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Abstract
This study was carried out in the state of Rajasthan, India. Four major crop groups viz; cereals (pearlmillet, maize and wheat), pulses (moong bean, moth bean, kharif pulses and gram), oilseeds (soyabean and rapeseed and mustard) and others (cotton and clusterbean) were selected for analysis. All crops in the above groups with 5% or more area under cultivation in a district were chosen. The districts were selected on the basis of last five years average (2005-06 to 2009-10 Secondary data were collected from published records and reports of the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur and official website of Rajasthan Agriculture Department www.krishi.rajasthan.gov.in.
The study period encompassed a duration of 58 years starting from; 1956-57 to 2014-15. The data were also analyzed for twelve different periods by using Markov chain analysis technique for studying the change in cropping pattern.
The study results revealed that the bajra crop was almost stable and cotton crop (except during-2000 to 2005) highly unstable with no retention of their previous area over the periods in the state of Rajasthan, but acreage of the crops was continuously shifting from one crop to another crop throughout the period. However, crops like kharif pulses, wheat, clusterbean, soyabean and mustard had more retention as compared to gram, cotton and maize during-1956- 57 to 2014-15 indicating its stability in the state.