Changes in Crop-mix and Cropping Pattern in Different Agro- climatic Zones of West Bengal with...

International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research (IJMSSR) ISSN: 2319-4421 Volume 2, No. 8, August 2013

i-Xplore International Research Journal Consortium www.irjcjournals.org

15

Changes in Crop-mix and Cropping Pattern in Different Agro-

climatic Zones of West Bengal with Special Reference to Terai

Zone

Dr. B. C. Rudra, Farm Manager, Malda KVK, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Ratua, Malda, West Bengal

Dr. S. Kole, Block Technology Manager, ATMA, Cooch Behar II, West Bengal.

ABSTRACT

As the growth and development of crops and cropping

pattern in a particular region in relation to other region

largely hinges upon the agro-climatic condition of the

area in question the present study deals with the question

of variation in cropping system and cropping pattern

between different agro-climatic zones of West Bengal by

taking the period 1992-93 to 2002-03 and also the

variability of the pattern over the period within each zone.

By considering the natural advantages and disadvantages

of different crops caused by soil and climatic factors the

terai zone has an edge over other zones of the State in

growing wheat, potato, cabbage, cauliflower, tomato and

chilli while this zone is disadvantageous for rice crop. At

the zone level growing consumption demand of cereals

has also played a prime role to increasing allocation of

land over time under cereal crops like winter rice,

summer rice and wheat as visualized in other parts of the

State. Here also twin objective of meeting increasing

consumption demand of cereals by bringing in more area

under the aforesaid cereal crops and increasing farm

income by allocation of more land under vegetables and

chilli has been addressed.

INTRODUCTION:

The experience of HYV technology in crop production

has introduced a spectacular change in the crop economy

of West Bengal since late sixties. The HYV technology

introduced in the country in general and in West Bengal in

particular during late sixties was centered around the

cereal crops particularly rice and wheat. Improvement of

yield per unit area through introduction of HYV

technology in case of maize and small millets is not found

notable. Production technology of other crops namely

jute, potato, pulses, oilseeds, vegetable and spice crops

were recorded by and large unchanged till late eighties or

early nineties as has been noticed in crop production front

of West Bengal. From early nineties production

technology of pulse, oilseed, jute, sugarcane and potato

has got a remarkable change which has been reflected in

the improvement of yield per unit area of these crops. The

production technology of vegetable and spice crops is

recorded a great leap since late eighties and more

particularly early nineties due to introduction of hybrid

technology in the production of vegetable crops. The

period extending from late sixties to late eighties is,

therefore, marked as a period of technological change in

cereal production and the period extending from late

eighties onward as period of technological change in

oilseed and pulse and more particularly in vegetable and

spice crops as has been noticed in the crop production

front of West Bengal. Changes in cropping system and

cropping pattern in the state of West Bengal over the

period extending from 1967-68 to 2002-03 have been

examined in detail by Rudra1 (2007). It has been

explained that neither the relative profitability reflected in

the yield rate nor the relative price have been relevant in

explaining area expansion or contraction of the principal

staple crops like rice and wheat that has been brought

about during the said period. And it is the family

consumption demand of cereal (rice and wheat) which has

played a pivotal role in the question of area reallocation

between the crops meant for food consumption and that

for the market with an objective of increasing farm

income in a small farm dominated agricultural economy

of West Bengal. At this juncture the question comes to the

fore that the crops and cropping pattern in a particular

region in relation to other region largely hinges upon the

agro-climatic condition of the area in question in order to

take the natural advantage and thereby enabling to

produce at relatively low unit cost. Thus, it is imperative

to analyze the observed changes in cropping system and

cropping pattern by dividing the state of West Bengal into

different agro-climatic zones. The present study deals with

the question of variation in cropping system and cropping

pattern between different agro-climatic zones of the State

by taking the period 1992-93 to 2002-03 and also the

variability of the pattern over the period within each zone.

METHODOLOGY:

The study is principally based on secondary data, both

qualitative and quantitative. Data on area, production and

1 Rudra, B. C. (2007) ‘Technological Changr and Its

Impact on Agrarian Production and Relations: A Study in

a Northern District of West Bengal’, An Unpublished Ph.

D. Thesis, Chapter 3, pp.23-27



16

yield rate of the principal crops in West Bengal have been

drawn upon from Socio-Economic and Evaluation

Branch, Directorate of Agriculture, Govt. of West Bengal

and Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics, Govt. of

West Bengal. Data on weather parameters like monthly

and weekly rainfall, monthly and weekly relative

humidity, and monthly and weekly temperature have been

collected from the records available at the State

Department of Agriculture, West Bengal in 2003-04.

Simple tabular analysis has been adopted in the present

study.

1. Agro-climatic Zones: The soils of West Bengal were first classified during the

middle of 20th century by the West Bengal Department of

agriculture in collaboration with ICAR by the rapid

reconnaissance survey based on 9.6 km. grid system.

According to that classification, the soils of the state was

broadly sub-divided into seven units viz. i) Gangetic

alluvium, ii) Vindhya alluvium, iii) Terai and Teesta

alluvium, iv) Coastal, v) Laterite, vi) Red gravely, and vii)

Brown forest. And thereafter, considering the minimum

variability in rainfall, temperature, soil types, and

topography of lands the landscape of West Bengal is

broadly categorized into following six agro-climatic

zones. A. Hill zone is comprising of Darjeeling district

(excluding Siliguri sub-division) and northern fringe of

Jalpaiguri districts; B. Terai zone comprises of the plains

of Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts, Siliguri sub-

division of Darjeeling district and Islampur sub-division

of North Dinajpur district; C. Old alluvial zone includes of

western part of Murshidabad and Hooghly districts,

eastern part of Birbhum and Bankura districts, central part

of Burdwan and Midnapore, and northern part of Howrah

district; D. New alluvial zone is consisting of Nadia

district and parts of Malda, West Dinajpur, Murshidabad,

Burdwan, Hooghly and northern part of North and South

24-Parganas district; E. Red and Lateritic zone is

comprising of Purulia, Birbhum, Bankura and western

part of Burdwan and Midnapore districts; and F. Coastal

saline zone covers the southern part of North and South

24-Parganas district, and the parts of Howrah and

Midnapore districts2.

A look to the above classification of geographical area in

agro-climatic zoning reveals only a gross demarcation as

the demarcation has been made on the basis of

administrative division of the geographical area which is

not in conformity with the classification of planning area.

Thus, it is very difficult to examine accurately the

variability in cropping system and cropping pattern

between the zones and invariability of the same within a

2 Zonal Research Station, BCKV, North Bengal Campus,

Pundibari, Cooch Behar, Status Report, Vol. I for

launching National Agricultural Research Project (NARP),

Chapter I, 1993.

zone itself at a particular point of time by using data

which is available for administrative demarcation of area

namely district. Moreover, the disaggregated data on area

and yield rate of the crops at administrative sub-divisional

level are not available. Considering these lacunae of data

only a broader view can be elicited in the question of

setting cropping system and cropping pattern within a

zone and its inter zonal variability by using

administratively classified district level data.

The agro-climatic zoning by using administratively

classified district and sub-divisional boundary as stated

above and non-availability of relevant data at

disaggregated sub-divisional level or for a part of a

district, keeping in view, the representatives of the three

agro-climatic zones have been taken into consideration for

the present purpose: districts of Burdwan, Hooghly,

Nadia, 24-Parganas (N) and Murshidabad have been taken

into account to represent new alluvial zone; the districts of

Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri for Terai zone; and Bankura,

Purulia and Birbhum to represent Red and Lateritic zone.

2. Agro-climatic conditions of three selected agro-

climatic zones with special reference to Terai zone:

Soils and climate are the two important natural factors in

explaining natural advantages or disadvantages in the

production of agricultural crops in a particular area under

consideration. Soil means the landscape with its

physiochemical property and the topography. But for the

present purpose only the physical property like texture

(composition of sand, silt and clay in soil) and the broad

chemical characteristics of soil have been dealt with. The

climate includes rainfall, temperature, relative humidity,

solar radiation (sunshine hour) and a host of other

parameters. For the present purpose the important

parameters namely rainfall, temperature, and relative

humidity have been taken into consideration.

