Natural Resources, School of

 

Date of this Version

Summer 8-2014

Document Type

Article

Citation

Kondabolu, S. 2014. A Case Study of Changing Cropping Diversity and Agricultural Risk in the Doulthabad Mandal of Telangana State in India. M.S. Thesis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Comments

A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science, Major: Natural Resource Sciences, Under the Supervision of Professor Michael J Hayes. Lincoln, Nebraska: August, 2014

Copyright (c) 2014 Srikanth Kondabolu

Abstract

The Doulthabad[1] Mandal is a hot semi-arid agro-ecological sub-region (Rao et al. 2006) located in Mahbubnagar District on the North Telangana Plateau in the state of Telangana. Agriculture is the main occupation in this region, which is populated mostly with small and marginal farmers. This study uses the time period from 1971 to 2004 to study the variation in cropping pattern diversity and distribution of rainfall during the monsoons and understand the implications on production risk in agriculture. Quantitative methods were used in determining the changes in rainfall while qualitative methods were used to study cropping system changes. The analysis of rainfall data indicates a 5% increase in wet spell duration and a 5% decrease in wet spell intensity in the period from 1971-1990 to 1991-2004. The cropping system diversity in the same time period has decreased from 23 to 10 crops in the Kharif (monsoon) season with access to improved agricultural technology. These changes are also associated with a shift from intercropping to monocrop-based systems. The results indicate that these changes in cropping systems have resulted in a decreased management of production risk with increased investments in agriculture and lesser flexibility in the decision making on crops.

[1] Doulthabad is a Mandal (a sub divisional administrative unit of Districts in India) in Mahbubnagar District (an administrative unit of a state in India) of Telangana state in India.

Advisor: Michael J Hayes

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