram , cotton – sorghum, cotton – Safflower, cotton – groundnut, maize – wheat, maize – gram, sugarcane – wheat , soyabean – wheat,  sorghum – sorghum ,  groundnut – wheat , sorghum – groundnut ,  groundnut – rice , sorghum- wheat, sorghum – gram , pigeonpea – sorghum, groundnut – groundnut , sorghum – rice, groundnut- sorghum and soyabean – gram.
Madhya Pradesh ( semi – arid)   = Bangal gram, tur, wheat, rape seed and mustard, pulses, rice, maize, jowar, bajra, groundnut, coarse cereals

Cropping Systems of Irrigated Ecosystem

Depending upon the natural water resources, each region has certain area under irrigated agriculture. But, broadly considering , two distinct irrigated ecosystems emerge. One is Indo – Gangetic Plain region comprising the states of Punjab, Haryana, Plains of Uttar Pradesh , Bihar and plains of Jammu  & kashmir . The other ecosystems may be carved out of coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu . The Principal crops having sizeable percentage of area under irrigation in the country are; sugar cane (87.9 % ) , wheat (84.3%) , barlely (60.8%) rapeseed and mustard (57.5%) , rice (46.8%) tobacco (41.2%)  , cotton  (33.2%) , chickpea (21.9%), maize ( 21.8%) and groundnut (19.2%) . Among the states , Punjab ranks first with 94.6 per cent cropped area under irrigation followed by Haryana (76.4%) and Uttar Pradesh (62.3%).

Issues in Irrigated Cropping Systems

The Major issues emerging in the irrigated cropping systems may be categorised into two groups; i.e. , General and system specific.

a. General Issues

Resource Characterization

Adequate information is lacking on site- specific characterization of land and water resources and climate parameters, which is crucial for efficient land use planning and resource deployment.

2.  Farmer’s Participation

  To develop and improve upon existing agro-technologies, it need to be acknowledged that involvement of farmers in conceptualization and extension of technologies is of paramount importance. But in the past , a critical lacuna in agricultural research approach has been inadequate effort or lack of mechanisms to build up research programmes that take into account the experience and knowledge base that exists within the farming community. The farm family had never been the focal point of investigations. This top down approach of agricultural scientists had given a poor perception of the problems that they tried to solve. 

3. Low Water Use Efficiency

  Despite the fact that water is a precious resource, its application and efficient use have been quite low. Low water use efficiency is apparently attributable to :

• Excessive use of water due to –  Improper levelling of fields coupled with improper application methods, even in agriculturally advanced areas, and Faulty pricing policy for electricity and canal water leading to over irrigation.
• Non- adoption of appropriate cropping systems. For example –
  -  Extensive cultivation of rice in sandy soils of Punjab.
  -  Advancement of rice transplanting to April / May in Punjab and Haryana.

4. Land Degradation Problem

Soil salinity hazards due to ground water rise and impeded natural drainage in certain canal command areas are well known.

5. Indiscriminate Exploitation of Ground Water

     The excessive pumping of ground water for irrigation purposes is intensively cultivated areas of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh has caused lowering down of the ground water table in certain pockets. Declining water tables not only raise production costs due to higher energy requirements for pumping water from Greater depths but such rapid rates of decline spark serious questions about the long – term sustainability of rice – wheat system itself in these areas.

6. In – efficient Land Use

Diversion of highly productive irrigated land to non – agricultural uses; such as industry, housing etc., specially at rural- urban interface needs of be viewed seriously.

7. Decline in Factor Productivity

Due to imbalance in fertilizer use, widespread deficiencies of secondary and micro – nutrients and reduced organic matter contents of cultivated lands, a declining trend for responses to nutrients , specially to nitrogen , in major, cropping systems is being observed on farmer’s fields. That is, to sustain earlier yield levels farmers need to apply higher fertilizer doses.

8. Imbalance in Fertilizer Use

 The Problem of imbalance in fertilizer use has been accentuated on three accounts With intensive cropping, nutrient removal by crop from soil has far exceeded replenishment through fertilizers and manures. This is causing negative balance of nutrients in soil. And if this trend continues, a serious threat persists for sustainability of the major cropping systems of irrigated areas.
Due to continuous cereal – cereal cropping in most of the irrigated fertile lands during most green revolution period, multiple  nutrient deficiencies have emerged. The long term experiments have clearly shown a decline in organic carbon, nitrogen and P in cereal – cereal intensive Cropping . Formers have developed tendencies to use higher doses of nitrogenous fertilizers, may be because N is comparatively cheaper than P and K .

