Crop Diversification and Crop Specialization: A Case Study of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Agriculture is a prime source of livelihood in almost every state of India and the state of Himachal Pradesh is among those where almost seventy percent population is directly or indirectly dependent on it. However agriculture in the state is obliged to different agro-climatic conditions. To overcome these obligations farmers in Himachal Pradesh have shifted towards crop diversification in early seventies. However there are tehsils in the state which have shown opposite trends, as in 1971 few tehsils of district Kangra and Bilaspur have shown crop specialization and recently in 2011 this trend of crop specialization has been reflected by few tehsils of district Shimla. These trends were and are the outcome of various hindrances farmers are facing in practicing crop diversification. Therefore the proposed research will analyse the overall situation of crop diversification and crop specialization in Himachal Pradesh and its corresponding factors between 1971 and 2011. For this proposed research secondary data has been used. To calculate crop specialization Gibb’s-Martin Index has been used. The results of the index have highlighted that state as a whole is more focused on crop diversification rather than crop specialization. However crop specialization has also been found in few pockets of the state.