Abstract

Changing single cropping patterns to two cropping patterns can play a potential role in achieving a country’s food security. With this view to increase crop productivity, production efficiency, land-use efficiency, and economic return through intensifying cropping intensity as well as crop diversity by transforming a single cropping pattern into two crops, the experiment was conducted in Old Meghna Estuarine Floodplain Soils under the Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ) 19 at the Multi-location Testing (MLT) Site, Nikli under On-Farm Research Division (OFRD) of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Kishoreganj, for three consecutive years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. Two crops pattern Mustard-Boro rice-Fallow was tested at on-farm condition over the existing single crop pattern only Boro rice after the floodwater receded. Findings revealed that the mean crop duration of 198 days was required for one cycle in a year in an improved cropping pattern, implying that two crops-based cropping patterns were agronomically feasible to replace the existing cropping pattern. Total seed/ grain yield in terms of REY of improved cropping pattern was 11.27 t/ha/year, 62% higher than the existing pattern (6.96 t/ha/year). The improved cropping pattern’s mean production efficiency (64.15 kg/ha/day) and land-use efficiency (50.32%) 

were 5% and 61%, higher than the existing cropping pattern. Results showed that the improved pattern with management practices provided an average gross return of 54, gross margin of 91 and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 21%, respectively higher than the farmer’s pattern. Three years’ results revealed that 27% extra cost provides ample scope for considerable improvement of the productivity of improved pattern with the inclusion of Mustard before Boro rice.