Chapter-II: Agricultural Production in Assam: An Overview
2.16: Change in Cropping Pattern in Assam in Recent Decades
The cropping pattern of a state is an important indicator to show the proportion of area to GCA under different crops at a definite point of time. It may undergo changes over time in response to changes in a number of factors, namely economic, technological and other environmental factors. The cropping pattern in Assam has been more or less stable with marginal changes in the importance of a few crops. “Assam has experienced a change, very little, in its cropping pattern in comparison to that of the states like Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, etc.” (Daimari, 2008).
The basic feature of the cropping pattern in Assam is the predominance of food crops.33 At the beginning of the 20th century, about 90 percent of the total cultivable land of Assam was put into food crops and remaining 10 percent land was put under non-food crops.34 But gradually a change in the cropping pattern of Assam along with other states of the country occurred and accordingly, excluding plantation crops, area under food crops came down to 84 percent and that of non-food crops slightly rose to 16 percent.
Then changes in the cropping pattern mainly occurred due to changes in the prices, in favour of non-food crops or cash crops (Dhar, 2007). In 2010-11, these figures reached to 66 percent (2767000 ha) and 34 percent (1392977 ha) respectively. Compound average growth rate of area under total foodgrains experienced a negative growth in
33 Food crops group included foodgrains, sugarcane & sugar, condiments & spices and fruits & vegetables, i. e., food crops comprise both foodgrain crops and cash crops (Kumar & Gupta, 2015);
34 Non-food crops group comprised of oilseeds, fibres, drugs & narcotics and plantation crops (Kumar &
Gupta, 2015)
Assam as well as in India, viz., -0.21 percent and -0.07 percent respectively per annum during 1990-91 to 2011-12. In case of total food crops, growth rate of area in Assam was 0.25 percent compared to 0.13 percent in India; while in case of total non-food crops these figures are 0.09 percent and 0.56 percent respectively and in regards to total crop sector, India‟s growth rate was 0.24 percent but Assam had 0.22 percent per annum during 1990-91 to 2011-12 (Land Use Statistics, Govt. of India; Kumar and Gupta, 2015).
Cropping pattern in Assam is dominated by rice. It is natural, because rice is the staple food for majority of people living in the state. However, total area under rice has declined from 80.2 percent in 1960-61 to 74 percent of the TCA in 2011-12. Among other cereals, wheat and maize are gaining some popularity among the farmers in Assam till 90s. Since 1990s, jute cultivation in Assam has not been adequately promoted by the government. Accordingly, area under jute in Assam has gradually declined from 5.5 percent in 1960-61 to 1.9 percent of TCA in 2011-12.
Bhowmick, et al., (2005) stated that “the cropping pattern in the state did not show any appreciable change over the years (1970s-1990s). State agriculture was primarily a cereal-based system, where rice accounted for a lion‟s share. Rice continues to cover about 75 to 78 percent area.” The share of rice in total cereals stood at 95.34 percent which means that the share of other cereals commanded only 4.66 percent (Dutta, 2011). However, the allocation of area under different crops witnessed dynamism in the recent years. The normal ahu paddy was substituted to early ahu, summer rice and jute. Oilseed occupied 6.3 percent of cropped area in 70s, which increased to about 8 percent in 2010s. Pulses and fiber crops showed a gradual decline after 80s. However, area share of pulses have gradually increased and occupied 3.84 percent in 2011-12.
Oilseeds have the largest acreage share next to rice, and then the fibers and pulses (Mandal, 2011).
Mandal (2011), in his study of change in cultivation pattern observed that during the period from 1991-92 to 2008-09, acreage share of summer paddy increased by around 6 percent whereas the share of autumn paddy and winter paddy declined by around 8 percent and 3 percent respectively. Pulses also lost area share during the same period. The acreage share of foodgrains has declined by 6.2 percent during 1991-92 to 2007-08. Among the non-foodgrains oilseeds, jute and sugarcane have lost their respective shares in total cropped area. On the other hand, spices and vegetables have
shown an increase in their acreage share. Kumar and Gupta (2015) observed that the growth rate of area under plantation crops is significantly positive in Assam along with Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Table 2.20 shows the area under different foodgrains and non-foodgrains or crop-wise land utilization from 1980-81 to 2011-12.
