Crop diversification by agro-climatic zones of India-Trends and drivers

Crop diversification is seen as a means to improve income and also as a risk mitigating strategy. Using district level data of 318 districts from 16 states of India, and classifying the districts according to 12 agro-ecological zones and irrigation types, this paper examines the pattern of crop diversification and computes the Simpson Index and Herfindahl index to present agricultural diversification between the periods 1966?67 to 2007?08. The paper shows that the demand side-push and urbanization are some of the major factors that explain the crop diversification across agro-climatic zones in India. The paper poses questions for need of future analysis to check if this pattern of diversification can be an adaptive measure to manage climate risk and what should be carefully thought over the broader policy scenario to make the farmers more responsive to manage climate risk through diversification as an adaptive strategy.