2.1 Rainfall and Growing of Summer Vegetables and

Winter Crops:

Distribution of monthly rainfall in different districts

corresponding to three selected agro-climatic zones are

shown in Table 1. It is observed that annual rainfall in

terai zone is as high as above 3000 mm while that in New

alluvial and Red lateritic zones is recorded around 1500

mm with minimum variability between themselves. It is

also recorded that average rainfall in terai zone in the

month of April is as high as around 125 mm in contrast to

40-50 mm is noted in other two zones. Thus an adequate

precipitation in pre-monsoon month April is a

characteristic of terai zone in contrast to other zones. In

the other extreme monthly rainfall as recorded in October

is found around 150 mm in terai zone while that for areas

of other two zones is noted below 100 mm. This indicates

prolongation of monsoon in terai areas in comparison with

the areas of other two zones.



17

The observed adequate pre-monsoon shower in terai zone

is favourable for raising summer vegetables with

minimum cost of irrigation. But at the same time, this pre-

monsoon shower occasionally acts as a constraint to have

a good harvest of wheat. On the other hand, prolongation

of precipitation upto October and even in early part of

November and thereby maintaining high soil moisture

content even upto to the end of November is used to act as

an important barrier in raising high yield potential variety

of mustard and at the same time this favors sowing of

wheat without letting pre-sowing irrigation.

2.2. Temperature and Growing of Thermosensitive

Crops:

Mean maximum and mean minimum temperature with

respect to different month corresponding to the districts of

three selected agro-climatic zones are cited in Table 2 and

weekly mean maximum and mean minimum temperature

for the terai districts are shown by Table 3. A careful

examination of Table 2 and Table 3 reveals that maximum

temperature prevailing from the month of October to the

month of April does not exceed 31oC in terai districts.

While in other parts of the state the maximum temperature

exceeds 31oC before beginning the month of March. The

minimum temperature is used to prevail around 9-20oC

from October to April for terai zone while that in other

parts, that range of minimum temperature is recorded

from November to March. It indicates that the terai zone

offers an interval of seven months as against five months

for other zones in growing such thermosensitive winter

crops suitable to thrive well with the above range of

maximum and minimum temperature. A look to the Table

4 and comparing it with aforesaid time interval of

maximum and minimum temperature it has been

conspicuous that the crops namely wheat, potato, tomato,

brinjal, chilli, cabbage, cauliflower and radish and similar

other host of winter vegetable crops can get longer time

for growth and development in terai zone as compared to

that for other parts of the state under consideration. It is

also reported by the farmers that two consecutive cole

crops or raising of wheat after harvesting early cole

crops can be successfully grown in terai zone by taking

the above temperature advantage.

Cole crops include Cabbage, Cauliflower, Knolkhol, etc.



18

.

Table 1: Rainfall by districts and months in West Bengal (Ten years’ average ending 2000)

(Milimeter)

District

Agro-

climati

c

Zone

Month

Januar

y

Februar

y

Marc

h

Apri

l May June July

Augus

t

Septembe

r

Octobe

r

Novembe

r

Decembe

r Total

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15)

Burdwan

New

Alluvia

l

16.7 31.5 27.2 48.1 108.

1

207.

1

306.

9 298.1 291.7 86.6 23.3 15.6

1461.

3

Hooghly 19.3 31.2 38.4 48.6 105.

0

217.

2

316.

2 274.4 260.8 99.4 30.4 4.9

1445.

8

Nadia 17.2 33.3 31.5 37.5 122.

2

230.

6

301.

3 268.2 255.1 89.1 23.9 11.2

1421.

1

Murshidabad 10.1 24.1 19.8 48.0 120.

9

233.

1

315.

2 269.8 307.2 95.7 17.0 11.0

1471.

9

24-PGS

(North+South

)

16.3 27.1 43.5 51.7 137.

2

260.

8

386.

5 346.0 323.5 130.1 50.4 5.4

1778.

5

Cooch Behar

Terai

15.4 12.1 27.6 125.

1

302.

7

581.

5

770.

5 553.5 413.0 134.6 8.5 7.1

2951.

6

Jalpaiguri 16.8 18.7 30.2 124.

6

386.

5

744.

6

966.

8 687.2 468.8 167.4 19.4 9.1

3640.

1

Bankura

Red

and

Lateriti

c

19.3 27.4 21.6 45.8 93.9 225.

7

314.

6 293.4 243.1 88.9 30.4 14.9

1419.

0

Purulia 22.8 25.3 21.4 21.4 75.0 246.

8

312.

7 276.7 283.1 72.1 24.7 15.9

1397.

9

Birbhum 12.5 22.7 18.7 42.8 87.8 213.

1

332.

1 332.5 352.4 89.5 23.3 9.8

1537.

2

Source: Agricultural Meteorologist, Directorate of Agriculture, Government of West Bengal.



19

Table 2: Mean temperature (in degree Celsius) by month in West Bengal (10 years’ average ending 1994)

District

Agro-

climatic

Zone

Month

January February March April May June July August September October November December

Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26)

Calcutta

New

All

uvia

l

25.9 14.0 29.1 17.6 33.5 22.1 35.7 25.5 35.1 26.2 34.0 26.5 32.0 26.1 32.2 26.2 32.3 25.8 32.4 23.0 29.9 19.8 27.0 16.5

Krishna-

nagar

(Nadia)

26.3 11.0 28.9 14.8 32.7 20.3 36.1 25.1 37.0 26.3 35.5 27.1 33.3 18.2 33.1 28.0 33.4 25.5 33.0 23.7 30.4 18.6 28.0 13.2

Berham-

pur

(Murshi-

dabad)

25.6 13.1 28.4 16.5 33.9 19.4 37.1 23.2 36.4 25.0 33.9 26.1 32.0 25.9 32.7 26.3 33.1 25.7 32.1 23.2 30.7 18.7 27.8 14.7

Burdwan 24.2 8.7 29.4 13.7 33.6 19.7 36.4 22.7 37.5 24.3 33.5 25.8 31.6 26.3 32.0 27.5 32.5 27.0 31.3 22.0 28.6 17.0 26.4 12.0

Cooch

Behar

Ter

ai 23.6 9.3 25.5 11.7 29.5 15.7 31.2 19.7 31.0 21.8 31.3 24.4 31.0 24.4 32.3 25.0 31.2 24.6 30.2 20.6 28.2 16.5 25.4 10.7

Jalpaiguri 24.0 10.2 26.1 11.7 30.2 15.4 31.4 19.8 19.6 19.3 33.2 22.8 33.3 22.9 32.3 23.2 32.2 23.2 31.3 21.3 29.7 14.8 26.3 12.3

Bankura

Red

and

Lat

erit

ic

25.1 11.4 27.5 16.0 31.0 19.6 37.4 24.8 37.9 26.4 36.4 25.7 32.6 25.6 31.9 25.0 32.6 25.9 31.6 23.4 28.1 19.4 25.4 13.9

Purulia 24.8 11.0 28.4 13.1 33.2 18.3 37.3 22.6 38.0 23.6 34.6 24.8 32.2 24.0 31.6 24.8 31.3 23.2 30.8 20.2 28.5 15.5 25.7 11.7

Suri

(Birbhum) 25.1 11.6 28.4 14.9 33.6 19.1 37.1 22.9 36.1 24.8 34.2 25.7 32.4 25.7 32.4 25.9 31.9 25.3 31.5 22.2 29.0 17.5 26.1 13.1

Source: Meteorological Department, Government of India.



20 20

Table 3: Weekly mean of maximum and minimum daily temperature recorded at Cooch Behar (1981-90) and

Jalpaiguri (1976-85) stations (in degree Celsius).