Table-2.22: The trend of crop-wise land utilization in Assam from 1980-81 to 2011-12: (in lakh ha) Crop 1980-
81
1990- 91
2000- 01
2001- 02
2004- 05
2005- 06
2006- 07
2007- 08
2008- 09
2009- 10
2010- 11
2011- 12 Winter
Rice
16.22 18.01 (52.74)
17.77 (49.9)
17.15 (49.6)
16.36 (50.74)
17.07 (53.4)
14.98 (49.5)
16.47 (52.2)
17.73 (53.68)
17.9 (52.6)
18.76 (53.9)
18.76 (54.5) Autum
n Rice
5.72 6.08 (17.8)
5.40 (15.2)
4.96 (14.4)
4.36 (13.5)
3.98 (12.5)
3.79 (12.53)
3.54 (11.2)
3.51 (10.63)
3.46 (10.2)
3.13 (9.1)
2.76 (8.02) Summe
r Rice
0.35 1.17 (3.43)
3.29 (9.23)
3.26 (9.43)
3.11 (9.65)
3.15 (9.8)
3.12 (10.3)
3.23 (10.2)
3.60 (10.9)
3.94 (11.6)
3.99 (11.6)
3.94 (11.5) Total
Rice
22.29 (69.1)
25.26 (68.62)
26.46 (74.2)
25.37 (73.4)
23.84 (73.9)
24.20 (75.7)
21.89 (72.36)
23.24 (73.6)
24.84 (75.2)
25.30 (74.4)
25.71 (74.6)
25.46 (74.0) Maize 0.22 0.21 0.20
(0.56)
- - 0.19
(0.59) 0.19 (0.63)
0.18 (0.57)
0.17 (0.51)
0.19 (0.56)
0.20 (0.58)
0.21 (0.61) Wheat 1.06
(3.10) 0.84 (2.31
0.70 (1.96)
0.72 (2.08)
0.64 (1.99)
0.50 (1.65)
0.60 (1.9)
0.56 (1.7)
0.50 (1.5)
0.60 (1.76)
0.45 (1.3)
0.40 (1.16) Total
Cereals 23.57 (73.1)
26.42 (71.79)
27.53 (77.1)
26.37 (73.3)
24.75 (76.74)
24.97 (78.1)
22.75 (75.21)
24.05 (76.2)
25.56 (77.38)
26.14 (76.8)
26.41 (76.6)
26.11 (75.9) Total
Pulses 1.13 (3.44)
1.13 (3.12)
1.16 (3.1)
1.18 (3.4)
1.08 (3.35)
1.00 (3.13)
1.07 (3.54)
1.13 (3.58)
1.14 (3.45)
1.19 (3.5)
1.26 (3.7)
1.32 (3.84) Total
Food grains
25.21 (76.5)
27.55 (74.91)
28.58 (80.2)
27.55 (79.7)
25.83 (80.1)
25.97 (81.2)
23.82 (78.7)
25.18 (79.8)
26.71 (80.34)
27.35 (79.5)
26.40 (80.3)
27.43 (79.7) Total
Oilseed
*
1.97 (7.08)
3.20 (8.81)
3.22 (9.03)
2.99 (9.26)
2.87 (8.9)
2.54 (7.9)
2.79 (9.22)
2.76 (8.74)
2.65 (8.02)
2.84 (8.35)
2.87 (8.24)
2.87 (7.21) Sugarc
ane#
48 (1.2)
36 (1.05)
27 (0.76)
27 (0.78)
24 (0.74)
23 (0.72)
27 (0.89)
26 (0.82)
29 (0.88)
27 (0.79)
30 (0.88)
28 (0.79) Cotton
#
4 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1
Jute 1.05 (3.77)
0.96 (2.85)
0.70 (1.69)
0.82 (1.97)
0.69 (1.8)
0.57 (1.78)
0.58 (1.9)
0.60 (1.9)
0.60 (1.82)
0.65 (1.9)
0.62 (1.8)
0.66 (1.91)
Tea 2.24 2.32 2.67 2.69 2.72 3.01 3.12 3.21 3.22 2.79 2.81 3.18
(6.09) (6.43) (6.87) (8.05) (7.64)
Rubber - - 0.12
(0.30)
- 0.14 0.15 0.17 0.18 0.21
(0.65)
0.23 0.27 0.32 (0.77) Non-
foodgra ins
4.74 (23.5)
5.45 (25.09)
7.06 (19.8)
7.01 (20.3)
6.42 (19.9)
6.00 (18.8)
6.43 (21.3)
6.38 (20.2)
6.32 (19.66)
6.99 (20.6)
6.80 (19.7)
6.98 (20.3)
Note: (i) Figures are rounded off in lakh; (ii) figure in brackets shows percentage share of a particular crop area to all crops area excluding plantation crops; (iii) * excluding coconut oil; (iv)# „000 hectare
Source: (i) Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Assam; (ii) Percentage shares are calculated by author.
Table 2.22 reveals that the cropping pattern of Assam is predominant in foodgrains production where foodgrains area has slightly declined from 80.2 percent in 2000-01 to 79.7 percent in 2011-12. On the other hand, non-foodgrains area has increased very slowly from 19.8 percent to 20.3 percent over the years.
