A Comparative Study of Cropping Pattern of Food grain in Osmanabad District with Respect to Maharashtra State and India

In 1991, India adopted a free economic policy and privatization, liberalization and globalization have affected all sectors of India. The impact on Indian agriculture is noteworthy. Factors such as the new industrial policy adopted by India, the first Green Revolution, changing climate and the government's minimum support price policy for agricultural products have had a direct impact on Indian agriculture. There have been radical changes in Indian agricultural production in the last twenty years. The present study has reviewed the nature of cropping pattern and production of food grains in India in the last twenty years in the context of the state of Maharashtra and how they are in the context of a district at a micro level. For this, Osmanabad district, which is known to be backward in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, has been selected. The changes in the area under cultivation of some major crops in this district from 2006.07 to 2021.22 have been studied and compared with the cropping patterns of India and Maharashtra. This study relies on secondary sources of data collection. RBI reports, Maharashtra State Statistics Department reports and district reports have been considered for this. This analysis has been done after reviewing some studies done in this regard. According to this, the rice cultivation area in India and Maharashtra has increased, while the rice cultivation area in Osmanabad district has decreased. In the case of wheat, the wheat cultivation area in India has increased, while the wheat cultivation area in Maharashtra and Osmanabad districts has decreased. Regarding the cultivation area of pulses, the increase in the cultivation area in Osmanabad district is more than the increase in India and Maharashtra. In the case of total food grains, the cultivation area in India and Osmanabad district has increased, while the cultivation area of food grains in Maharashtra is seen to have decreased.