Week No Month Maximum Temperature (

0C) Minimum Temperature (

0C)

Cooch Behar Jalpaiguri Cooch Behar Jalpaiguri

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

1

January

23.25 25.16 9.83 6.95

2 23.51 24.27 10.07 6.96

3 23.19 23.55 10.22 7.09

4 23.69 24.30 9.97 7.47

5

February

24.52 24.89 10.60 7.74

6 23.77 25.32 10.99 8.36

7 25.33 26.40 12.35 9.37

8 25.49 27.27 12.55 10.54

9

March

26.84 28.29 13.15 10.59

10 28.18 29.52 14.81 11.16

11 28.73 30.56 15.12 11.80

12 30.18 31.41 16.76 11.61

13 30.11 31.85 16.82 12.65

14

April

31.18 32.53 18.76 14.01

15 31.48 32.96 20.14 14.99

16 30.15 32.42 20.15 15.40

17 30.05 32.67 20.34 16.70

18

May

29.87 33.20 20.86 18.57

19 30.98 33.67 21.67 20.22

20 31.26 34.26 23.09 20.85

21 31.26 34.04 23.32 20.65

22 30.82 34.96 23.86 22.03

23

June

32.20 33.85 23.34 21.49

24 30.90 33.51 24.42 21.37

25 31.31 33.43 24.58 21.47

26 31.26 33.59 25.51 22.78



21 21

Table 3 Contd.

Week

No Month

Maximum Temperature (0C) Minimum Temperature (

0C)


(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

27

July

30.64 32.06 24.86 22.03

28 31.06 31.94 24.95 20.31

29 30.92 29.34 24.87 20.57

30 29.58 27.24 24.64 20.03

31

August

31.11 32.32 25.26 23.25

32 32.39 32.90 25.82 23.18

33 31.82 33.20 25.68 22.99

34 30.85 32.04 24.99 22.20

35 30.38 32.20 24.74 22.33

36

September

30.00 31.36 24.41 21.96

37 29.59 31.24 24.12 21.50

38 30.19 31.06 23.85 21.48

39 30.63 31.60 23.87 22.43

40

October

30.65 31.23 23.67 19.66

41 30.36 31.36 22.99 18.89

42 29.83 30.58 21.55 16.88

43 29.80 30.45 20.05 16.80

44

November

29.76 30.12 18.50 15.67

45 28.19 29.18 17.16 14.22

46 28.45 29.11 15.50 13.13

47 28.20 28.49 14.48 11.86

48

December

27.30 27.54 13.26 11.20

49 26.40 26.73 12.44 11.65

50 24.99 26.27 12.11 9.32

51 24.83 25.51 11.20 8.29

52 23.79 24.16 10.34 7.95

Source: State Department of Agriculture



22 22

Table 4: Temperature Requirement for Better Growth and Development of Winter Crops

Crops Optimum Temperature (0C) Maximum Temperature (

0C)

(1) (2) (3)

Wheat 15-20 25

Potato 17-20 (For Tuberization)

25 (For Germination) 30

Tomato 15-20 32

Brinjal 13-21 30

Chilli 20-25 30

Cabbage and Cauliflower 15-20 25

Radish 20-25 25

Source:

1. Reddy, S.R. ‘Agronomy of Field Crops’, Kalyani Publishers, 2006.

2. Bose, T.K. and Som, M.G. ‘Vegetable Crops in India’, Naya Prokash Publishers, 1986.

3. Singh, S.S. ‘Crop Management’, Kalyani Publishers, 1998.

2.3 Soil, and Relative Humidity and Their Effects on

Growth of Crops:

The texture of most of the soils in Terai districts ranges

from sandy to sandy loam as against loamy to clayey loam

in other parts of the state. The high porosity of the soil

inter alia lower depth of sub-soil water makes it possible

to supply high evapotranspirative water in the rhizosphere

of most of the aerable crops grown during the dry season

(November to March) in terai districts. As a consequence,

the crops like wheat, mustard, pulses and all winter

vegetables can successfully be grown with minimum

irrigation and even in some cases the crops wheat, mustard

and pulses are used to be grown without letting irrigation.

As for example, wheat is grown in terai without letting any

pre-sowing irrigation while in other parts of the state pre-

sowing irrigation in wheat is must for germination of

seeds. The crops mustard and pulses are mostly grown

with one irrigation in terai by using available soil moisture

and winter rains while this practice is rarely seen in other

parts of the state. The light soil of terai zone is more

favourable for growth and development of tuber, root and

bulbous crops. In the counter part light soil having low

water holding capacity is unfavorable for growth and

development of rice crops. In case of summer rice the cost

of irrigation in terai is found very high as compared to that

of other parts of state due to high frequency of letting

irrigation because of low water retention capacity of the

soil.

Distribution of monthly mean maximum relative humidity

in selected stations falling under three different agro-

climatic zones is depicted Table 5 and weekly mean

maximum and mean minimum daily relative humidity in

Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri stations is shown in Table 6.

It appears from Table 5 and Table 6 that the relative

humidity is exceedingly higher every time in Cooch Behar

district than in other parts of the state. But in Jalpaiguri

district comparatively higher relative humidity is observed

in winter months (November to April). High relative

humidity favours outbreak of some important crop

diseases and infestation of insect-pests. High soil moisture

also plays an important role in favouring of outbreak of

some disease and pest infestation. Some important crop

diseases and insect-pests causing economic damage to

crops due to prevalence of high relative humidity in

association with other climatic factors as observed in terai

districts are summarized in Table 7. From an account of

diseases and insect-pests causing economic damage due to

prevalence of high relative humidity in association with

other natural factors as shown in Table 7 and the

advantages and disadvantages of rainfall, temperature and

soil in growth and development of the crops grown in terai

zone discussed in earlier sections, keeping in view, one

may plausibly come to the following contention by

balancing the effect of favourable and unfavourable

natural factors prevalent in terai zone. The terai districts

have an edge over other parts of the state in respect of

natural advantages of growing wheat as a major cereal

crop and growing cabbage and cauliflower among the

important vegetable crops. Soil and other weather

parameters are found to be most disadvantageous for a

good harvest of rice crop in terai zone both in terms of

physical and economic returns. The crops like potato,

tomato and chilli in terai zone are observed to have natural

advantages in terms of prolongation of prevailing

optimum temperature but at the same time high relative

humidity in association with other natural factors causing

economic damage due to disease and pest attack are found

to have natural disadvantages. Here, one may raise

question as what would be the net effect of balancing



23 23

natural advantages and disadvantages in growing these

crops in terai zone where diseases like late blight and soft

rot in potato, late blight in tomato, and phomopsis blight

and leaky fruit rot in brinjal and the insect-pests like fruit

borer and leaf miner in tomato, shoot and fruit borer in

brinjal can be controlled by taking suitable control

measure in time. It is reported by the sample farmers and

also corroborated by the agricultural experts that the

weather conditions in many years would become such that

effective control measures could not be taken by the

farmers to save potato and tomato crops effectively from

the attack of late blight. And the disease bacterial wilt is

very difficult to control. By considering reportedly inter

year fluctuation of physical and economic return of potato

and tomato in terai zone it reasonably be asserted that

expansion of these two crops can be done upto a certain

limit and other relatively assured crops like wheat,

cabbage and cauliflower are to be grown along with as a

measure of risk aversion. Similar conclusion may

reasonably be drawn in case of Chilli. Rainfall in the

month of October and even in the first part of November

and thereby high soil moisture content acts as an

important barrier in sowing mustard within November and

thereafter low soil temperature constraining germination

of seed and growth of the crop are experienced to have a

considerable impact to obtain relatively low yield of

mustard in terai zone. High moisture content of the soil

and the adequate rainfall in the pre-monsoon month

(April) are the advantages of growing summer vegetables

in terai zone.