Area under rice has increased from 69.1 percent of the TCA in 1980-81 to 74 percent in 2011-12. There are mainly four varieties of rice produced in the state viz., Sali or Aman and Bao (seasonally called as winter rice), Ahu or Aus (seasonally called as autumn rice) and Boro (seasonally called as summer rice), besides a number of local varieties. In terms of area and production, winter paddy has traditionally been the most popular crop in the state occupying highest position in area coverage and production and consequently highest value addition to GSDP. This is followed by autumn paddy and summer paddy. However, the acreage shares of winter rice and autumn rice in total rice area have been continuously declining due to flood damage or risk of frequent floods. On the contrary, the importance of summer rice which is grown during flood-free season, in the total area under rice, has been increasing due to its higher productivity and low risk.
Summer rice, which used to occupy about 6 percent in 1970s, comprised 16 percent of the total area under rice in recent years. Changes in rice cropping pattern in Assam in recent decades has been discussed in details in Chapter III. Other foodgrains like pulses, wheat and other cereals cover near about 6 percent of the total area of cultivation in the state (Economic Survey Assam, 2011-12). Among the non-cereals the most important crop group in terms of area share is oilseeds, which is losing its acreage share over the years. In 1999-2000, 9.29 percent of TCA of the state was under oilseeds which declined to 7.21 percent in 2011-12. Jute area has declined from 2.45 percent to 1.63 percent over the years. Tea is grown extensively in the state. Share of tea area had increased from 6.1 percent in 1980-81 to 7.64 percent in 2011-12. Coffee and rubber plantation is also undertaken to a small extent in the state. However, rubber plantation became popular in
the state in recent time. Area under rubber cultivation in the state was 0.12 lakh hectare or 0.3 percent of TCA in 2000-01which has increased to 0. 49 lakh hectare or to 1.17 percent of TCA in 2014-15. The cropping pattern of Assam has clearly neglected some important crops like wheat, pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane, and jute though there is an increase in tea and rubber plantation area. As per agricultural experts, production of pulses should be about 17 percent of foodgrains. In Assam, however, the area under pulses has remained almost in constant at around 4 percent of the TCA under foodgrains as against 8 percent in the country as a whole. Similarly, the area under some important cash crops should increase either to enhance earning of the state or to reduce dependence on imports from outside the state. But unless the concentration of area under rice is reduced through increased mechanization and intensive cultivation, no meaningful cropping pattern in the state can be achieved (Lekhi and Choudhury, 1996). Obviously, some improvement is observed in certain crops during the last few years.
The aggregate picture of cropping pattern in Assam is more or less similar in different districts, the percentage of paddy hectareage varying from 67.55 percent in Nagaon district to as high as 86.62 percent in Cachar district. The percentage of paddy hectareage is more than the state‟s average in the least crop diversified districts, viz., Sibsagar, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Dima Hasao and Cachar. But in the relatively more crop diversified districts like Goalpara, Kamrup, Darrang and Nagaon, a variety of crops are introduced in the paddy fields in rotation. Some of the paddy fields are also devoted to some other crops in lieu of paddy, as a result of which the percentage of rice hectareage has been gradually dwindling in these districts during the recent years (Das, 2012).
However, changes in cropping pattern in the state in recent decades are far from uniform in nature. In Upper Assam, a large number of people have started small tea gardens. While in certain parts of Central Assam the shift has been towards floriculture.
Floriculture in Assam has been limited to a cluster of villages in and around Hajo region of Kamrup district. In the remote riverine tracts of the river Brahmaputra (locally called as Chars35) of lower Assam, the shift has been towards cultivation of new variety of
35Char areas were defined as “small islands in the river bed which are formed by either frequent changes of the river or by shifting of the sands which lie on beds of those rivers‟ (Gangopadhyay, 1990). There are 2251 char villages in Assam spread over 14 districts along the route of the mighty Brahmaputra. Erstwhile Goalpara district had the largest number of char villages (558) in the state. Cultivable area under chars in the state is 2.42 lakh hectares. These remote tracts were brought under cultivation by migrating peasants from East Bengal (presently Bangladesh) during the last part of nineteenth century.
paddy known as Iri cultivation from the latter half of the 90‟s. As the yield is higher, the availability of foodgrains has, therefore, increased for those who undertake iri cultivation. The char dwellers introduced large scale jute cultivation which till date is one of the major crops of Assam. They diversified and commercialized agriculture in the state by bringing in large tracts of uninhabited, uncultivated and remote areas under cultivation including the char areas. “By dint of hard work and gifted with superior agricultural skill, these char dwellers reaped gold from the barren land” (Das, 2012). On the other hand, in the western part of Assam, mainly in Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Chirang and Kokrajhar districts and some parts of Kamrup, Cacher and hills districts of Assam rubber plantation is becoming popular in recent years. A large number of tribal people of these districts could turn their unused land into productive land and can earn a profitable income from this cultivation.
Change in Agriculture is a welcome phenomenon, as long as, it does not reduce the foodgrain availability or its entitlement for the population group which undertake cultivation. In case of Assam, there are no apparent signs of the above mentioned phenomenon. Therefore, changes in agricultural practices as a whole can be regarded as a welcome phenomenon (Chakraborty, 2006).