www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org CONSTRAINTS OF CROP DIVERSIFICATION IN TIRUNELVELI DISTRICT OF TAMIL NADU L. MOHAMMED GHOUSE 1 & Dr. S. NAZREEN HASSAN 2 1 PG Scholar, Department of Social Sciences, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Assistant Professor, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Thiruppathisaram, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India ABSTRACT Agriculture continues to be the most predominant sector of the state economy, as 70 percent of the population is engaged in Agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood. The State has an area of 1.3 Lakh sq.km with a gross cropped area of around 63 Lakh Ha. Constraints always play a significant role and it hinders the farmers from practicing crop diversification. The present study was conducted in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, which aimed to collect the constraints encountered by the farmers practicing crop diversification and suitable strategies to overcome from it. Middle men intervention is the major constraint encountered by the farmers and they all suggested that providing Minimum Support Price to agricultural commodities will serve as a viable strategy to improve crop diversification. Objectives • To find out the constraints associated with crop diversification. • To suggest a suitable strategy for better crop diversification. KEYWORDS: Crop Diversification, Constraints & Suggestions Received: May 01, 2019; Accepted: May 20, 2019; Published: Jun 13, 2019; Paper Id.: IJASRAUG20196 INTRODUCTION Tirunelveli district has a total geographical area of 6,75,850 ha. The total cropped area was 2,06,858 ha (30.61 per cent) and the net area sown was 1,75,087 ha (25.91 per cent). Being predominantly an agricultural district, crop diversification is largely dependent on the socio-economic, environment conditions and technological development of the region. Crop diversification is the product of action, reaction, interaction among the physical and non-physical environment (Sohal, 2003). Crop diversification is a shift from traditionally grown less remunerative crops to more remunerative crops. It is considered as an important tool to maximize the land use, water and other resources and for the overall agricultural development in the country. But the farmers are facing a lot of problems in practicing crop diversification. Identifying the constraints will help to frame suitable strategies to overcome the problems. Hence, a study was conducted in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu with the purpose of identifying the constraints faced by the farmers in practicing crop diversification and provide suitable suggestions to overcome those constraints. Original Article International Journal of Agricultural Science and Research (IJASR) ISSN (P): 2250-0057; ISSN (E): 2321-0087 Vol. 9, Issue 4, Aug 2019, 35-38 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.