I am trying to design an agricultural and horticultural calendar for Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts of Assam, India. What are the steps that I should begin with?
For horticultural crops, start with harvest and work backwards. From either a horticultural or marketing perspective, when should a crop be harvested. How many days are needed from germination to harvest for the crop. Now you have the backbones from which you can build a plan. What field preparation is needed prior to planting, how long will that take. Ask yourself, are there "typical" weather patterns that need to be considered? How do I accommodate these issues? Start with core crops and then add secondary crops to the calendar.
Sadhan Jyoti Dutta I think you should start talking to the farmers at the region. They know the best--the climate, the weather, what crops are the main crops they are planting, soil situation, what yields generated in the past years....etc. and also check out some official documents related to farming of the regions and integrate them together. Hopefully, you can develop a useful calendar at the area.
Getachew Gudero Mengesha: Take weather data for the lase 20 to 35 years from your country Meteorological station, particularly your the target districts, and analyze weather variable patterns , distribution and amount. Also take quick assessment on identification of agricultural and horticultural crops which are produced in the areas, farmers perception on how and when to produces these crops in the growing season (agronomic practices such as the time to start land preparation and harvesting) and official documents related to farming of areas and integrate them together . Now, based on your finding you can determined you crop calendar.
I agree with Yuan, as a "start point" you can recover all the farmers info, as much as posible and then continue to analize the economics of the activity. Most of the times that part of the production is the problem in local farming, the income is lower than the expenses.