24

Table 5: Mean Maximum Relative humidity by month in West Bengal (10 years average ending 1994)

(Percent)

District

Agro-

climatic

Zone

Month

January February March April May June July August September October November December

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14)

Calcutta

**New

Alluvial

76.10 69.30 67.00 70.80 73.70 79.10 84.00 83.30 81.60 76.50 70.90 74.44

Krishnanagar

(Nadia) 69.29 62.25 60.63 54.13 54.43 56.14 63.57 60.00 60.71 66.00 71.33 66.50

Berhampur

(Murshidabad) 80.30 72.20 64.60 72.40 79.00 86.60 90.60 89.10 88.70 84.90 78.20 78.70

Burdwan 78.25 58.80 51.40 58.40 74.40 83.40 86.40 86.60 86.60 85.75 78.20 80.20

Cooch Behar

*Terai

95.05 92.73 85.56 83.39 87.53 91.93 94.03 91.37 93.14 89.89 87.89 93.32

Jalpaiguri 75.66 79.34 73.64 72.50 71.94 76.75 90.20 82.92 87.29 82.03 80.17 79.76

Bankura

**Red

and

Lateritic

75.14 67.71 60.44 59.78 60.00 83.29 86.00 88.29 80.00 77.30 74.13 75.56

Purulia 71.30 63.70 53.20 47.40 61.10 74.30 84.70 86.70 84.60 79.00 70.30 73.50

Suri

(Birbhum) 76.90 65.80 57.90 59.00 74.00 81.00 87.20 87.20 86.60 82.70 77.00 77.00

Source:

* Zonal Research Station, National Agricultural Research Project (NARP), BCKV, Terai Zone, Pundibari, Status Report, Vol. I, 1993.

** Meteorological Department, Government of India.



25 25

Table 6: Weekly mean of maximum and minimum daily relative humidity recorded at Cooch Behar (1981-90)

and Jalpaiguri (1976-85) stations (in per cent).

Week

No Month

Maximum Relative humidity Minimum Relative humidity


(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

1

January

95.33 73.44 61.42 45.68

2 94.26 73.68 55.83 50.30

3 95.52 77.02 53.51 50.26

4 95.08 78.50 48.24 53.45

5

February

94.20 76.43 50.24 51.93

6 93.54 79.34 45.04 53.43

7 93.35 81.19 46.60 52.29

8 89.84 80.39 46.44 52.73

9

March

90.40 76.23 45.97 46.65

10 87.39 76.64 45.25 42.25

11 85.15 74.50 46.92 39.12

12 84.33 70.57 51.16 38.47

13 80.51 70.26 48.63 37.89

14

April

81.18 71.87 45.70 39.26

15 81.67 70.66 50.15 43.84

16 84.22 75.31 59.42 47.09

17 86.51 72.15 65.33 47.97

18

May

88.10 65.55 66.56 51.20

19 86.32 74.90 64.30 52.19

20 86.04 71.30 68.23 51.60

21 87.04 73.95 70.63 57.18

22 90.14 73.99 71.56 54.80

23

June

90.97 75.01 75.02 56.72

24 91.93 77.24 75.90 61.60

25 91.88 78.34 77.32 62.30

26 92.95 76.42 79.99 62.03



26 26

Table 6 Contd.

Week

No Month

Maximum Relative humidity Minimum Relative humidity

Cooch Behar Jalpaiguri Cooch Behar Jalpaiguri (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

27

July

95.06 83.78 82.53 67.20

28 92.82 86.55 79.17 69.81

29 93.23 95.42 77.64 83.29

30 95.03 95.06 84.77 83.67

31

August

91.73 81.31 76.44 65.93

32 89.67 80.56 73.66 65.96

33 88.73 82.20 74.61 68.53

34 94.05 84.29 82.58 71.40

35 92.67 86.23 76.99 74.07

36

September

93.75 86.10 81.06 76.38

37 95.17 86.07 80.88 77.99

38 92.52 87.98 76.90 76.94

39 91.12 87.00 73.60 75.09

40

October

91.79 82.50 70.53 70.50

41 90.75 83.74 69.68 69.07

42 88.08 80.44 65.56 67.87

43 89.00 81.44 61.10 68.53

44

November

35.28 79.57 55.65 68.17

45 89.69 81.56 55.76 68.07

46 87.20 79.65 53.30 63.37

47 89.39 79.89 51.35 62.76

48

December

91.87 78.87 84.29 58.80

49 93.07 77.83 49.15 49.70

50 93.66 79.12 52.99 53.88

51 93.36 79.53 51.64 56.47

52 94.62 83.45 54.50 56.59

Source: State Department of Agriculture



27 27

Table 7: Diseases and Insect-pests causing Economic Damage of the Cops prevalent in Terai-Zone in contrast to

Other Parts of the State.

Crop Crop disease

/ Insect-pest

High relative humidity (RH) / high soil moisture / rainfall

for out break (1) (2) (3)

Rice

Disease i) Sheath blight High relative humidity with intermittent rainfall

ii) Blast High relative humidity

Insect-

pests

i) Leaf folder High relative humidity with prolonged dry spell

ii) Case worm High relative humidity associated with high rainfall

iii) Gall midge High relative humidity with cloudy weather and drizzling

rain

Mustard Disease

i) Leaf spot & blight High relative humidity

ii) Downey mildew High relative humidity

iii) White rust High relative humidity

Pests i) Aphid High relative humidity with cool and cloudy weather

Potato Disease

i) Late blight High relative humidity associated with light rain

ii) Soft rot High Soil moisture

iii) Bacterial wilt High Soil moisture

Tomato

Disease i) Late blight High relative humidity associated with light rain

ii) Bacterial wilt High Soil moisture

Pests i) Fruit borer High relative humidity

ii) Leaf miner High relative humidity

Brinjal

Disease

i) Bacterial wilt High Soil moisture

ii) Phomopsis blight High relative humidity at the later part of winter

iii) Leaky fruit rot High relative humidity associated with high rainfall in rainy

crops

Insect i) Shoot & fruit borer High relative humidity in rainy crops

Ladies

Finger Pest i) Fruit borer High relative humidity associated with high rainfall

Chilli Disease

i) Dieback High relative humidity with intermittent rainfall

ii) Ripe fruit rot High relative humidity with intermittent rainfall

Reference:

1. Singh, R.S. (2005) ‘Plant Diseases’, Oxford 1BH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd.

2. Rangaswami, G. and Mahadevan, A. (2005) ‘Diseases of Crop Plants in India’, Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.

3. Alwal, A.S. and Dhaliwal, G.S. (2005) ‘Agricultural Pests of South Asia and Their Management’, Kalyani Publishers,

Ludhina, New Delhi.

4. Panwar, V.P.S. (2002) ‘Agricultural Insect-Pests of Crops and Their Control’, Kalyani Publishers.

5. Srivastava, K.P. (2003) ‘A Text book of Applied Entomology’, Kalyani Publishers.

3. Crops and Cropping Pattern in three selected Agro-

climatic zones: A Comparative

Analysis

It appears that net cropped area (NCA) over the decade

ending 2002-03 is recorded by and large invariant and

thus area of a particular crop as proportion to net cropped

area over a period represents the relative position of that

crop in crop profile. To understand the change in relative

position of the individual crop over the period of decade



28 28

ending 2002-03 percentages of individual crop area to net

cropped area at two points of time i.e. triennium ending

1992-93 and triennium ending 2002-03 have been

calculated for the state level and for the selected zones

viz. New Alluvial zone, Terai zone, Red and Lateritic

zone, and presented by Table 8 through Table 11. Yield

rates at two points of time and their percentage change for

the individual crops have also been calculated for the state

and for the above three zones and shown by Table 12

through 15. Dwindling the relative position of autumn rice

and winter rice and increasing position of summer rice

and wheat and in effect, the increasing relative position of

principal cereal crops experienced at the state level is also

true for New alluvial, Red and lateritic zone while in Terai

zone relative position of principal cereal crops is noted to

be declined despite having similarity in trend of relative

position of autumn rice, winter rice, summer rice and

wheat. By comparing a relative change in yield rate of the

principal cereal crops between three agro-climatic zones

over the period the possibility of decelerating the relative

importance of cereal crops in Terai zone due to decreasing

its relative profitability (as reflected through yield rate) is

ruled out.

