NATURE AND EXTENT OF CROP DIVERSIFICATION IN THE TRIBAL ECONOMY OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

Abstract

An attempt has been made to study the land use pattern, cropping pattern, cropping intensity and magnitude of crop diversification in the tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh. A multistage random sampling technique and Herfindhal Index has been applied to achieve the objectives. The results show that the crop diversification is comparatively less among the marginal holdings as compared to small and medium size of holdings. The diversification in agriculture took place due to increasing trend of agricultural productivity because of technical changes and use of high yielding variety of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and improved method of cultivation in agriculture. The level of diversification of crop enterprise reflects the extent of economic development in rural sector. The rural economy, crop diversification has been largely considered as a ray of hope for its economic uplift.  The diversification in agriculture is also practiced with a view to avoid risk and uncertainty due to climatic and biological vagaries.