Agro-topo climatological studies for crop planning- a case study for the northen hills agrocliamtic zone of Chhattisgarh state

Abstract

In the Northern Hills agroclimatic zone in Chhattisgarh state (India), the soils are undulating with 15 per cent at the top to 0 per cent slope in the valley areas. Analysis of field hydrological conditions in different soils in the toposequence revealed that in the top (sandy) soils agroforestry is a better option while in the valley areas with continuously flowing water from Mid July to November, tall varieties of rice are only suitable. In the clay loam soils rice is the best suited crop while in sandy loam soils maize is an alternative crop for diversifying rice. Local climate analysis indicated that it varies from near arid type climate at the top of the topo-sequence to near moist sub-humid conditions in the valley areas. Thus, the farmers in the zone need to plan from arid climate crops to moist sub-humid type crops like rice.

Keywords

• Crop planning
• Agro-topo-climatology
• CROPWAT