The crop plants have variation in their adoptability to different soil and climatic condition. Besides that, their growth and development also shows variation across different agro-climatic condition (
Porter John and Semenov, 2005;
Kukal et al., 2018); hence cultivation practices are subjected to change across agro-climatic condition along with changes across crop and species. The variations in yield level and crop tolerance to different stress are deciding factors for crop adaptation. At the same time, different market and policy interventions influence crop cultivation/adoption in new area. The agronomic research relating to different interventions in cultivation practices and input addition is one of the most investigated concern across crop location and time (
Bullock and Bullock, 2000;
Oenema and Pietrzak, 2002;
Dore et al., 2008; Hegde et al., 2012; Dang et al., 2015) (Table 1). These cultivation practices and input addition such as crop nutrition management, biotic stress management (weeds, insect-pest and disease), water management, soil and tillage management are studied individually or together as comparison of different crop establishment methods or cultivation methods
(Loganandhan et al., 2013; Naresh et al., 2013; Hobbs, 2021;
Saurabh et al., 2021) or production system (
Reddy and Suresh, 2009;
Stoop et al., 2009; Long et al., 2016).
The ultimate goal of these moderations is to enhance crop performance and to economies use of resources. The introduction of new crop or species of crop or variety is another intervention with order of significance and ease of introduction of variety > species > crop. The attempts such as demonstration, input distribution and field/institute visit will serve for introduction of variety
(Patel et al., 2013; Patil et al., 2015; Brown et al., 2020); while awareness programme, training, skill development workshops, expert advice and guidance during crop cultivation will be needed for the introduction of different crop species and sub-species. Introduction of new crop will be lengthy and tough task considering it’s economic, ecological, technical and feasibility for adoption. Based on crop cultivation area/ zones, the areas are classified as traditional cultivation zone, conventional cultivation zone and non-conventional zone. The tradition cultivation zone indicates the area where crop is grown by ancestor or inherited across the generations. In such areas, crop may be in-situ or may be introduced centuries back with accountable species diversity observed in the area. The area with crop cultivation practiced over extended area at commercial scale with more or less uniform package of practices is considered conventional area. In case of non-conventional zone, crops are introduced in decade back and grown by following practices as per conventional area. This area/zone need considerable interventions with respect to moderation or development of new package of practices and input portfolio development. The practices followed in conventional area will serve as base and new practices will formulate through institutional efforts or by the stake holders themselves (By gathering information from different sources). Such introduction of crop and / or species in new area (non-conventional area) is done due to different factors such as need to produce more to meet demand (for food crop), policy and market interventions (commercial crops, orchards, exotic vegetables and fruits), climate change induced variation in crop adaptability in new environment and special need (organic seed production and catering export demand). The successful introduction of new crop/ species and variety need information on natural resources, input availability and their economics, present practices followed constraints as well as farmer/stake holders’ opinion on cultivation of crop. Besides introduction of new crops, these exercises also useful for developing cultivation practices for indigenous crop grown as subsistence crops till date and scope for their yield improvement (Table 1).
Modulation of crop management practices
The modulation in weed management with the involvement of site-specific weed management through the use of different information and technology based tools and applications (camera-guided physical weeding, patch spraying and robotic weeding) were reported in
Gerhards et al., (2022). The review of the use of micro-irrigation (sprinkler and drip) in rice by
Mandal et al., (2019) showed a consistent and significant research outcome in terms of yield, economics and water saving. They also reported that, its adoption is constrained by a variety of factors from the agro-climatic condition, policy awareness and behavioral patterns of stakeholders towards the use of micro-irrigation. The modulation in tillage practices are described in terms of changes in conventional plough based tillage to different variables of conservation tillage
(Subbulakshmi et al., 2009) and system of crop intensification
(Abraham et al., 2014; Adhikari et al., 2018). The various (mostly positive) impacts of conservation tillage on natural resource, their productivity and sustainability
(Busari et al., 2015; karunakaran and Behera, 2015;
Bhatt, 2017;
Jia et al., 2019; Ojah and Bhattacharjee, 2021) were reported widely. This indicates their potential and scope for research on such tillage modulations. The developing new plant type/ varieties and seed replacement ratio
(Singh et al., 2016; Singh et al., 2020) are considered important indicators of the modulation of plants in agriculture. Such modulation in cultivation practices demands the investigation of the possible interventions in cultivation practices in all three zones.
The detailed region-wise information/database about agro-climatic variables is needed for- a) Modulation of crop cultivation practices and input portfolio, b) development of new practices for introduced cropsand c) analyzing the varied level of potential of each area towards crop production/introduction. This information needs to be collected systemically and (no need) from different stakeholders. This process of information collection can be made easy by preparing systemic questionnaire-based information collection. The NEH region has wide variation in agro-climatic conditions and also remains least touched by modern agrochemical-based developments in agriculture. Further, sections address the points of consideration for questionnaire preparation. The practices followed in agriculture in the NEH region are varied to a great extent and there is scope for their moderation. Hence, an attempt has been made to discuss the point of consideration for the collection of information.