9. Build up of Diseases / Pests

With crop intensification  under high input use, serious threats of occurrence and build up of some obnoxious pests and diseases have crept in.

10. Inadequate Considerations for environmental Quality

With a pressing need for producing more and more from less and less resource, a serious threat is lurking upon the environmental quality. A potential danger may be envisioned in the form of pollution of natural water bodies and underground aquifers due to nitrate leaching and phosphates causing irreparable harm to natural ecosystems under high fertilizer use with out improving their use efficiencies .

b. Specific Issues Relating To some Important Cropping Systems

1. Rice – Wheat 

Rice – Wheat system is the most widely adopted cropping system in the country and has become mainstay of cereal production. The states of Uttar Pradesh , Punjab , Haryana , Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh are now the heart land of rice – wheat cropping system with an estimated area of 10.5 million hectares. Despite enormous growth of this cropping system in the country during the past few years, reports of stagnation in the productivity of these crops, with possible decline in production in future , have raised doubts on its sustainability. Important issues Emerging as a threat to the sustainability of rice – wheat system are :

• Over mining of nutrients from soil,
• Decreasing response to nutrients
• Declining ground water table
• Build up of diseases/ pests
• Low input use efficiency in north western plains
• Low use of fertilizer in eastern and central India.
• Lack of appropriate varietal combination.
• Shortage of labour during optimum period for transplanting paddy in Punjab.

2. Rice – Rice

Rice – rice Is the popular cropping system in irrigated lands in humid and coastal ecosystems of Orissa, Tamil Nadu , Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka and kerala and it is spread over an a area of six million hectares. The major issues in sustaining productivity of rice – rice system are:

•  Deterioration in soil physical conditions.
•  Micronutrient deficiency.
•  Poor efficiency of nitrogen use, Imbalance in use of nutrients.
•  Non – availability of appropriate transplanter to mitigate labour shortage during critical period of transplanting.
•   Build up of obnoxious weeds such as echinochloa crusgalli and non – availability of suitable control measures.
• In Kerala, reduction in area is mainly attributable to the conversion of paddy lands to more profitable and less labour intensive plantation states. In Assam, low productivity under prevailing soil and climatic situations, poor drainage in submerged areas, low nutrient of concern
• The other general issues of low productivity are build up of pests, diseases and weeds year after year and deterioration of soil health to a large extent.

3. Rice – Mustard

From a view point of food security and national economy, rice – rapeseed / mustard may be considered as an important cropping system. In this cropping system, the yield of Rice is satisfactory in all ecosystems, however, wide variations in yield of mustard were recorded from one Ecosystem to another. Nevertheless, adoption of appropriate high yielding rice and mustard varieties, adequately supported by improved production technology , ensure desired productivity of the system.
In general , with a medium or short duration high yielding rice variety , a successful mustard crop is possible. The mustard crop remains in field upto march and thereafter summer season can be best utilized by another crop to increase the productivity of the system.

4. Rice – Groundnut

Groundnut is basically a Kharif crop grown under rain fed environment, however, Rabi / summer groundnut is emerging as an important high value crop under assured irrigation environments. It has become possible to grow groundnut on well drained low lying fertile lands after harvest of preceding rice crop under assured irrigation.
Rabi / Summer groundnut is grown in Tamil Nadu , Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Gujarat . The area under summer groundnut in general and rice groundnut sequence in particular is increasing fast in most of the west and east coastal districts of the country.

5. Rice – Pulses

     Rice – Pulses cropping system is a dominant crop rotation in chhattisgarh , Orissa , and  parts of Bihar. The higher productivity of rice, the base crop in the system, is possible and also imperative for this region if suitable varieties of paddy and pulses along with proper management are considered.
Factors limiting productivity of this cropping system in the region are as follows :

A. Physical factors

• Droughts and erratic distribution of rainfall.
•  Small area under assured irrigation.
•  High percolation, resulting in heavy nitrogen losses in red sandy – loam soils.

B. Input related factors

•  Delayed and prolonged transplanting .
•  Low coverage under high yielding varieties.
•  Little attention to timely weed control.
•  Inadequate supply of quality seed.
•  Little attention to disease / pest control.

c. Social Factors

•  Low literacy .
•  Large proportion of marginal and tribal farmers.
•  Practices of animal  grazing on agricultural lands.
•  Low risk bearing capacity of farmers of the region.

