Intercropping for Efficient Resource Utilization in Indian Agriculture: A Review

In India, agriculture is driven by small and marginal farmers mostly and hence effective land utilization is an only way to get more harvest and simultaneously targeting important upcoming environmental problems, including reduced soil fertility and reduced biodiversity. Intercropping of two or more crops is an age old practice in India especially under rain fed conditions. The most common advantage of intercropping is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land by achieving more efficient use of the available growth resources that would otherwise not be utilized by each single crop grown alone. Cereals, oil seeds, legumes, cash crops like sugar cane and horticultural crops; all can be efficiently used in intercropping for taking advantage of ecological balance, more utilization of resources, increasing the quantity and quality of harvest and reducing damage by pests, diseases and weeds simultaneously.