Growth Rates and Cropping Pattern Changes in Agriculture in Cuddalore District

This book deals with growth and trends in cropping pattern changes and productivity with reference to Cuddalore district, Tamilnadu, India. Before making an empirical analysis, there is a need to assess the factors affecting cropping pattern in India, role of irrigation in cropping pattern and regional variation in cropping pattern. Cropping pattern means the proportion of area under various crops at a point of time.1 The present pattern of cropping patterns has been evolved by farmers after centuries of experience, but from the national point of view, it is not essentially the most systematic use of land. In India, cropping patterns were traditionally based on the principles of self-sufficiency in all communication in a village when the means of communication were very poor and dependence on marketing agencies was very much limited. It has to change with the improvement in technology and economic factors. It could be noted that sugar and cotton acreage shrinks when the prices are favourable for grain crops and vice versa.