Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-5, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Crop Combination in ,

Firdousi Rahaman Siddika Research Scholar, Visva-Bharati, .

Abstract : The study of crop combination plays a 2. Objectives pivotal role in agricultural regionalization and brings out characteristics features of agricultural The study aims at- land use quite clearly.it also facilitates the examination of crop diversification. Crop rotation • To study the principle crops grown in this and crop specialisation. Thus the study about crop region and ranking of crops in Birbhum combination has gain attention of planners and district. geographer in recent years.in this paper an attempt • To identify crop combination of Birbhum has been made to analyse the crop combination district by applying weavers method and region for the year 2004-05 and 2012-13 of plot it in a region of crop combination. Birbhum district. Weaver’s method of crop • To compare the crop combination regions combination is applied here. Birbhum district is for two time period, i.e., 2004-2005 and mainly based on agriculture and this study reveals 2012-2013. that Birbhum district is basically a mono crop area and paddy is the main crop. Favourable physical 3. Data Sources and Methodology condition e.g. suitable temperature and heavy rainfall are responsible for paddy cultivation. The present study is mainly based on secondary Availability of irrigation facility is also an data. Data are collected from Birbhum district important reason behind paddy cultivation. statistical handbook, principle agriculture office located in district head quarter at Suri.Data also Keywords: Agriculture, Crop Ranking, Crop taken from Birbhum district website and various Combination Region published literature. There are different qualitative and quantitative techniques to delineating crop 1. Introduction combination region. Here Simple statistical tools have been used to analyse the data. For delineation Crop combination basically refers to crop combination regions weaver statistical the quantum or diversity of crops entering a region techniques are applied. Formula of weaver crop in a given period. The study of crop combination combination is- regions constitute an important aspect of agricultural geography as it provides a good basis d=∑d2/n of agricultural regionalisation. The crops are generally grown in combination and it is rarely that Where, d=is the differences between the actual crop a particular crop occupies a position of total percentage and the appropriate p percentage in the insolation other crops in a given areal unit in a theoretical curve given point of time [Hussain,M]. The study of crop n= no. of crop in a given combination. combination has gained importance in geographical study. It provide a proper understanding of an 4. Geo Identity of Birbhum District individual crop. Identification of individual crops region is very important in agricultural geography Birbhum district located in the western part of west but it is even more important to view the integrated Bengal. The study area is extends from 23°32′30″N assemblage of the various crop grown in an aerial to 24°35′N latitudes and from 88°1′40″ to 87°5′25″ unit. Crop combination also give the idea about E longitudes. Birbhum district is bounded by the agricultural land use, crop diversification and crop districts of Murshidabad and Burdwan on the east rotation. Thus the study of crop combination has side and jamtara,dumka and Pakur district of the get attention of planner and geographers. state of Jharkhand located at the western border of

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 250

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-5, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in this district and north and west side and on the Ajoy river has 19 C.D. blocks and 2467 villages south by Burdwan from which it is separated by the with the district head quarter in suri. Birbhum district is known as land of Red Soil. Fertile soil are found along the river bank. Comparatively eastern part is more fertile than western part.

5. Crop Ranking Crop ranking plays an important role to analyse crop combination. Rice, Wheat, Mustard, Potato and Gram are main crops to study share greater than 1 percentage to Gross Cropped Area. Paddy is the leading crop stands as first rank and is found to have largest coverage in the district. Paddy occupies 76.34 % during 2004-05 and78.38% during 2012-13 of total gross cropped area. Mustard occupies second position while wheat is identified as third ranking Topography gives a unique identity to Birbhum crop for both the year under study. Potato occupies th district. Western part of this district is busty region, 4 position whereas gram is identified as 5th major which is the extended part of chhotonagpur plateau. crop in 2005 and 2013 in the area under study General slope of this district from North West to south East. 6. Crop Combination Region Climate of the study area is basically hot and For the delineation of Crop Combination Region of extreme. Western part of Birbhum district is more Birbhum district of west Bengal, Weaver’s method hot and extreme than to the eastern part in summer are used. For ranking percentage of each crop will be season temperature goes up to 40 c and in winter placed in descending order. In the present study Crop season drop around 10C.78 % of rainfall occur in occupied less than 1% of total harvested land are rainy season. Rainfall generally varies from <1100 omitted to identify the Crop Combination Region. mm to >1400 mm. However, spatial pattern of The resultant Crop Combination Region are plotted rainfall indicates that northern and western part in figure and table no 1 during 2004-2005.Out of 12 receives maximum rainfall (>1400 mm) while it Crops only five crops occupied greater than 1% of decreases with eastern and south-eastern move. total harvested area. But during 2012-13, 6 crops has Mayuraksi, Ajoy, Dwarka, Pagla, Kopai, Bakreswar significant coverage. Six crop combination region etc. river are flow across the Birbhum district. All of has been identified during 2012-13. these are Rain fed River and gets water from Monsoon Rainfall in Rainy season.

