Answer: 

Introduction:

The Rice-wheat cropping system is India’s most widely adopted cropping system practiced on an estimated area of around 11 million hectares. It involves the cultivation of rice during the summer monsoon season, followed by the cultivation of wheat during the winter season. This system is prevalent in Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP) and is predominant in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh etc.

Body:

Rice-wheat system became a success in India because of:

• HYV seeds and policies under the Green Revolution.
• Increased availability of machines, irrigation technology led to increased cropping area and more productivity.
• MSP policies: Procurement of marketed surplus of paddy (rice) and wheat at Minimum Support Price (MSP).
• Favourable agro-climatic conditions: The rice-wheat system is typically grown in areas with a warm, humid climate along with fertile, well-drained soils, which are capable of supporting high crop yields.

But the rice-wheat system has been facing a fall in yield because:

• Decline in Soil fertility: Due to continuous irrigation and use of excessive flood irrigation, soil in the rice-wheat cropping system has become saline. It has resulted in a decrease in crop yield.
• Increased input cost: High rate of infestation with weeds and pests along with contamination of ground water have resulted into high cost of input for cultivation of rice and wheat.
• Change in water availability: Due to excessive use of ground water and consequent depletion of groundwater resources, water availability has declined. This has resulted in a decline in crop yield.
• Climate change: According to studies, climate change has a negative effect on major crops such as wheat, rice and maize. Increase in annual temperature range has also affected the crop yield of rice and wheat.
• Income and productivity:
  • Rise in labour charges and exposure to global markets led to fall in incomes of farmers cultivating rice and wheat.
  •  The productivity is also very less compared to international standards. For instance, China’s productivity is almost double in both wheat and rice.
• Seasonality of labour: While this system is labour intensive, it employs large amounts of labour seasonally i.e., during harvest season or during cropping season. As labour migrates to avoid being unemployed, the agriculture sector faces a shortage of labour leading to reduced yield or even loss of yield.
• Lack of innovation: There is lack of innovation and the present agricultural practices are neither economically nor ecologically sustainable.

Crop diversification is seen as a solution to many of these problems. Crop diversification refers to a shift from the regional dominance of one crop to production of a variety of crops. Crop diversification can help improve yields because:

• Complementary crops: Certain crops like pulses, millets, etc are short duration crops that require less inputs, add nutrients to the soil and also provide with good income source given the demand for a variety of these crops. The system of crop rotation involves such crops alongside paddy and wheat.
• Maintaining soil fertility: Only those crops are grown in a particular region which are suitable to a particular agro-climatic zone and this helps in maintaining soil fertility. It will also stabilize the yield in the same region as the same crop grown again and again on the same soil depletes minerals and organic content out of the soil.
• Arrest depletion of groundwater: It will help in diversifying cropping patterns from water guzzling crops such as paddy to pulses, oilseeds, maize with the aim of tackling the problem of depleting water table.
• Ecological balance: Crop diversification can also provide habitat for insects and at the same time reduce colonization by pests. This maintains the ecological balance while also reducing usage of pesticides.

Conclusion:

Crop diversification is one of the most suitable ways of stabilising the crop yield in India and solving many of the other problems faced by the Indian farmers. The traditional Green Revolution States would need to shed “business as usual” approach and embrace crop diversification in agriculture to secure and improve the future of farming.