Contents preface (VII) introduction 1—37

1.10.6. Multiple Cropping
To meet the food requirements of ever-growing population of India, the available cultivable land (about 143 Mha) should be intensively cropped. This can be achieved by multiple cropping which increases agricultural production per unit area of cultivated land in a year with the available resource in a given environment. There are two forms of multiple cropping:

34		IRRIGATION AND WATER RESOURCES ENGINEERING
Table 1.15 Salient details of some crops of north India (Plains)
Crop	Sowing time	Harvesting	Seed	Average yield	Average
		time	requirement	under normal	water depth
			(kg/ha)	condtions	(mm)
				(q/ha)
Rice	June–July	October–	40–50	20–40	1500–2000
		November
Maize	June–July	September–	40–50	15–30	150–200
	Jan.–Feb.	October
Sorghum	June–July	October–	20–30	15–30	150–200
(Jawar)		November
Spiked Millet	July	October–	5–10	15–30	150–200
(Bajra)		November
Groundnut	June–July	November–	100–120	20–25	200–250
		December
Cotton	April–May	November–	15–20	2–5	500–700
		January		(with seeds)
Wheat	November–	April–May	100–120	20–40	300–400
	December
Barley	October–	March–April	80–100	20–40	250–300
	November
Gram	October–	March–April	30–40	15–30	250–300
	November
Sugarcane	October–	October–April	3000–4000	8000–10000	1500–2000
	November
	and February–
	March
Potatoes	September–	November–	1500–2500	25000–30000	400–500
	December	February

(i) intercropping, and (ii) sequential cropping. When two or more crops are grown simultaneously on the same field, it is termed intercropping. Crop intensification is in both time and space dimensions. There is, obviously, strong intercrop competition in this form of multiple cropping. On the other hand, when two or more crops are grown in sequence on the same field in a year, it is termed sequential cropping. The succeeding crop is planted after the preceding crop has been harvested. Crop intensification is only in time dimension and there is no intercrop competition in sequential cropping.

INTRODUCTION 35

	Irrigated	to Total	Area (%)	40.7	13.0	15.1	40.0	20.5	28.0	71.6	17.0	40.9	22.1	12.7	18.6	11.4	41.7	19.3	10.8	28.6	24.1	94.0	24.0	10.5	43.6	9.2	58.0	22.1		33.1
	Total	Area	Crop
Table 1.16 State-wise irrigated area under selected major crops (2)	All Crops			5369	32	572	4192	31	2904	4237	167	436	2598	383	4431	2487	75	47	8	60	2314	7055	4652	16	2894	41	14771	1911	91	61774	2256	Note :(1) Other major crops include groundnut, cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, rapeseed and mustard.(2)–below500hectares.
Other Major	Crops		830	–	–	60	2	1107	931	2	46	668	2	439	540	–	–	–	–	137	860	1759	–	585	1	2063	127	9	10168	1648
Total Food	Grains		4037	32	538	3912	16	1144	2861	144	341	1340	224	3655	1483	75	47	8	59	1748	5352	2291	16	1886	34	11457	1480	70	44250	18317
Pulses			19	–	6	21	5	78	196	1	6	65	–	586	129	–	–	–	–	115	73	341	–	58	1	744	7	1	2452	1939
Wheat			8	–	–	1681	–	523	1805	65	58	181	–	2014	388	–	–	–	–	32	3144	1626	–	–	–	7669	221	32	19347	3402
Rice			3830	32	532	1910	11	283	655	49	250	716	224	1019	467	75	47	8	59	1566	1998	27	16	1686	33	2440	1251	29	19213	9844
State			Andhra Pradesh	Arunachal Pradesh	Assam	Bihar and Jharkhand	Goa	Gujarat	Haryana	Himachal Pradesh	Jammu & Kashmir	Karnataka	Kerala	M.P. & ChattishGarh	Maharashtra	Manipur	Meghalaya	Mizoram	Nagaland	Orissa	Punjab	Rajasthan	Sikkim	Tamil Nadu	Tripura	U.P & Uttaranchal	West Bengal	Union Territories	Total (1990–91)	Total (1950–51)
	Sl.	No.		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.

36 IRRIGATION AND WATER RESOURCES ENGINEERING
Choice of a suitable cropping pattern for an area is dependent mainly on the soil characteristics and climatic conditions of the area. From the considerations of management of canal supplies, it is important to arrive at a cropping pattern which could be sustainable by the available water and also maximise economic benefits for the people of that area. For this purpose, the systems approach is very useful. Parameters, such as self sufficiency for the area in staple food and fodder, use of a diversified pattern to reduce risks of failure, problems related to storage and marketing particularly for perishable crops, reasonably uniform demand of water all through the year, and the preferences of the local farmers are always incorporated in the analysis.