Table 1 : Crop Combination Region of Birbhum District during 2004-05

Crop Combination Name of Block Name of the crop Region I 5 Crop Paddy,Gram,Mustard,Wheat,Potato Nalhati II 2 Crop Paddy and Mustard Moraroi I 5 Crop Paddy,Mustard,Wheat,Gram,Potato Moraroi II 4 Crop Paddy,Mustard,Wheat,Gram I Mono crop Paddy Mayureswar II 4 Crop Paddy,Potato,Wheat ,Mustard I Mono crop Paddy Rampurhat II 5 Crop Paddy,Mustard,Wheat,Gram,Potato Md Bazar Mono Crop Paddy Mono Crop Paddy Mono Crop Paddy Rajnagar Mono Crop Paddy Suri-I Mono Crop Paddy Suri –II Mono Crop Paddy Khoyrasole Mono Crop Paddy -Sriniketan Mono Crop Paddy

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 251

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-5, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

Labhpur Mono Crop Paddy Mono Crop Paddy Illambazar Mono Crop Paddy Source: Computed by Author

Table 2 : Crop Combination region of Birbhum District during 2004-05

Sl. No No. of crops Name of the block Mayureswar-I , Rampurhat-I,Md.Bazar,Sainthia, Dubrajpur , Rajnagar , 1 Mono crop Suri-I,Suri-II,Khoyrasole, Bolpur- Sriniketan,Labhpur,Nanoor , Illambazar 2 Two crop Nalhati-II 3 Three crop - 4 Four crop Muraroi-II,Mayureswar-II 5 Five Crop Nalhati-I,Muraroi-I,Rampurhat-II

Figure 1: Crop Combination Region of Birbhum District, 2004-05

Source: Computed by author based on Weaver's Crop Combination Method Table 3 : Crop Combination Region of Birbhum District during 2012--13

Crop Combination Name of Block Name of the Crop Region 6 Crop Paddy, Wheat, Mustard, Potato, Gram, Masur Nalhati II 4 Crop Paddy, Wheat, Mustard, Potato Moraroi I 6 Crop Paddy, Wheat, Mustard, Masur, Gram, Potato Moraroi II 5 Crop Paddy, Wheat, Mustard, Potato, Gram, Masur Mayureswar I Mono crop Paddy Mayureswar II 6 Crop Paddy, Potato, Wheat, Mustard, Gram, Masur Mono crop Paddy Rampurhat II 6 Crop Paddy, Wheat, Mustard, Gram, Potato, Masur Md Bazar Mono Crop Paddy Sainthia Mono Crop Paddy Dubrajpur Mono Crop Paddy Rajnagar Mono Crop Paddy Suri-I Mono Crop Paddy Suri –II Mono Crop Paddy Khoyrasole Mono Crop Paddy Bolpur -Sriniketan Mono Crop Paddy

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 252

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-5, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

Labhpur Mono Crop Paddy Nanoor Mono Crop Paddy Illambazar Mono Crop Paddy Source: Computed by author

Table 4 : crop combination region of Birbhum District during 2012-13

Sl. No. No. of Crops Name of the Block Mayureswar-I , Rampurhat-I , Md. Bazar,Sainthia , Dubrajpur , Rajnagar , 1 Mono crop Suri-I,Suri-II , Khoyrasole , Bolpur-Sriniketan,Labhpur , Nanoor ,Illambazar 2 Two crop - 3 Three crop - 4 Four crop Nalhati-II 5 Five Crop Muraroi-II 6 Six crop Nalhati-I,Muraroi I,Mayureswar-II,Rampurhat-II Source: Computed by author based on Weaver's Crop Combination Method

6.2. Two Crop Region During 2004-05 only one block Nalhati II falls under in two crop combination. These two crops are rice and mustard Climate and demand of mustard oil in food habit are the reason behind this. There are no block for two crop combination region during 2012-13.

