What are the major reasons for declining rice and wheat yield in the cropping system? How crop diversification is helpful to stabilise the yield of the crops in the system?

Theme

T138 Cropping patterns & crop diversification: horticulture, pulses, millets

What UPSC asks in this theme

Questions ask what drives farmers to high-value crops, changes in cropping pattern with consumption and markets, challenges of crop diversification, declining rice–wheat yields, allelopathy, the National Horticulture Mission, and pulses and millets.

What to cover

• Drivers: prices, MSP bias, water, markets, consumption shifts
• Diversification challenges and technology opportunities
• Allelopathy in cropping systems
• NHM / MIDH performance
• Millets and pulses: nutrition, climate resilience

Writing the answer

• Use examples of states and crops

These notes are for the whole theme, built from all 8 of its PYQs. UPSC does not publish model answers.