Trends and Pattern of Crop Diversification in Kheri District, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract— Crop diversification in India is visualized as the shift from traditionally cultivated less remunerative crops to more remunerative crops. The process of crop diversification is a result of government efforts, market conditions, and farmers' decisions according to the physical conditions of a particular area. The study has been carried out considering Lakhimpur Kheri district as the study area. The crop diversification was estimated by applying three techniques given by Gibbs and Martin, Bhatiya and Singh. Two agricultural years 2006-07 and 2016-17 are taken for the study. The study focused on the spatial comparison in which the block is the minimum unit area for the analysis. The maps for the spatial distribution of crop diversity are generated in the Arc GIS 10.2.2. A change in the crop diversification in a decade has also been examined. There was great similarity in the results by applying all the techniques, but there was some exception in some cases. The results show that, in 2006-07, the diversification was high in the northern and southern blocks like Nighasan, Dhaurehra, Isanagar, Mitauli, and Pasgawan while the blocks lying in the western and central region registered the low intensity of diversification. While, in 2016-17, southern blocks registered high crop diversification and the diversification was low in the central region in almost all the techniques applied