6. Pearl Millet – Wheat

 The Pearl millet – Wheat is one of the most important cropping systems of the country and spreads over
i. arid eco – region comprising western plain, kachch and part of Kathiawar Peninsula having desert and saline soils and representing Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana
ii. Semi – arid eco- region comprising northern plains of haryana , western Uttar Pradesh (agra region) and central highlands including aravallis, Banswara, Jaipur and tonk districts of Rajasthan with alluvium derived soil and Gujarat plains and Kathiawar Peninsula -  Gujarat state, having medium and deep black soil .

7. Pearl millet – Mustard 

Pearl Millet during kharif and repessed during Rabi have Been the most important crops of dryland and / or areas with limited crops of dryland and / or areas with limited water availability under marginal land condition of north – west, west and central parts of India. In several parts of Haryana , Rajasthan , Uttar Pradesh  and Madhya Pradesh where mono – cropping or pearl millet and mustard was most common , increase in irrigation facilities has made it possible to grow these crops in sequence. Following are some of the concerns related to pearl Millet – mustard sequential cropping system : - 

1. Delayed sowing of mustard after harvesting pearl millet in October.
2. Pearl millet in an exhaustive cereal crop and it depletes soil of essential nutrients.
3. Shortage of farm machinery by the farmers in this area.
4. Build up of diseases by continuous cultivation of pearl millet – mustard sequence.

8. Maize – Wheat

Among maize – wheat growing areas, maize is the principal crop of Kharif season in northern hills of the country  but plains of northern states like Uttar Pradesh , Rajasthan , Madhya Pradesh and Bihar also have sizeable acreage under this crop.
Poor maize – wheat yield has been reported from Andhra Pradesh , Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra , Rajasthan, Tripura, Eastern , Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. There are number of reasons for poor yield but the most significant are:

• Sowing time
• Poor plant population
• Poor weed management   
• Poor use of organic and inorganic fertilizers.
• Large area under rain fed.

9. Sorghum – Wheat

  Sorghum – wheat is one of the most prevalent cropping system in Western regions of the Country , comprising eastern parts of Rajasthan, western and central parts of Madhya Pradesh , Western Marathwada and vidarbha regions of Maharashtra, Southern Gujarat , Northern parts of Karnataka and Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh. out of the two component crops of the system, productivity of sorghum faces wide fluctuations due to some problems. Stiga, a parasitic weed is one of such problems hampering the productivity of sorghum. Top shoot borer and shoot fly are major insects affecting plant population and reducing yield levels considerably . Fluctuating market prices, usually discourage the sorghum growers, however, sorghum cultivation is indispensable as it is the most important source of fodder for cattle in this area.

10. Sugarcane – Wheat

Sugarcane is grown in about 3.4 million hectare. In north India (Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Bihar), which account for 68 per cent of the total area under sugarcane , sugarcane, Wheat is the most important  crop sequence . The system is also gaining importance in Jorhat, Sibsagar and Sonitpur districts of assam; Ahmedanagar and kolhapur district of Maharashtra and Belgaum district of Karnataka. The other states where the system covers considerable area under sugarcane – wheat are Haryana, Punjab, Madhya pradesh and Rajasthan .

Problems in sugarcane – Wheat system are :

•   Late planting of sugarcane as well as wheat.
•  Imbalance and inadequate use of nutrients . Since majority of farmers apply only N in sugar cane and the use of P and K is limited. The emerging deficiencies of P, K, S and micro- nutrients are limiting system productivity directly and through interactions with other nutrients.
•  Low productivity of ratoon due to poor sprouting of witnter harvested sugarcane in north India.
•  stubble of sugarcane pose tillage problem for succeeding crops and need to be managed properly .

11.  Cotton – Wheat

Cotton is widely grown in alluvial soils of north India ( Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan , and Western Uttar Pradesh ) and black cotton soils of central India ( Andhra Pradesh , Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) . With the availability of short duration varieties of cotton, cotton – wheat cropping system has become dominant in North. About 70 -80 per cent area of cotton is covered under this system. In Central region also, wherever irrigation is available , cotton – wheat is practiced. The major issues of concern in cotton – wheat cropping system are :

• Delayed planting of succeeding wheat after harvest of cotton.
• Stubbles of cotton create problem of tillage operations and poor tilth for wheat.
• Susceptibility of high yielding varieties of cotton to boll worm and white fly and consequently high cost on their control leading of unsustainability.
• Appropriate technology for intercropping in widely spaced cotton is needed to be developed.

