Land Use Changes and Extent of Crop Diversification in North Western Zone of Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu, one of the important agrarian states in India, has experienced remarkable growth in the agricultural sector. Among the seven agro-climatic zones of Tamil Nadu, north western zone is known for intensive agrarian economy of which, the economy of Salem district is predominantly agrarian having 2.20 lakh hectares of net cultivated area (42.31 percent of total geographical area). The district has distinctive cropping patterns and the major crops grown in the district include Paddy, Tapioca, Maize, Sorghum and Vegetables. Given the importance of changing scenarios in cropping patterns, this study was undertaken to analyze the land use and cropping pattern changes and to examine the extent of crop diversification in Salem District over the year using the time series data for 20 years, i.e., from 2000-01 to 2019-20. Direction of changes in land use and cropping pattern was investigated using Markov chain analysis and for each year, crop diversification index was calculated. It was concluded from the study that the compound annual growth rate of area under crops like cereals and millets, pulses, spices and condiments, fruits, fibres. drugs, narcotics & plantation crops and other non-food crops were positive whereas it was negative for sugar crops, oilseeds, vegetables, fodder and green manure. Based on the crop diversification index value, it is evident that Salem district is moving towards crop diversification rather than specialization however the process as analysed on a time series basis is stagnant.