CROPPING PATTERN OF NORTH EASTERN GHAT AGRO CLIMATIC ZONE OF ODISHA: AN OVERVIEWPRANGYA PARAMITA SAHOO AND K.K. SARANGIAbstract Odisha is primarily an agrarian economy and agriculture plays an important role in the overall development of the state, which remains underdeveloped and traditional and prone to natural calamities like droughts, floods and cyclones. With bountiful of natural resources like fertile soil, organic rich climate and rich heritage, North Eastern Ghats agro-climatic zone of Odisha is one of the most fascinating areas of the state. Cropping pattern, the yearly sequence and spatial arrangement of crops and fallows on a given area and connotes the crops grown in a particular area in an agricultural year. The present study was undertaken to analyze the cropping pattern of the concerned zone. Markov Chain analysis was employed to know the structural changes in the cropping pattern in North eastern ghat ACZ over a period of 13 years (2008-09 to 2020-21). It is revealed from the study that, paddy, maize, ragi, mung, biri, arhar, kulthi, til were the major crops grown in NEG ACZ. Among the others, crops like Niger, mustard, cotton, sweet potato, other vegetables, chilli, turmeric, ginger, sugarcane and groundnut are coming. Paddy crop retain 59.9 % area, where as other crops like maize retains 54.2%, ragi 70.5 %, mung 60.5%, biri 46.8 %, arhar 5.3 % and other retain 49.4 % respectively. |