6.3. Four Crop Region There are two blocks Muraroi II and Muyureswar I where rice, wheat, mustard and potato constitute to form four crop combination region. Four crop combination is observed in Nalhati II during 2012- 13.these crops are paddy, wheat, mustard and potato. Here paddy is the dominant crop having largest coverage followed by wheat, mustard and Figure 2 : Crop Combination Region of Birbhum District, 2012-13 potato. 6.4. Five Crop Region 6.1. Mono Crop Region Birbhum district basically a mono crop region. Five crop combination is observed in Nalhati I, Most of block characterised as mono crop region. Rampurhat I and Muyureswar I block during 2004- Paddy is the prime crop showing highest coverage 05. Paddy is the leading crop followed by wheat, in all the block of the district both of the year. potato, mustard and gram both the block has same During 2004-05 Mono crop region were crop combination in the above mention period. Mayureswar I, Rampurhat I, Md. Bazar, Sainthia, During 2012-13 five crop combination is found in Dubrajpur, Rajnagar, , Suri ll, Khoyrasole, Muraroi II. Here also paddy is prime crop. Other Bolpur, Labhpur, Nanoor and Illambazar. During crops are wheat, mustard, potato and gram. 2012-13 no change occurred and all of these block have registered their name for mono crop region 6.5. Six Crop Region again. Fertile soil of river bank, suitable climate The was no block for six crop combination region and availability of irrigation facility are the during 2004-05 but in 2012-13 Nalhati I, Muraroi I, favourable condition for paddy cultivation. Mayureswar II And Rampurhat II have entered in Monsoon climate of Birbhum district play an this combination. Dominant crop of this region is important role to develop the paddy cultivation and paddy share largest coverage. Six crop combination food habit of people is the reason being paddy as ST region has a crop combination of paddy, wheat, 1 ranking crop. mustard, potato, gram and masur.

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 253

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-5, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

From the above estimation it is observed that no Journal) ISSN-0974-2832 Vol. II, Issue-6, Feb 09-April great variation occur in seven years. Paddy is the 09 leading crop of whole the district under study [5] Ramasundaram, M., Banukumar, K., Alaguraja, P., from2004-05 to2012-2013.one significant change Yuvaraj, D. and Nagarathinam, S. R., “A study on crop that noticed during 2012-13 is practice of masur combination regions in Tamil Nadu, India using Map cultivation in significant level. Comparatively Info and GIS”, Int. Journal of Advances in Remote wheat cultivation decrease its area in seven year. Sensing and GIS, Vol.1, No.1,2012.

[6] Das, Gopal, “The Study of Crop Combination 7. Summary and Conclusion Regions in Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India” Crop combination is an integrated part in Acme International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Volume-I, Issue-IX. agricultural geography. The study of crop combination is very significant for any particular [7] Aslam, Mahmood, “Statistical methods in region because it provide an idea about the relative geographical studies”, Rajesh Publication 2009, New position crops on regional scale. Thus information Delhi on crop combinations is the basic requirement for the planning the future orientation of agriculture in Birbhum district. To analyse the crop combination of Birbhum district weaver’s method are applied. For simplification and generalisation crops cover less than 1% of gross cropped area are omitted from the calculation. Birbhum district is basically mono cropped area and paddy is the main crop. Favourable physical condition e.g. suitable temperature and heavy rainfall are responsible for paddy cultivation. Availability of irrigation facility is also an important reason behind paddy cultivation. Most of the block are mono crop for both the year. Mono crop block are Mayureswar I, Rampurhat I, Md azar, Sainthia, Dubrajpur, Rajnagar, Suri I, Suri II, Khoyrasole, Bolpur, Labhpur, Nanoor and Illambazar during 2004- 05.These blocks were again registered their name for Mono crop combination during 2012-13. Only the Nalhati II block fall under in two crop combination in 2004-05.there was no block of Two crop combination in 2012-13.2 blocks out of 19 blocks characterized as 4 crop combination region and 3 as 5 crop combination region during 2004-05 while during 2012-13, Nalhati II have entered in 4 crop combination and Muraroi II in 5 crop combination.4 blocks namely Nalhati-I, Muraroi-I, Mayureswar-II, Rampurhat-II where six crop combination is found during 2012-13.

8. References [1] Hussain, M., “Systematic Agricultural Geography” Rawat publication, 1996, Jaipur and New Delhi.

[2] District Census Handbook, 2001, Birbhum District West Bengal, Govt. of India.

[3] District Statistical Handbook, 2005, Birbhum, Bureau of Applied Economics & Statistics, Govt. of West Bengal.

[4] Vyalij, P.Y., “A Spatio-temporal analysis of crop combination in Nasik district Maharastra”, Shodh Samiksha and Mulyankan (International Research

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 254