Is crop diversification vulnerable to climate, agricultural and socio-economic factors in Himachal Pradesh, India?

Abstract

Crop diversification is essential for long-term farm in-come, rural livelihood and agricultural development in Himachal Pradesh (HP), India. The present study aims to examine the effect of climate, agricultural and socio-economic factors on crop diversification. Sirmaur district was found to be diverse, Kangra and Mandi districts were highly diversified, but Solan district was highly specialized in agriculture in HP. The fixed effects were found to be significant, indicating the role of farm-level changes in agronomic and cropping practices as a result of climate change. Crop diversification was led by popu-lation density, percentage of marginal and small farmers, cropping intensity, cultivators, marginal workers and total main workers. The important climate parameters like rainfall and minimum temperature, as well as other factors such as irrigation intensity and food crop produc-tivity, had a negative impact on crop diversification, implying crop specialization