12. Soyabean – Wheat

 Constraints limiting the soyabean production and productivity viz. a relatively recent introduction of soyabean as a crop, limited genetic diversity, short growing period available in Indian latitudes, hindered agronomy / availability of inputs at farm level, rain fed nature of crop and water scarcity at critical stage of plant growth, insect pests and diseases , quality improvement problems, inadequate mechanization and partial adoption of technology by farmers have been identified.  The realized yield potential have shown that the nation- wide average realized yield obtained by adopting improved technology is about 2 t / ha in soyabean as against one t / ha obtained under farmers’ practices. It is, however, to be noted that yield level of 3 to 3.5 t / ha in individual farmer’s fields is not so uncommon in southern Maharashtra, Malwa plateau and some areas of Rajasthan.

13. Legume Based Cropping Systems

Legume crops ( pulses and oilseeds ) are popular for their suitability in different cropping systems. Recent advances in the development of large number of varieties of pulse and oilseed crops, varying largely for maturity duration , have made it possible to include them in irrigated crop sequences. The popular cropping systems are pigeon pea- wheat in Madhya Pradesh and groundnut – wheat in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and groundnut – sorghum in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
The major issues in legume based cropping systems are :

• No technological breakthrough has been achieved so far in respect of yield barriers, particularly in legumes.
•  Susceptibility of the pulses to aberrant weather condition especially water logging and adverse soils making them highly unstable in performance.
•  High susceptibility to diseases and pests.
•  Low harvest index , flower drop, indeterminate growth habit and very poor response to fertilizers and water in most of the grain legumes.
•  Nutrient needs of the system have to be worked out considering N – fixation capacity of legume crops.

14. Vegetable Crops

 Vegetable crops in India are grown from the sea level to the snowline . Low Productivity is the main feature of vegetable cultivation in India as farm yields of most of the vegetables in India are much lower than the average yield of world and developed countries. The Productivity gap is more conspicuous in tomato, cabbage , onion , chilli and peas. Preponderance of hybrid varieties and protected cultivation are mainly responsible for high productivity in the developed countries.
Constraints in vegetables production : -

1. Lack of planning in Production
2. Non – availability of seeds of improved varieties.
3. High cost of basic production elements.
4. Inadequate plant protection measures and non-availability of resistant varieties.
5. Weak marketing facilities
6. Transportation limits
7. Post harvest losses.
8.  Abiotic stresses.

Diversification of Cropping Patterns in India
The cropping Pattern in India underwent several changes with the advent of modern agricultural technology, especially during the period of the Green Revolution in the late sixties and early seventies. There is a continuous surge for diversified agriculture in terms of crops, primarily on economic considerations. The crop pattern change , however, are the outcome of the interactive effect of many factors which can be broadly categorized into the following five groups:

1. Resource related factors covering irrigation, rainfall and soil fertility .
2. Technology related factors covering not only seed, fertilizer, and water technologies but also those related to marketing , storage and processing.
3. House hold related factors covering food and folder self – sufficiency requirement as well as investment capacity.
4. Price related factors covering output and input prices as well as trade policies and other Economic policies that affect these prices either directly or indirectly. 
5. Institutional and infrastructure related factors covering farm size and tenancy arrangements, research, extension and marketing systems and government regulatory policies.

These factors are not watertight but inter – related. For instance , the adoption of crop technologies is influenced not only by resource related factors but also by institutional and infrastructure factors. Similarly, government policies – both supportive and regulatory in nature – affect both the input and output prices.
Likewise, special government programmes also affect area allocation and crop composition. More importantly, both the economic liberalization policies as well as the globalization process are also exerting strong pressures on the area allocation decision of farmers, essentially through their impact on the relative prices of inputs and outputs. In India, area allocation among various crops has shown a measure of structural rigidity that reflects the traditional character of indian agriculture wherein food grains have remained the predominant crop accounting for two thirds to three fourths of the gross cropped area since the early 1950’s.

The introduction of new seed and fertiliser technology during the mid- sixties resulted in substantially raising the yield levels of some of the major food grains crops like wheat and rice. This combined with a positive price climate resulted in increasing area allocation to these crops. The new technology was able to impact on the yield levels of non – food grain crops like oilseeds, fibre crops, sugarcane and fruit and vegetable after some time lag thereby
Resulting in significant cropping pattern changes over time.

