Crop diversification means the cultivation of drought tolerant non paddy crops in paddy fields mainly during the Yala season. The CSIAP promote this Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practice to efficiently utilize the available limited water resources on productive war and obtain high returns from the farm by enhancing water productivity. Crops diversification is practiced mainly during Yala season by diverting the paddy cultivation lands into Other field Crops (OFC) cultivation (eg -Green gram, Ground nut, Blak gram, Cowpea, Soya, Onion etc), those crops complete their cropping cycle successfully, with low water quantity and give higher farm income compared with paddy crop. Hence, this CSA practice leads to increased farm productivity as well as water productivity with the contribution to the climate change adaptation.
Up to date project has carried out crop diversification programs in 6008.5 Ha with the participation of 5858 project farmers. The crop diversification index is measured as a percentage by comparing the non-paddy crops cultivation extent with the total cultivation extent.