Study on crop diversification with reference to irrigation development across different agro climatic zones of Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

ABSTRACT newlineThe present study is based on decadal structural change of irrigated area with reference to irrigation development across different agro-climatic zones of Madhya Pradesh for the period of 50 years from 1970 to 2019. The study is purely based on secondary data for which the data had been collected from various government websites and compiled manually.The growth and instability under irrigated area and sources of irrigation was worked out using Average Annual Growth Rate and Instability Index. The structural change in the irrigation scenario was worked out using the Markov transition probability matrix in which the transition of irrigated area from one source to another source had been analyzed. The extent of crop diversification had been worked out using Herfindahl Hirschman index (HHI). The relationship between share of irrigated area under irrigation sources and concentration of crops was analyzed using correlation coefficient. newlineThe Kymore Plateau and Satpura Hills had the highest number of Canals (23901) but the canals covered the highest area in the Gird agro-climatic zone with 15061150 hectares over the study period. The Malwa Plateau agro-climatic zone had the highest number and area under Borewells with 6182148 borewells irrigating an area of 20888406 hectares of area. The Malwa Plateau also leaded in the number and area under wells with 19246879 wells irrigating 29461089 hectares of land in the region. Chhattisgarh Plains had the highest number of tanks (204684) but the largest area under tanks was irrigated in the Malwa Plateau with 1659988 hectares. In the state, Jhabua hills was found to be the most unstable in terms of area under irrigation through Canal (10.13 per cent), Wells (8.08 per cent), Tanks (13.94 per cent) and Others (21.34 per cent).Unlike all the other sources of irrigation, the growth in number of tanks was found to be negative (-0.55 per cent).Borewells and wells retained most of their irrigated area in most of the agroclimatic zones in the state.The crops were found to behighly concentrated in Chhattisgarh plains compared to other zones with a HHI index value of 0.55. Only the Irrigation through canals had a significant and positive impact on the concentration of crops. The state had different climatic conditions across the state hence the policies were needed to be formed according to the geographical location, topography, temperature and climate of the area to promote the condition of irrigation sources in the state. The results highlighted the importance of irrigation developments and patterns influencing agricultural stability, resource use and crop diversification, which area crucial for improving productivity and sustainability across agro-climatic zones. newlineKeywords: Structural Change, Markov Transition Probability Matrix, Irrigation newline newline