Eds. Sharma, P.R., Yadava, R.S. and Sharma, V.N.) Interdisciplinary advances in Geography. RK Books, New Delhi (ISBN: 978-81-910059-8-1), pp. 261-72 261 A study of Crop Combination Regions in Eastern Uttar Pradesh A. K. Tiwari Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, B.H.U. Varanasi -221005 V.N. Sharma Professor of Geography, Faculty of Science, B.H.U. Varanasi -221005 Introduction Agriculture has been practiced in India since ancient time. In spite of weighted efforts towards industrialization during last three decades, agriculture forms backbone of national economy. Farmers are growing numerous varieties of crops in their farms rather than to grow a single one. The distribution pattern of crops in any region is an outcome of predominance of certain crop or combination of crops that contribute to emergence of an agricultural region. For proper execution of agricultural planning programmes, agricultural regionalization at micro level is indispensable. In this endeavour, identification and characterisation of crop combination plays a pivotal role. Agricultural development is a multidimensional concept which includes a variety of aspects such classification of land use, crop concentration and diversification, crop productivity, commercial attributes of agriculture, intensity of cropping, maintenance of ecological balance and so on. The study of crop combination is vital to understand cropping pattern and level of diversification (Gomatee, 2012). The study of crop combination provides a logical basis for agricultural regionalization. The crops are generally grown in combinations and it is rarely that a particular crop occupies a position of total isolation to other crops in a given area at a given time. The physical factors determine the shape of the areas of crops, while the socio-economic factors determine their extent. The government policies many often directly or indirectly influence decision to select the crops to grow. The development of better irrigation facilities, new varieties of crops could be introduced in the place of traditional and unprofitable agricultural system (Vyalij, 2009). Eastern Uttar Pradesh extends between 23 0 51’ N to 28 0 31’ N latitudes and 81 0 30’ E to 84 0 39’ E longitudes and covers an area of 85,298.79 km 2 (29.10 % of the state). The region consists of 27 district, 117 tahsils, and 341 community development blocks. It lies in the northern sub-continental interior of the sub-tropical monsoon type of climate with all its rhythms, vagaries and extreme reigns. It has fertile alluvial plain deposited by the Ganga and Ghaghra rivers and its tributaries. Agriculture of this region is mainly based on monsoon but a network of canals and tube wells are major means of irrigation and 64.94 per cent agricultural area is irrigated. In this region 88.99 per cent of working population is engaged in the agriculture. Alluvial soil, irrigation facility, adequate rainfall, availability of cheap labour and available agricultural infrastructure has contributed to its present status.