Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(9): 257-271 257 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.709.033 Optimum Cropping Pattern based on Alternative Price Scenarios in Semi- Arid Eastern Plain Zone of Rajasthan State, India M.K. Jangid * , Latika Sharma, S.S. Burark and D.C. Pant Department of Agricultural Economics and Management, RCA, MPUAT, Udaipur, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Rajasthan with its huge geographical area of 342.7 lakh hectares is the largest state of India. The state is predominantly an agriculture state with 75 per cent population living in rural areas. Agriculture and allied activities contributed 21.71 per cent of Net State Domestic Product at constant price 2004-05 while its share in Gross State Domestic Product is 20.27 per cent during 2013-14. Agriculture is the single largest sector of the state economy employing 70 per cent labour force directly and indirectly. Rajasthan state has witnessed an extreme level of groundwater over-exploitation. Total annual groundwater draft in the state is 15.71 billion cubic meter which is higher than the sustainable limit of 11.26 billion cubic meter. Central ground water board has categorized 164 blocks out of International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 09 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The present study has analyzed the Optimum Cropping Patterin Semi-Arid Eastern Plain Agro-climatic Zone of Rajasthan state by using alternative three price scenarios namely market prices, economic prices (net out effect of subsidy) and natural resource valuation (NRV) considering environmental benefits like biological nitrogen fixation and greenhouse gas costs. In this study, unit-level cost of cultivation data for the triennium ending 2013-14 which were collected from Cost of Cultivation Scheme, MPUAT, Udaipur (Raj.) has been used. It has analyzed crop-wise use of fertilizers, groundwater, surface water, subsidies and optimum crop plan by using linear programming with the help of GAMS. Results from the present study indicated that even after netting out the input subsidies and effect on environment and natural resources, clusterbean-vegetable crop sequence produced the higher net return of ` 215187 per hectare followed by clusterbean- chillies (` 108590/ha) crop sequence under the set of marketing infrastructure, minimum support prices, agricultural technological know-how, climatic conditions and available irrigation facilities existed in this semi-arid eastern plain. Optimum crop plan model of this zone indicated that area shifted from sorghum, maize, cowpea and mothbean towards blackgram, greengram and clusterbean in kharif season whereas in rabi season, area shifted from cumin and onion towards the chillies, vegetables, gram and fenugreek and towards the rapeseed and mustard and wheat to some extent. Therefore, existing gross cropped area has increased at all the three price scenario by 13.49 per cent from 2719.13 thousand hectares to 3086.00 thousand hectares in optimal crop plan. Keywords Market price, Economic price, Natural resource valuation, Semi-arid eastern plain and optimum cropping pattern Accepted: 04 August 2018 Available Online: 10 September 2018 Article Info