Cropping Pattern in Karimnagar District of Telangana - An Economic Analysis

Cropping pattern is a dynamic concept because it changes over space and time. It can be defined as
the proportion of area under various crops at a point of time. It also indicates the time and spatial
arrangement or sequence of crops and / or fallow in a particular land area. The assessment of shift in
cropping pattern in several regions is crucial for a way better insight into the agricultural development
method. This study was undertaken to look at the dynamics of cropping pattern in Karimnagar district
of Telangana. The necessary information was collected from Directorate of Economics and Statistics,
Government of Telangana from 1966-67 to 2016-17 and it had been analysed with the assistance of
Markov chain by decade wise and for last decade, analysed for five periods. The main findings from
the study revealed that any set of crops didn't retain its area in Karimnagar, but the acreage of the
crops was continuously shifting from one set of crops to a different set throughout the amount. The
cereals area was observed to be more stable while the loss of area from cereals towards commercial
crops like cotton and turmeric etc. indicated that the cropping pattern of the region moves towards
diversification in northern Telangana zone. There is a bigger scope for deciding within the selection of
crops to put the agriculture on the pedestal of sustainable growth that has got to be thought-about in
analysis and extension programmes.