Initial Phase of Green Revolution ( 1962- 65 to 1980 -83)

1.   During the 18 years from 1962 - 65 to 1980 – 83 , the process of cropping pattern changes was slow and halting.
2.  Significant diversification took place within the food grains segment during this period.
3.  At the all – India level, whereas the area under high yielding  wheat increased from 8.6 per cent during 1962 -65 to 13.0 per cent of GCA ( Gross Cropped Area) by 1980- 83, Area under coarse cereals and pulses recorded a notable decline.
4.  The shift from low value coarse cereals and pulses to high value wheat and rice resulted in increasing the share of food grains in the total.

Maturing phase of green revolution (1980 – 83 to 1990 – 93)

1.   The cropping patterns changes became more pronounced during 1980 – 83 to 1990- 93 when a notable acceleration took place in the yield levels and growth rates of output of many crops across all states and regions of India as compared with the earlier period.
2.  At the all – India level, the proportion of area under food grains which had remained almost unchanged during 1962 to 1980 – 83 , registered a sharp decline.
3.  During 1980 – 83 to 1990 – 93 , the main area shift that took place was from coarse cereals towards oilseeds.

Post – reform period ( after 1990 – 93)

1.  The economic reforms initiated during the early 1990’s   Were expected to hasten the process of crop diversification from low value food grains to high value non food grain crops.
2.  During the post – reform period, the yield growth rates of most of the important crops including wheat and rice, oilseeds, sugarcane decelerated considerably compared with the pre – reform period 
3.  crops like cotton and sugarcane have also marginally increased their share in area during this period. But the share of pulses has declined.

1. Demand for land for non – agricultural purposes: The activities in commerce, industry , transport, etc have risen with increase in population and changes in the socio – economic condition of the people . This increase has lead to rise in demand for land for construction of residential houses, shops, establishments , roads, etc.
2.  State intervention : The expansion of Government activities and the policies followed by successive Governments created conditions to which the farm sector had to respond. In the case of rice, the abolition Of food zones and the distribution of rice at subsidised prices through fair price shops helped decline in open market prices. The fall in rice price together with the increase in wages of farm labour turned rice cultivation non – remunerative.
3. Technological changes : Spread of high – yielding varieties of crops, use of pesticides and fertilisers , substitution of men by machines, shortage of skilled workers, etc have influenced cultivation practices and crop pattern.
4. Increase in pressure on land : Due to increase in population , agricultural farms got subdivided and very small – sized farms became the order of the day. Since small – sized farms are not viable, the owners of these farms turned to other occupations for their livelihood. For such cultivators farming is only a subsidiary activity. They preferred to cultivate crops that require less personal attention.  
5.  Neighborhood aspects: Changes in the farming practices and crop pattern in the neighboring areas induce other To adapt to the change. However, underlying all these has been the people attitude to agriculture . For the older generation agriculture was a way of life; while for the present generation it is a commercial activity. The latter therefore, utilizes it to earn as much money as possible as the minimum cost and in the shortest time possible.
6.  Population growth and change in family structure .

Increase in population and partitioning of households has resulted in fragmentation of holding and rise in the demand for new dwelling units.

Consequences of crop pattern changes

  Turning now to the socio – economic and environmental consequences of crop pattern changes, the Green Revolution technologies have fomented , among other things, and increasing tendency towards crop specialization and commercialization of agriculture.
While these developments have positive effects on land/ labour productivity and net farm income, they have also endangered a number of undersirable side effects like reduced farm employment and crop imbalances.
Although the expansion of commercialized agriculture has fomented new sets of rural non – farm activities and strengthened the rural – urban growth linkages , it has also weakened the traditional inter – Sectoral linkages between the crop and livestock sectors.

a. Economic Impact

1.  Change in agricultural production
2.  Changes in farm income
3.  Change in employment and income of rural labour
4.  Women’s participation
5. Livestock

b. Social and cultural Impact

1.  Negative attitudes towards agriculture
2.  loss of traditional skills

C. Environmental Impact

1.  Loss of local varieties and breeds
2.  Loss of woods and their biome
3.  Receding water table
4.  Decrease in bio – diversity
5.  Groundwater depletion
6.  Water logging and salinity