Climate sensitive measure of agricultural intensity: Case of Nepal

While acknowledging the influence of climate on agricultural intensification, most studies have ignored its application in the measurement of intensity. Through the inclusion of climate variables, this paper develops a time-weighted measure, the Crop Potential Index (CPI), which can be used to assess the production potential of a region. The CPI is compared with the more conventional method, Cropping Intensity (CI), to assess the significance of their differences in the three ecological zones of Nepal. The comparison of the CPI with that of the CI shows a significant difference between the two measures in all three ecological regions. The level of difference is larger in regions where climate is a limiting factor, such as the Mountain region of Nepal. The climate sensitive CPI can be considered as a more complete measurement tool and can be useful for planning agricultural development activities in Nepal. The advantage of the CPI is apparent in its ability to set a theoretical upper limit to the production potential of crops in a specific climatic region. Compared to the CI the CPI is more realistic in quantifying agricultural intensity in regions where climatic factors set the theoretical upper limit for crop growth and development.

Research highlights
► The climate sensitive model; Crop Potential Index (CPI), provides an index of agronomically attainable cropping intensity, necessary for understanding the production potential of basic land resource units.
► By making it a more climate sensitive, this new model addresses the shortcomings of existing ones in measuring agricultural intensity.
► The effectiveness of the CPI has been demonstrated by using examples from Nepal, a country with three distinct climatic zones.
► The strength of the CPI is that it provides feedback about the average number of months available for crop cultivation and thereby gives information regarding the temporal opportunity for increasing cropping intensity through multiple cropping.
► The advantage of CPI is apparent in its ability to set a theoretical upper limit to the production potential of crops in a specific climatic region.