Introduction to north east hill region
The North East Hill (NEH) region is unique among different agricultural zones/areas in India. The agro-climatic conditions in NEH region is characterized by high (variable) rainfall (
Prokop and Walanus, 2015;
Govindasamy et al., 2021), sharp changes in soil topography, richness of soil in organic carbon
(Choudhury et al., 2016), soil acidity
(Mandal et al., 2019), variation in soil nutrient status
(Choudhury et al., 2021) and extended soil erosion
(Saha et al., 2012). The agriculture in the NEH region is characterized by organic production mode, shifting cultivation
(Ray et al., 2021) use of indigenous technical knowledge (
Singh and Gupta, 2002), use of local/ traditional varieties/ landraces, lack of adaptation of new technology and low seed replacement ratio, higher involvement of animal component, the farming system rather than cropping system-based approach, involvement of horticultural plants/ crops and agroforestry as a component of farm. There is a large diversity of crops grown in the region; while area under their cultivation and the practices followed for their cultivation differ significantly from the recommended practices. Hence, information collection on the present practices is needed. This can be addressed by questionnaire preparation by taking all points into consideration as given below for each crop cultivation practices separately.
Point of consideration for questionnaire preparation
Criteria for selecting of stakeholders/ farmers/crops
· The stakeholders should be selected from all five groups of land holding
viz., marginal, small, semi medium, medium and large.
· The number of stakeholders should be selected such that, at least parametric and /or non-parametric statistical tests can be applied to data to get valid findings and data will be suitable for further processing in developing the crop cultivation practices.
· The selection of farmers follows the statistical procedure for sampling.
· Major emphasis should be given to the crop/species which having higher shares of the total agricultural activities/ crop cultivation practices.
· Higher number of farmers should be selected for survey from the land holding group with a higher share of the total number of stakeholders and area occupied.
The secondary data from village institutions and correction in primary data by village key informants need to be considered for the more realistic data set.
Field preparation
The variables considered for collecting information from farmers regarding field preparation include: a) Types and the number of times primary, secondary and seedbed preparation are conducted; and b) Type of tillage implement used, type of energy (human, animal, petroleum fuel or electricity) used, their approximate share, influence of Govt. policy for the purchase of implement, type of tillage system followed (modern plough based, modern conservation agriculture based, tradition,
etc.). The questionnaire for calculating rank-based coefficient (RBC) and value-based ratio (VBR) are given in Table 2.
Varietal selection
For the selection of a variety of newly introduced crops the criteria should matches with the farmer’s/stake-holders criteria for choosing a crop. The economics of crop cultivation practices, resistance to insect-pest, resistance to diseases, biomass production, quality of crop produce, duration of crop/variety, a window for input applications, timing for different in-season practices, a window for different in-season practices and ranges for sowing specification are some of the criteria followed by stakeholders while introducing/ selecting new varieties. Besides that, market interventions, policy support, suitability for different secondary processing and value additions are other criteria considered by stakeholders. The problem ranking variables are given in Table 3.
Seed and sowing requirement
The seed and sowing specification is the basic of any crop cultivation practices and will decide crop performance; hence, the accurate recommendation of seed and sowing specification needs to be derived. The variables of seed and sowing include sowing time, sowing method, seed rate, spacing, sowing depth, plant population, plant geometry and seed treatments to ensure germination and emergence of vigorous seedlings. The information on the nursery, method of transplanting and age of the seedling at transplanting needs to be collected. The problems for ranking are given in Table 4.
Crop establishment methods
As the same crop can be established by different methods, information on variations in crop establishment methods and cultivation methods as well as stakeholders approaches towards them need to be generated from valid sources. The farmer’s knowledge about different crop establishment methods, changes in management practices and the response of the crop to them are the major variables of study. The problems for ranking are given in Table 5.
Nutrient and water management
Nutrient and water management are important parts with a significant contribution toward the yielding ability of the crop. There are two major variables in nutrient management
viz. organic nutrition and inorganic (Agrochemicals- fertilizers) based crop nutrition. In case of water management, it will be irrigated and rainfed agriculture. At the same time, approaches such as site-specific nutrient management, integrated plant nutrition system, integrated nutrient management and soil test-based crop response are the major improved nutrient recommendation for crop nutrition. For water management, the application criteria, scheduling of irrigation, rainfall water conservation (
in-situ and
ex-situ) and its utilization are the other variables. The information on schedule of nutrient application, criteria for selection of above-mentioned variables, farmers’ perception about the use of bio-fertilizers, farmers perception about the use of biodynamic formulation and soil testing are the other variables for collecting the information from the stakeholders. For water management, source of irrigation, land configurations for water management, drainage of excess water and matching with the government policies for water/irrigation management are the major variables for which information needs to be collected. The problem ranking for both nutrient and water management is given in Tables 6 and 7.
Weed management
The weeds, insect-pest and diseases are the major biotic stresses causing accountable damage to crop produce. At present, chemical methods (herbicide/ weedicide) are considered as most efficient methods for weed management; while the land holding, cropping system (intercropping, mixed cropping), knowledge about herbicide and availability of herbicide in time are the major variables for which information need to be generated. This information needs to be generated on-station and gathering information from the farmer for this will not give any inputs for modulation or development of the package of practices. The other variables for which information needs to be collected include methods followed, economics of methods followed, constraints in selecting the best methods, precautionary measures taken and cultural practices followed. The problem ranking for both nutrient and water management is given in Table 8.
Yield and economics
The impact of cultivation practices followed on crop performance is judged by realized yield in the field. The quality of produce, days to maturity, difficulties in threshing, difficulties in harvesting, suitability to post-harvest processing and surplus available for sale after meeting family requirements are the points of investigation to get an idea about the crop produce status. These variables are also extended to the economics of crop cultivation. The problems in achieving the optimum yield level and economic problems are given in Tables 9 and 10 for the calculation of RBC and VBR.
