Mixed Cropping

Farmers  frequently plant many crop varieties in one field in rain-fed regions so they may harvest the other crops in case one crop fails from a lack of water. While this strategy reduces overall production, it does help to decrease risk. Reliable irrigation, however, allows farmers to concentrate on growing a single crop variety per field, which tends to boost productivity overall.

Combinations like wheat and gram, wheat and mustard, or groundnut and sunflower are examples of mixed cropping.