An Empirical Study On Crop Diversification In West Bengal

Abstract

The term ‘diversification’ has been derived from the word ‘diverge’ meaning ‘to move or extend’ to the direction, different from a common point. Agricultural diversification can well be explained in terms of the shift from the regional dominance of one crop towards the production of a large number of crops to meet the increasing demand of those crops. Diversification can also be conceived, as the economic development of non-agricultural activities. Diversification can also be conceived as the economic development of non-agricultural activities. Farming is a risk-prone livelihood practice and farmers adopt numerous ways either to reduce part of risk or shift its incidence. Crop diversification reduces the risk of putting all their eggs in a single basket (McCloskey, 1972; Jones, 1984). The process of diversification can be typified as horizontal and vertical diversification. Horizontal diversification is that form wherein farmers diversify their agricultural activities either to stabilize or increase their income or both. It can take the form of shift from subsistence farming either to commercial farming or to the shift from low value food crops to high value crops. Vertical Diversification refers to the farmers’ access to non-farm income, i.e., the income from non-agricultural sources (Haque, 1996).