With bountiful of natural resources like fertile soil, organic rich climate and rich heritage, North Eastern Ghats agro-climatic zone of Odisha is one of the most fascinating areas of the state. The North Eastern Ghats region of Odisha spread over Kandhamal, Gajapati, Rayagada, part of Ganjam and small patches of Koraput which endowed with potentially rich natural resources at the same time are subjected to inherent problems. Keeping in mind all the constraints in the existing crop plan the study focused to examine the cropping pattern in both rainfed and irrigated situation, irrigation pattern and fertilizer  consumption pattern in the zone and also to determine the cost of cultivation and profitability of major crops of the zone. As cost of cultivation and return information is very much crucial for the farmer to know whether that crop is remunerative for the farmer or not. The study was confined to five major crops of the district, namely, paddy, ragi, maize, blackgram and greengram. The selected crops that were taken together accounted for more than 60% of the gross cropped area of the zone. The study is based on both primary and secondary sources and has made use of the cost of cultivation data from OUAT. Using probability proportional to size method of sampling a total of 120 farmers were selected for the study.

Highlights

• Paddy is the major crop of the zone both in kharif and rabi. Among the pulses Green gram and Blackgram are the major crops.
• The zone is mainly rainfed so the cropping pattern is accordingly planned.
• The ACZ has rich potential, and endowed with a suitable agroclimate.