Flood, cropping pattern choice and returns in agriculture: A study of Assam plains, India

The agriculture sector of Assam, a state in the northeast part of India, supports more than 75% of its population. Agriculture in Assam is highly susceptible to flood risk, not only through reduced time availability for cropping but also through higher production risks due to varying flood timing, frequency and intensity. Farmers however have few institutional safeguards to hedge that risk. This paper explores the role of crop diversification as a means for the farmers in the flood plains of Assam to cope with flood induced production risks and limits. An application of a generalized linear model to original farm level survey data reveals that farmers in the plains of Assam who are confronted with greater flood risk tend to diversify their cropping pattern more. This diversification is also shown to be a strategy that extracts higher returns from farming.