Table 8: Crops and Cropping Pattern in West Bengal.

Crops

West Bengal

% of net cropped area

1st Period (Mean value of

Triennium ending 1992-93)

2nd

Period (Mean value of

Triennium ending 2002-03)

(1) (2) (3)

1. Autumn rice 10.27 7.27

2. Winter rice 78.41 73.23

3. Summer rice 16.42 26.23

4. Wheat 4.82 7.78

5. Principal cereal crops 109.92 114.52

6. Rabi pulses (gram+lentil+rabi mung+rabi

maskalai) 2.59 2.56

7. Kharif and summer pulses (summer mung &

Khesari) 2.28 1.80

8. Total pulses 5.24 4.71

9. Total foodgrain crops 116.73 120.22

10. Rape & Mustard 7.22 7.90

11. Summer Til 1.79 1.95

12. Total oilseeds 9.81 10.90

13. Jute 9.56 11.70

14. Sugarcane (gur) 0.27 0.40

15. Winter potato 3.89 5.79

16. Onion - 0.263

17. Bhadoi chillies 0.24 0.33

18. Rabi chillies 0.71 0.81

19. Total chillies 0.94 1.13

20. Winter vegetable crops* NA 5.42

21. Summer & rainy vegetable crops** NA 4.16

NA: Not Available

* Winter vegetable crops include cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, brinjal and radish.

** Summer and rainy vegetable crops include brinjal, cucurbits, ladies finger and sweet potato.



29

Table 9: Crops and Cropping Pattern in Selected Districts of New Alluvial zone.

Crops

Hooghly Burdwan Nadia 24-PGS (North) Murshidabad Sub-Total % of net cropped area % of net cropped area % of net cropped area % of net cropped area % of net cropped area % of net cropped area 1st Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

1992-93)

2nd Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

2002-03)

1st Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

1992-93)

2nd Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

2002-03)

1st Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

1992-93)

2nd Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

2002-03)

1st Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

1992-93)

2nd Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

2002-03)

1st Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

1992-93)

2nd Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

2002-03)

1st Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

1992-93)

2nd Period

(Mean

value of

Triennium

ending

2002-03)

1. Autumn rice 5.98 3.39 6.83 4.62 20.68 18.34 8.27 10.14 17.65 12.77 12.01 9.71

2. Winter rice 87.21 71.76 89.11 81.64 41.59 31.90 66.66 66.17 54.73 45.74 68.39 60.39

3. Summer rice 28.42 42.70 24.61 45.69 33.36 51.67 28.17 38.21 14.37 28.49 24.74 41.11

4. Wheat 0.65 0.47 0.61 1.12 13.77 19.79 3.08 5.11 21.95 34.53 8.53 12.93

5. Principal cereal

crops 122.26 118.32 121.17 133.08 109.39 121.69 106.18 119.63 108.71 121.54 113.67 124.14

6. Rabi pulses

(gram+lentil+rabi

mung+rabi

maskalai)

0.19 0.16 0.29 0.49 15.91 14.60 3.45 2.57 5.39 9.48 4.77 5.44

7. Kharif and

summer pulses

(summer mung &

Khesari)

0.06 0.13 0.13 0.34 5.94 5.70 1.20 0.75 5.26 3.35 2.56 2.06

8. Total pulses 0.29 0.38 0.43 0.89 22.92 21.28 4.78 3.80 11.51 13.88 7.76 8.02

9. Total foodgrain

crops 122.54 118.71 121.61 134.01 133.52 143.20 110.96 123.44 121.10 135.88 121.86 132.32

10. Rape & Mustard 5.28 5.27 10.84 9.89 19.56 27.93 11.67 15.05 13.88 16.12 12.49 14.78

11. Summer Til 9.61 6.23 2.26 1.06 2.68 5.16 1.81 1.45 0.52 1.11 2.82 2.59

12. Total oilseeds 15.78 13.48 13.25 11.35 24.45 36.43 13.79 17.72 14.75 17.59 15.99 18.63

13. Jute 13.29 13.97 2.92 3.28 43.84 45.64 13.17 22.81 24.22 36.28 18.36 23.26

14. Sugarcane (gur) 0.04 0.18 0.20 0.13 0.62 0.83 0.30 0.50 0.87 1.63 0.43 0.68

15. Winter potato 28.91 36.63 7.71 9.36 0.94 1.34 1.37 2.89 1.63 2.15 6.81 8.98

16. Onion NA 1.029 NA 0.141 NA 0.599 NA 0.433 NA 0.555 NA 0.490

17. Bhadoi chillies 0.08 0.13 0.09 0.15 0.39 0.74 0.29 0.41 0.38 0.67 0.25 0.42

18. Rabi chillies 0.19 0.23 0.21 0.32 0.61 0.76 0.70 0.97 0.27 0.42 0.38 0.51

19. Total chillies 0.27 0.36 0.31 0.46 1.00 1.50 0.98 1.38 0.66 1.09 0.62 0.93 20. Winter

vegetable crops* NA 5.07 NA 2.80 NA 9.68 NA 7.22 NA 8.25 NA 6.34

21. Summer &

rainy vegetable

crops**

NA 6.60 NA 3.16 NA 5.95 NA 6.62 NA 3.52 NA 4.77

NA: Not available *Winter vegetable crops include cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, brinjal and radish ** Summer and rainy vegetable crops include brinjal, cucurbits, ladies finger and sweet potato.



30

Table 10: Crops and Cropping Pattern in Selected Districts of Terai zone.

Crops

Cooch Behar Jalpaiguri Sub-Total % of net cropped area % of net cropped area % of net cropped area

1st Period (Mean

value of Triennium

ending

1992-93)

2nd Period (Mean

value of Triennium

ending

2002-03)

1st Period (Mean

value of Triennium

ending

1992-93)

2nd Period (Mean

value of Triennium

ending

2002-03)

1st Period (Mean

value of Triennium

ending

1992-93)

2nd Period (Mean

value of Triennium

ending

2002-03)

1. Autumn rice 33.74 9.29 18.69 18.61 25.02 14.50

2. Winter rice 88.45 85.31 59.21 55.01 71.50 68.36

3. Summer rice 3.81 10.62 0.40 4.84 1.84 7.39

4. Wheat 5.51 9.67 3.65 7.22 4.43 8.30

5. Principal cereal crops 131.51 114.89 81.95 85.69 102.78 98.55

6. Rabi pulses

(gram+lentil+rabi mung+rabi

maskalai)

1.42 1.95 0.24 0.65 0.73 0.70

7. Kharif and summer pulses

(summer mung & Khesari) 2.33 1.91 0.76 0.82 1.42 1.30

8. Total pulses 3.79 3.78 1.04 1.52 2.20 2.51

9. Total foodgrain crops 136.10 119.97 84.06 88.01 105.94 102.09

10. Rape & Mustard 2.49 3.49 2.29 2.13 2.38 2.73

11. Summer Til 0.30 0.12 0.47 0.33 0.40 0.24

12. Total oilseeds 4.56 5.25 3.38 3.39 3.88 4.21

13. Jute 27.15 30.38 12.37 13.21 18.59 20.78

14. Sugarcane (gur) 0.001 0.001 0.01 0.007 0.006 0.004

15. Winter potato 2.64 4.64 1.59 5.27 2.03 4.99

16. Onion NA 0.098 NA 0.099 NA 0.099

17. Bhadoi chillies 0.52 0.43 0.49 0.61 0.51 0.53

18. Rabi chillies 1.24 1.73 0.74 0.94 0.95 1.29

19. Total chillies 1.76 2.16 1.24 1.56 1.46 1.82

20. Winter vegetable crops* NA 7.88 NA 4.96 NA 6.25

21. Summer & rainy vegetable

crops** NA 4.12 NA 3.67 NA 3.87

NA: Not available * Winter vegetable crops include cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, winter brinjal and radish.




31

Table 11: Crops and Cropping Pattern in Selected Districts of Red and Lateritic zone.

