Diversification of Cropping Pattern in Central Gujarat during Previous Decade Zala Y.C., Gondalia V.K., Sheikh A.S., Jadav K.S. Department of Agricultural Economics, B.A. College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand-388 110, Gujarat Online published on 10 September, 2013. Abstract The study has examined the growth and instability in area, production and productivity of major crops of central Gujarat along with magnitude of crop diversification by collecting district-wise time-series data from the website of Directorate of Agriculture of Gujarat state for the period 2001–02 to 2010–11. The study has observed wide spatio-temporal disparity in the acreage allocation under different crops in the study area. The farmers of central Gujarat have shifted their cropping pattern by allocating more acreage to crops like wheat, gram and cotton and reducing the acreage under maize, tur, sesamum and banana during the previous decade. In terms of productivity, eight crops, viz. rice, bajra, tur, wheat, gram, groundnut, castor and cotton, have shown significant as well as positive growths, whereas none of the crops has shown a negative and significant growth during this decade. The study has revealed a high level of crop diversification during the previous decade and it has improved in the recent years, indicating improvement in the economic development of the region. Top Keywords Crop diversification, diversification indices, growth, production, productivity, Gujarat. Top |