Land Use Pattern, Crop Diversification and Crop Combination Regions: A District-level Study in Rajasthan

Land use is changing in favour of agriculture as the population is growing and dietary preferences are changing. In the agriculture system, crop diversification is a crucial risk management strategy. This article traces Rajasthan’s changing land use pattern from 1966–1967 to 2016–2017, along with changing cropping patterns and intensity. The crop combination regions were also identified in the state using Rafiullah’s ‘Maximum Positive Deviation Method’. Further, this article delves into crop diversification in the state and examines the determinants of diversification through the ‘Generalised Least Square (GLS) technique’. This article shows that in these 50 years, the net cropped area in the state is expanding at the expense of barren and uncultivated land and cultivable wasteland due to the proliferation in groundwater irrigation. The net cropped area increased from 14.5 million hectare (ha) to 18 million hectare (ha)in these 50 years, while the gross cropped area almost doubled in this period. The cropping intensity in the state increased from 100 per cent to nearly 140 per cent. The share of cereals declined in the cropped area, while oilseeds increased by almost four times. The crop combination in the districts is becoming more complex. Interestingly, agricultural diversification is increasing in the districts of Rajasthan. As per the results of GLS, the significant determinants of diversification in the state are landholding size, irrigation and fertiliser consumption.