Crops

Bankura Purulia Bhirbhum Sub-Total

% of net cropped area % of net cropped area % of net cropped area % of net cropped area

1st Period (Mean

value of

Triennium ending

1992-93)

2nd Period (Mean

value of

Triennium ending

2002-03)

1st Period (Mean

value of

Triennium ending

1992-93)

2nd Period (Mean

value of

Triennium ending

2002-03)

1st Period (Mean

value of

Triennium ending

1992-93)

2nd Period (Mean

value of

Triennium ending

2002-03)

1st Period (Mean

value of

Triennium ending

1992-93)

2nd Period (Mean

value of Triennium

ending 2002-03)

1. Autumn rice 9.73 6.95 1.32 0.75 4.13 1.76 5.29 3.24

2. Winter rice 88.19 91.69 83.65 83.11 89.31 87.44 87.12 87.55

3. Summer rice 9.72 13.01 0.65 0.32 8.25 20.79 6.40 11.67

4. Wheat 2.10 2.64 0.42 1.16 3.33 8.02 1.96 4.00

5. Principal cereal crops 109.74 114.29 86.03 85.34 105.01 118.01 100.77 106.47

6. Rabi pulses

(gram+lentil+rabi mung+rabi

maskalai)

0.19 0.07 0.56 0.14 1.51 4.22 0.73 1.42


(summer mung & Khesari) 0.44 0.10 4.36 3.86 0.90 0.92 1.82 1.56

8. Total pulses 0.84 0.34 5.90 4.86 2.57 5.37 2.99 3.47

9. Total foodgrain crops 111.32 114.95 96.41 94.17 107.96 123.58 105.55 111.36

10. Rape & Mustard 4.95 3.63 0.42 0.15 11.60 10.59 5.66 4.91

11. Summer Til 4.14 3.45 0.05 0.04 0.56 0.39 1.71 1.34

12. Total oilseeds 9.65 7.56 2.53 1.03 12.31 11.14 8.26 6.73

13. Jute 0.10 0.05 - - 0.07 0.10 0.06 0.05

14. Sugarcane (gur) 0.05 0.005 0.23 0.28 0.50 0.27 0.25 0.18

15. Winter potato 4.38 6.14 0.39 0.35 2.17 3.64 2.42 3.47

16. Onion NA 0.226 NA 0.128 NA 0.183 NA 0.181

17. Bhadoi chillies 0.10 0.17 0.18 0.18 0.06 0.07 0.11 0.14

18. Rabi chillies 0.12 0.24 0.16 0.17 0.06 0.09 0.11 0.17

19. Total chillies 0.22 0.41 0.34 0.34 0.11 0.17 0.22 0.31

20. Winter vegetable crops* NA 6.04 NA 4.50 NA 3.84 NA 4.81

21. Summer & rainy

vegetable crops** NA 4.81 NA 3.57 NA 3.69 NA 4.04

NA: Not available * Winter vegetable crops include cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, winter brinjal and radish.




32 32

Table 12: Yield rate (Kg./ha) of Different Crops in West Bengal.

Crops

West Bengal

1st Period (Mean value of

Triennium ending 1992-

93)

2nd

Period

(Mean value of

Triennium ending 2002-

03)

Percentage change of

yield rate over 1st

period

Yield rate Yield rate (1 (2) (3) (4)

1. Autumn rice 1604 1966 22.57

2. Winter rice 1792 2235 24.72

3. Summer rice 3010 3086 2.52

4. Wheat 2122 2298 8.29

5. Principal cereal crops 1971 2417 22.63

6. Rabi pulses (gram+lentil+rabi

mung+rabi maskalai) 699 756 8.15

7. Kharif and summer pulses (summer

mung & Khesari) 644 708 9.94

8. Total pulses 660 735 11.36

9. Total foodgrain crops 1909 2346 22.09

10. Rape & Mustard 789 843 6.84

11. Summer Til 942 844 -10.40

12. Total oilseeds 817 869 3.36

13. Jute* 10.987 13.031 18.60

14. Sugarcane (gur) 6105.0 7349.0 20.38

15. Winter potato 22197 23702 6.78

16. Onion NA 10488 -

17. Bhadoi chillies 632 854 35.13

18. Rabi chillies 839 963 14.78

19. Total chillies 787 932 18.42

20. Winter vegetable crops** NA 21067 -


crops*** NA 10626 -

NA: Not Available * Yield rate in bales/ha ** Winter vegetable crops include cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, brinjal and radish ***

Summer and rainy vegetable crops include brinjal, cucurbits, ladies finger and sweet potato.



33

Table 13: Yield rate (Kg./ha) of Different Crops in Selected Districts of New Alluvial zone.

Crops

Hooghly Burdwan Nadia 24-PGS (North) Murshidabad Sub-Total

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing 2

002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing

2002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing

2002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing

2002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing

2002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing

2002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rat

1. Autumn rice 2224 2265 1.84 2427 2507 3.30 1753 2082 18.77 2578 2057 -

20.21 1374 1733 26.13 1852 2036 9.93

2. Winter rice 2193 2570 17.19 2532 2615 3.28 2170 3744 72.53 2067 2231 7.93 2299 2445 6.35 2313 2618 13.19

3. Summer rice 2907 2715 -6.60 2987 3376 13.02 3342 3444 3.05 3158 3137 -0.66 3137 3353 6.88 3112 3257 4.66

4. Wheat 2256 2098 -7.00 1912 2355 23.17 2156 2217 2.83 2245 2247 0.09 2105 2414 14.68 2125 2346 10.40

5. Principal

cereal crops 2361 2612 10.63 2615 2870 9.75 2447 3118 27.42 2401 2506 4.37 2220 2574 15.94 2424 2756 13.70

6. Rabi pulses

(gram+lentil+rabi

mung+rabi

maskalai)

532 573 7.70 507 978 92.90 720 753 4.58 686 681 -0.73 680 730 7.35 700 742 6.00

7. Kharif and

summer pulses

(summer mung &

Khesari)

418 530 26.79 739 905 22.46 551 608 10.34 493 691 40.16 779 760 -2.44 663 685 3.32

8. Total pulses 579 620 7.08 579 924 59.58 662 711 7.40 630 689 8.36 711 743 4.50 675 729 8.00

9. Total

foodgrain crops 2344 2605 11.13 2608 2857 9.55 2126 2448 15.14 2325 2450 5.38 2068 2381 15.13 2306 2571 11.50

10. Rape &

Mustard 897 706

-

21.29 739 887 20.03 913 814

-

10.84 967 801

-

17.17 787 908 15.37 844 845 0.12

11. Summer Til 984 780 -

20.73 674 770 14.24 996 978 -1.80 1059 1002 -5.38 649 825 27.12 910 874 -3.96



34

Table 13 Contd.

Crops

Hooghly Burdwan Nadia 24-PGS (North) Murshidabad Sub-Total

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing 2

002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing 2

002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing 2

002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing 2

002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing 2

002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing 2

002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

Yield

rate

12. Total

oilseeds 981 870 -11.31 732 897 22.54 947 872 -7.92 990 849 -14.24 775 898 15.87 869 879 1.15

13. Jute* 15.181 18.664 22.94 14.686 19.522 32.93 13.351 13.844 3.70 12.394 14.829 19.65 12.590 13.812 9.71 13.22 14.62 10.59

14.

