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The continuous growing of rice has led to a deterioration in soil quality, resulting in a serious threat to agricultural sustainability in the high rainfall zone of south Gujarat, India. Therefore, crop diversification with a wider choice in the production of crop varieties is being promoted to restore the soil quality. A field experiment was conducted in Navsari, India during 2003–2007 on a Vertisol to evaluate the productivity, sustainability, resource-use efficiency and economics of 10 rice-based cropping systems. The results showed that system productivity for rice–fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum)–okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) was highest (25.73 t ha−1), followed by rice–onion (Allium cepa)–cowpea (Vigna sinensis L.) (24.15 t ha−1); and the lowest system productivity was observed with the rice–wheat (Triticum aestivum)–fallow system (7.85 t ha−1). The sustainable yield index (0.97), production efficiency (102.94 kg ha−1 day−1) and field water use efficiency (15.98 kg ha−1 mm−1) were maximum with ...