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The study of cropping pattern assumes a great significance as it is one of the important path for balanced development of agriculture to meet the requirements. The adoption of better cropping pattern optimally suited to the technological changes is an important one for augmenting agricultural growth. Cropping pattern of a particular area either state, region, districts, etc. emerges through the interaction of physical, social, economic, technological,  and infrastructural factors. It is a function of climatic elements, their periodicity expressed in terms of seasons, nature of soils, physiographic and man introduced factors like irrigation, fertilizers, etc. Amongst the climatic factor, precipitation, its distribution and periodicity has a greater determinant value. The impact of each of these factors would differ depending upon the prevailing situation of a place. The variation in cropping pattern is also influenced by economic conditions and behavior of farmers who decide the type of crops to be grown.

Farmer might choose such crops combination which will be best suited to his field under the given conditions. Change in cropping pattern would be an integral part and popular mode of diversification and resource mobilization available to cultivators for higher agricultural production.
            Cropping pattern has been dynamic to cope up the changing scenario and to meet ever changing demands of growing population. Limited availability of land, raising population and declining yields, forced farmers to search for alternate ways for raising farm income, with the passage of time farmers becomes increasingly commercialized and started farming for maximizing their output. Now the realization prevails amongst the farmers for the long term returns, and they are in search of optimum cropping pattern which can fulfill their aspirations. Hence, the present study was undertaken to study the crop diversification in selected tahsils of Yavatmal district with the following objectives.
Objectives:
1) To estimate the growth and instability in area of major crops in selected tahsils.
2) To study the crop diversification in selected tahsils.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

For the present study six tahsils of Yavatmal district namely Mahagaon, Wani, Maregaon, Zari Jamni, Kelapur ,and  Ralegaon  were purposively selected. The  study was based on secondary data collected from various Government publications and pertains to a period of 13 years i.e. from 2003-04 to 2015-16.
Tools of Analysis
1) Growth and Instability
a)  Exponential model

For examining the performance of different crops in terms of growth in area, growth rates of area, of major crops were estimated using exponential model.

2) Analysis for the extent of crop diversification
The extent of crop diversification was studied by using Herfindahl and Entropy indices of crop diversification.
a) Herfindahl index (HI)

Herfindahl index was computed by taking the sum of squares of acreage proportion of each crop to the total cropped area.

b) Entropy Index (EI)

Entropy index is regarded as an inverse measure of concentration having logarithmic character.

An index close to zero indicates the concentration towards a or a few crops if it is near to one it indicates complete diversification.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Growth rates of area of major crops in selected tahsils
The compound growth rates of area under major crops in selected tahsils is presented in table1. From the table it is seen that in Mahagaon tahsil area growth in kharif jowar, moong ,and udid were significantly negative during the study period.The area growth of  kharif jowar was declined by -18% per annum during the study period. The area growth in moong and udid were significantly declined by -7.91% and -7.51%. The area growth in tur and cotton showed stagnant picture. On other hand soybean area growth was significantly increased by 12.58% per annum.
In respect of Wani tahsil the area growth rates of kharif jowar, tur, moong and udid were significantly negative. Wereas the growth rate of cotton area was significantly positive and it was increased by 3.32% per annum, Soybean showed stagnant picture for area growth rate over the period of study.
In case of Maregaon tahsil the area growth rates in cotton and soybean were significantly increased by 1.82% and 4.91% respectively. On the other hand. Other selected crops of study showed stagnant picture.
In Zari Jamni tahsil the growth rates of area of moong, udid, soybean and jowar crops were significantly negative wereas area growth rate of cotton and tur were significantly increased by 3.37% and 2.88% respectively.
In case of Kelapur tahsil the area growth rates of kharif jowar ,moong, and udid significantly negative over the period of study, on the other hand cotton and tur showed a stagnant picture in area growth. The growth rate of soybean is increased by 7.30% during the study period.

In respect of Ralegaon tahsil the growth in area of tur, moong and udid significantly declined by -8.52%, -40.23% and -28.15% respectively during study period on the other hand cotton showed significant positive growth rate 5.44% per annum, the growth in area of kharif jowar and soybean were stagnant during the study period.

Table 1: Compound growth rates of area of major crops for the year 2003-04 to 2015-16 of selected tahsils

Crops	Mahagaon	Wani	Maregaon	Zari Jamni	Kelapur	Ralegaon
Kh.Jowar	-18.50**	-15.40**	-2.71	-6.8**	-9.8**	-2.66
Cotton	0.96	3.32**	1.82*	3.68**	0.65	5.44**
Soybean	12.58**	2.03	4.91**	-7.00**	7.85*	1.40
Tur	3.49	-7.16**	2.17	2.88**	-0.15	-8.52**
Moong	-7.91**	-44.25**	-1.37	-35.26**	-45.41**	-40.33**
Udid	-7.51**	-41.47**	0.00	-21.51**	-40.15**	-28.15**

 

 

 

 

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