Sugarcane

(gur)

4600 9797.6 112.99 7869.4 6560.2 -16.64 5811.3 7141.3 22.89 5936.0 7087.7 19.40 6002.4 6949.0 15.77 6170.8 7089.9 14.90

15. Winter

potato 25282 21624 -14.47 24742 280.12 13.22 18063 24938 38.06 17085 21733 27.20 18852 23356 23.90 24283 23731 -2.27

16. Onion NA 12103 - NA 9406 - NA 10181 - NA 10845 - NA 5408 - NA 9491 -

17. Bhadoi

chillies 1075 605 -43.72 715 818 14.40 595 915 53.78 612 868 41.83 994 1348 35.61 782 1050 34.27

18. Rabi

chillies 652 753 15.49 1237 1232 -0.40 957 1254 31.03 772 1771 129.40 619 1468 137.16 861 1415 64.34

19. Total

chillies 775 699 -9.81 1070 1101 2.90 821 1087 32.39 726 1506 107.44 838 1394 66.35 832 1251 50.36

20. Winter

vegetable

crops**

NA 20242 - NA 20867 - NA 21511 - NA 22151 - NA 22787 - NA 21796 -

21. Summer

& rainy

vegetable

crops***

NA 10519 - NA 9612 - NA 11042 - NA 11228 - NA 10461 - NA 10607 -

Not available * Yield rate in bales/ha ** Winter vegetable crops include cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, brinjal and radish.

*** Summer and rainy vegetable crops include brinjal, cucurbits, ladies finger and sweet potato.



35

Table 14: Yield rate (Kg./ha) of Different Crops in Selected Districts of Terai zone

Crops

Cooch Behar Jalpaiguri Sub-Total

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing 2

002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing 2

002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n v

alu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g 1

992

-93)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

valu

e of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing 2

002

-03)

Perc

en

tage

chan

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

over

1st p

erio

d

Yield

rate Yield rate Yield rate Yield rate Yield rate

Yield

rate

1. Autumn rice 1211 1751 44.59 1173 1508 28.55 1195 1577 31.97

2. Winter rice 1268 1629 28.47 1189 1516 27.50 1230 1578 28.29

3. Summer rice 2447 2462 0.61 2829 2075 -26.65 2495 2320 -7.01

4. Wheat 1740 1861 6.95 1620 1826 12.72 1683 1844 9.57

5. Principal cereal crops 1307 1735 32.75 1213 1572 29.60 1263 1656 31.12 6. Rabi pulses (gram+lentil+rabi

mung+rabi maskalai) 679 579 -14.73 764 509 -33.38 695 557 -19.86


(summer mung & Khesari) 633 594 -6.16 626 607 -3.03 630 599 -4.92

8. Total pulses 650 589 -9.38 645 566 -12.25 648 581 -10.34

9. Total foodgrain crops 1286 1682 30.80 1202 1555 29.04 1247 1621 29.99

10. Rape & Mustard 571 505 -11.56 796 546 -31.40 697 523 -24.96

11. Summer Til 784 543 -30.74 709 801 12.98 733 744 1.50

12. Total oilseeds 572 523 -8.57 728 579 -20.47 651 548 -15.82

13. Jute* 7.065 10.048 42.22 6.973 10.461 50.02 7.030 10.195 45.02

14. Sugarcane (gur) 6000 6760 12.67 1000 7518.8 651.88 1283 7422.8 478.55

15. Winter potato 11401 21890 92.00 12168 20825 71.14 11749 21261 80.96

16. Onion NA 8057 - NA 15627 - NA 12323 -

17. Bhadoi chillies 603 750 24.38 290 1149 296.20 426 1007 136.38

18. Rabi chillies 1220 1215 -0.41 1245 915 -26.50 1231 1092 -11.29

19. Total chillies 1038 1123 8.19 864 1007 16.55 952 1067 12.07

20. Winter vegetable crops** NA 24061 - NA 20251 - NA 22367 -


crops*** NA 12155 - NA 10695 - NA 11380 -

NA: Not available, * Yield rate in bales/ha, ** Winter vegetable crops include cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, winter brinjal and radish; *** Summer and rainy vegetable crops include brinjal, cucurbits,

ladies finger and sweet potato.



36

Table 15: Yield rate (Kg./ha) of Different Crops in Selected Districts of Red and Lateritic zone

Crops

Bankura Purulia Bhirbhum Sub-Total

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n

va

lue

of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing

19

92

-93

)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

va

lue

of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g

20

02

-03

)

Per

cen

tag

e ch

an

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

ov

er 1

st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n

va

lue

of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing

19

92

-93

)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

va

lue

of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g

20

02

-03

)

Per

cen

tag

e ch

an

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

ov

er 1

st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n

va

lue

of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing

19

92

-93

)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

va

lue

of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g

20

02

-03

)

Per

cen

tag

e ch

an

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

ov

er 1

st p

erio

d

1st P

erio

d (

Mea

n

va

lue

of

Tri

enn

ium

end

ing

19

92

-93

)

2n

d P

erio

d

(M

ean

va

lue

of

Tri

enn

ium

en

din

g

20

02

-03

)

Per

cen

tag

e ch

an

ge

of

yie

ld r

ate

ov

er 1

st p

erio

d

Yield rate Yield rate Yield rate Yield rate Yield

rate Yield rate Yield rate Yield rate

1. Autumn rice 2315 2500 7.99 969 1781 83.80 2514 2407 -4.29 2260 2431 7.56

2. Winter rice 1999 2728 36.47 1407 2172 54.37 2181 2737 25.49 1880 2566 36.49

3. Summer rice 2956 2860 -3.25 2294 2079 -9.37 2964 3013 1.65 2938 2946 0.27

4. Wheat 1846 2058 11.48 2069 2139 3.38 2030 2832 39.51 1961 2592 32.18

5. Principal cereal crops 2109 2714 28.69 1410 2168 53.76 2251 2787 23.81 1969 2604 32.25

6. Rabi pulses

(gram+lentil+rabi

mung+rabi maskalai)

686 748 9.04 426 514 20.66 622 871 40.03 581 858 47.68

7. Kharif and summer

pulses (summer mung

& Khesari)

545 557 2.20 643 383 -40.43 684 1005 46.93 641 512 -20.12

8. Total pulses 525 551 4.95 590 394 -33.22 630 889 41.11 594 660 11.11

9. Total foodgrain crops 2094 2703 29.08 1338 2054 53.51 2208 2702 22.37 1914 2530 32.18

10. Rape & Mustard 742 864 16.44 557 802 43.98 687 1059 54.15 701 1007 43.65

11. Summer Til 886 652 -26.41 907 811 -10.58 747 698 -6.56 872 658 -24.54

12. Total oilseeds 787 753 -4.32 624 590 -5.45 690 1040 50.72 725 906 24.96

13. Jute* 15.167 19.230 26.79 - - - 15.075 19.338 28.28 15.132 19.302 27.56

14. Sugarcane (gur) 5666.7 7420.4 30.95 6101.1 7930.6 29.99 3529.6 5522.9 56.47 4421.3 6707.3 51.70

15. Winter potato 25109 24267 -3.35 11093 15571 40.37 20805 22230 6.85 23163 23265 0.44

16. Onion NA 9262 - NA 10895 - NA 8394 - NA 9327 -

17. Bhadoi chillies 490 565 15.31 260 292 12.31 529 531 0.38 382 449 17.54

18. Rabi chillies 693 1104 59.30 393 314 -20.10 2502 2501 -0.04 848 1135 33.84

19. Total chillies 599 886 47.92 323 303 -6.20 1494 1689 13.05 616 829 34.58

20. Winter vegetable

crops** NA 22111 - NA 18357 - NA 19258 - NA 20235 -

21. Summer & rainy

vegetable crops*** NA 10318 - NA 10486 - NA 11083 - NA 10602 -

NA: Not available * Yield rate in bales/ha ** Winter vegetable crops include cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, winter brinjal and radish. *** Summer and rainy vegetable crops

include brinjal, cucurbits, ladies finger and sweet potato.



