AbstractIn agriculture, the role of cropping pattern is very important as they affect soil health,productivity and resource management. Cropping pattern is portion of land distributed to variouscrops on a specific area over a particular period.The present study explains the shift in thecropping pattern of Northern transition zone of Karnataka using Markov chain analysis. Northerntransition zone includes Belagavi, Dharwad and Haveri districts. Agriculture in this zone hasundergone considerable transformation over the years due to variations in rainfall, irrigationdevelopment, market prices, technological advancements, and farmers’ resourceavailability.Secondary data related to crop sown area were collected from Agriculture office,Government of Karnataka (Head Office, Bengaluru) for the period of 2011-12 to 2022-23.Markov chain analysis was used to study the shifts thatoccurred in the cropping pattern and cropacreage transitions over time of agricultural crops. The results revealed significant shifts fromtraditional cereal crops towards commercial and high value crops in study area. Crops such asMaize, Cotton, and Sugarcane exhibited increasing area shares, while some traditional crops likePaddy, Jowar, Redgram, Groundnut, and Chickpea showed declining trends. The studyconcludes that climatic variability, irrigation expansion, profitability of commercial crops, andpolicy interventions has played an important role in influencing cropping pattern changes in theregion.The findings provide useful insights for policymakers, agricultural planners, andresearchers in designing sustainable crop planning strategies and resource allocation policies forbalanced agricultural development in the Northern Transition Zone of Karnataka.
Dr. Suma A P Ashwini Hebbar (Tue,) studied this question.