37 37

Occupying a part of area of autumn rice by summer and

rainy vegetables and a part of area under winter rice by

early winter vegetables and bringing in more area under

summer rice and wheat with the objective of meeting

higher consumption demand for cereals alongside

increasing farm income have been explained in detail by

Rudra (2007) in his study on technological change and its

impact on agrarian production in Cooch Behar district of

West Bengal. Same principle of area reallocation with a

twin objective of meeting higher consumption demand

and increasing farm income is found to be operative at the

zone level also as stated above. But in terai zone the

observed decline in relative importance of principal cereal

crops carries additional information. It is further

interesting to note that the area under summer rice has

increased from 1.84 percent of net cropped area at

triennium ending 1992-93 to 7.39 percent of net cropped

area at triennium ending 2002-03 despite its negative

change in yield rate (Table 10 and Table 14). A

comparison to the figure of yield rate of rice crops with

that of other zones reveals the poorest position of terai

zone in respect of yield per unit area of rice crops. One

may be tempted to explain this relative backwardness of

terai zone in respect of yield of rice in terms of lower

application of inputs like fertilizers and other chemicals

and the relatively less coverage of area under irrigation.

But these factors are the effects not the causes.

The analysis of agro-climatic conditions of different zones

of the state and relative advantages and disadvantages of

soil and climate of the respective zones in growing

different crops elicited therefrom may aptly be brought

into fore in explaining the observed declined importance

in raising cereal crops and increasing importance of other

crops in terai zone of West Bengal. An analysis of soil and

climate in relation with natural advantages and

disadvantages of growing crops in three selected agro-

climatic zones has been discussed in detail in the

proceeding section. With the twin objective of meeting

consumption demand of cereals and increasing farm

income strategy of reallocating land from autumn and

winter rice to vegetable crops (summer & rainy and winter

vegetables) as stated earlier has been reflected in declining

of relative coverage of autumn rice and winter rice and

occupying a fairly good position of winter vegetables and

summer & rainy vegetable crops in all three selected

zones. And at the same time growing consumption

demand of cereals has been made good by increasing the

area under summer rice and wheat as evinced by

comparing their relative area coverage at two points of

time in three selected zones. Now the question comes why

the shortage of cereal due to decline in area under autumn

or winter rice has not been made by devoting more area to

summer rice in Old alluvial and Red and Lateritic zone

and to wheat in terai zone where natural advantages are

favourbale in these two crops. It is well known and

frequently come across with the information that the sub-

surface water table used to come down in most of the

areas in New alluvial and Red and Lateritic zone to the

level that lifting of sub-soil water from that level through

water lifting devices for letting irrigation in summer rice

becomes difficult. This is an important reason to set a

limit to the expansion of area under summer rice and the

shortfall thereof is compensated by enhancement of area

under wheat in New alluvial and Red and lateritic zones.

In Terai zone expansion of area to a higher extent has

been constraint by the expansion of area under winter

vegetables particularly cabbage, cauliflower and tomato. It

is interesting to note that it is the vegetable crops (winter

or summer & rainy) which has recorded to have higher

yield per unit area in terai zone as compared to that of

other zones. There is no other of the crops for which the

terai zone has an edge over other zones in respect of yield

per unit area. The crop chilli is recorded to have higher

yield in terai as compared to that of red and lateritic zone

and at state level. The natural advantage of terai zone in

growing vegetable crops as explained earlier taking into

consideration one may reasonably assert that higher yield

of vegetable crops observed in terai zone is reflecting the

higher profitability of vegetable crops in terai as compared

to that of other zones. With the same reasoning the crop

chilli is occupied an important position next to vegetable

crops in terai zone.

CONCLUSION:

The present study purports to examine the variation in

crop-mix and cropping pattern over space by classifying

the space of the State into agro-climatic zones. The

variation within the agro-climatic zone itself has also been

dealt with in this study. As the growth and development of

crops in a particular area largely hinges upon soil and

climatic factors of the area under consideration, the

aspects of natural advantage by considering soil and

climatic factors of agro-climatic zones have been

examined in explaining the variation in crop-mix and

cropping pattern between the zones. Adequate pre-

monsoon shower in terai zone in contrast to other agro-

climatic zones favors growing of summer vegetables with

minimum cost of irrigation. In the counter part

prolongation of precipitation from April to October and

thereby maintaining high soil moisture content upto end of

November have been experienced as an important barrier

at timely sowing of mustard crop but that too favors

sowing of wheat without letting any pre-sowing irrigation

in terai zone in contrast to that of other zones. By careful

examination of monthly/weekly minimum and maximum

temperature the terai zone is noted to have an interval of

seven months extending from October to April for

growing important thermosensitive crops namely wheat,

potato, tomato, brinjal, chilli, radish, cabbage and

cauliflower, while it is generally five months for other

agro-climatic zones. On the other hand, prevalence of

comparatively high relative humidity in terai zone favors



38 38

outbreak of some important crop diseases and insect-pests

causing economic damage to the crops like rice, mustard,

potato, tomato, brinjal and chilli. The soils of terai zone

(sandy to sandy loam) having high porosity inter alia

lower depth of sub-soil water make it possible to supply

high evapotranspirative water in the rhizosphere of most

of the arable crops during dry months (November to

March) which favors successful growing of wheat,

mustard, pulses and all winter vegetable crops with

minimum irrigation and in some cases without letting any

irrigation. By considering the natural advantages and

disadvantages of different crops caused by soil and

climatic factors the terai zone has an edge over other

zones of the State in growing wheat, potato, cabbage,

cauliflower, tomato and chilli while this zone is

disadvantageous for rice crop. At the zone level growing

consumption demand of cereals has also played a prime

role to increasing allocation of land over time under cereal

crops like winter rice, summer rice and wheat as

visualized in other parts of the State. Here also twin

objective of meeting increasing consumption demand of

cereals by bringing in more area under the aforesaid cereal

crops and increasing farm income by allocation of more

land under vegetables and chilli has been addressed.

REFERENCES:

[1] Agricultural Meteorologist, Directorate of

Agriculture, Government of West Bengal.

[2] Alwal, A.S. and Dhaliwal, G.S. (2005)

‘Agricultural Pests of South Asia and Their

Management’, Kalyani Publishers, Ludhina, New

Delhi.

[3] Bose, T.K. and Som, M.G. ‘Vegetable Crops in

India’, Naya Prokash Publishers, 1986.

[4] Census of India 1991, District Census Handbook,

Part XII-A, Village and Town Directory, Cooch

Behar district, Directorate of Census Operations,

West Bengal. Information from 1991 Census have

been used due to non-availability of Cooch Behar

district census handbook, 2001.

[5] Government of India (1976) ‘Report of the

National Commission on Agriculture 1976’, Part

XV, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, New

Delhi.

[6] Meteorological Department, Government of India.

[7] National Agricultural Research Project, Status

Report for Terai Zone, 1993, Vol. I, Zonal

Research Station, Pundibari, BCKV.

[8] Panwar, V.P.S. (2002) ‘Agricultural Insect-Pests of

Crops and Their Control’, Kalyani Publishers.

[9] Rangaswami, G. and Mahadevan, A. (2005)

‘Diseases of Crop Plants in India’, Prentice Hall of

India Pvt. Ltd.

[10] Reddy, S.R. ‘Agronomy of Field Crops’, Kalyani

Publishers, 2006.

[11] Rudra, B. C. (2007) ‘Technological Changr and Its

Impact on Agrarian Production and Relations: A

Study in a Northern District of West Bengal’, An

Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis, Chapter 3, pp.23-48.

[12] Singh, R.S. (2005) ‘Plant Diseases’, Oxford 1BH

Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd.

[13] Singh, S.S. ‘Crop Management’, Kalyani

Publishers, 1998.

[14] Srivastava, K.P. (2003) ‘A Text book of Applied

Entomology’, Kalyani Publishers.

[15] State Department of Agriculture, Govt. of West

Bengal.

[16] Statistical Abstract (1978-’89), Bureau of Applied

Economics and Statistics, Government of West

Bengal.



Bengal.



Bengal.

[19] Statistical Abstract (2001-02), Bureau of Applied

Economics and Statistics, Govt. of West Bengal.

[20] Zonal Research Station, BCKV, North Bengal

Campus, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, Status Report,

Vol. I for launching National Agricultural Research

Project (NARP), Chapter I, 1993.

[21] Zonal Research Station, National Agricultural

Research Project (NARP), BCKV, Terai Zone,

Pundibari, Status Report, Vol. I, 1993.

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