AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

LAND UTILISATION

BEFORE THE MERGER OF PRINCELY STATES (i.e. before 1949), the total area of Kolhapur State, including that of jahagirs, was 20,67,294 [P. C. Patil, Regional Survey of Economic Resources, India, Kolhapur 1950.] acres. Immediately after the constitution of Kolhapur district in 1949-50, which then did not include the talukas of Katkol and Raibag of the former State, the total area of the district was reported to be 17,00,700 acres. Thanks to the Improvement in reporting and to the reorganization of the agencies collecting agricultural statistics in the merged and integrated areas, in 1955-56 the total geographical area of the district was reported to be 17,39,619 [Chandgad Taluka Excluded. See foot note at the end of the Chapter.] acres.

A major portion of the district forms an irregular part of the South Deccan plateau. The western and central zones, being very proximate to the Sahyadri ranges, are naturally more hilly than the eastern zone. The following table shows the distribution of cultivated and uncultivated areas in Kolhapur district in 1955-56: -

TABLE No. 8.
STATEMENT SHOWING CULTIVATED AND UNCULTIVATED AREAS IN KOLHAPUR DISTRICT DURING THE YEAR 1955-56.

continued.

Cultivated Ares.

The total cultivated area in the district formed about 56 per cent, of the total geographical area. This, of course, included cropped areas which were kept fallow during the current year and excluded areas which were cultivated more than once during an agricultural year. The eastern plains, mainly the talukas of Gadhinglaj, Hatkanangale, Kagal, Karvir and Shirol, occupied nearly 58 per cent, of the total cultivated area. Among the hilly talukas of the west, Bavada taluka recorded the lowest area under cultivation (i.e. about three per cent. of the cultivated area) because of its proximity to the Sahyadris.

It is further interesting to note that the percentage of cultivated area to total area varied significantly from taluka to taluka. In Kagal taluka it was as high as 89.2 while in the Bavada mahal it stood only at 20.7. This shows that the talukas in the eastern part possess the highest acreage under cultivation vis-a-vis the total geographical area and secondly it also bears out that within each of these talukas the proportion of total cultivated area to the total geographical area is much larger than in the talukas of the hilly west.

Jirayat and Bagayat.

The cultivated area in Kolhapur district falls under two major heads namely, jirayat (dry land) and bagayat (irrigated land). The jirayat land, which formed 93 per cent. of total cultivated area in 1955-56, is cropped only with the help of rain water, while the bagayat land (7 per cent.) is cropped with the help of irrigation, mainly lift irrigation.

Forest Area.

Forests in Kolhapur district occupied in 1955-56 an area of 3,10,521 acres which is about 11 per cent, of the total geographical area and nearly 40 per cent, of the, total uncultivated area of the district. As it should be, the talukas on the west have considerable area under forests. The talukas of Bhudargad, Radhanagari and Shahuwadi taken together, account for about 61 per cent, of the total area under forests in the district. In contrast to this, however, are the eastern talukas of Gadhinglaj, Hatkanangale, Kagal and Shirol, possessing only four per cent, of the total area under forests.

The following table shows talukawise distribution of forests under the charge of the Forest Department in 1955-56:-

TABLE No. 9.

AREA IN CHARGE OF FOREST DEPARTMENT IN KOLHAPUR DISTRICT, 1955-56.

Note:-Pt.= Part.

It will be observed that total area under forests, as recorded in the previous table and in the above table does not agree with each other. [The main causes of this discrepancy are:-(i) The dates of reporting the area figures for annual reports differ in the case of the Forest and Revenue Departments. Forest department statistics are for the financial year whereas Revenue Department statistics are for the agricultural year. (ii) As a result of the merger of States (1949) the forest areas of the then States are now managed by the Forest Department. They are not yet legally constituted as Reserved and Protected forests and the work in this connection is in progress (1956-57). However, for the time being, such areas are shown by the Forest Department as forest areas whereas in some cases Revenue Department shows them as waste lands.]

Kumri Cultivation.

Kumri cultivation (wood-ash tillage) is practised mainly in the hilly regions of the west. Shrubs and bushes on the farm land are burnt and then seeds of nachana and varai are broadcast. The cultivators raise the crop for about two years and leave the area to rest for a period of about ten years after which the cycle is again repeated. In some cases, the cycle is as short as of four to five years. Formerly, vast areas of forest land were given out for kumri cultivation to the villagers. Most of these lands have now become barren due to heavy soil erosion resulting from repeated kumri cultivation. After the merger of the former, Kolhapur State, however, the practice was discontinued. Thereafter the people satisfied their land hunger by kumri cultivation on waste lands in charge of the Revenue Department. Now, since these waste lands are getting impoverished by kumri cultivation, villagers have started turning their eyes to the virgin forest lands in charge of the Forest Department.

Forest Products.

Forest products are divided into two main classes, major and minor. Major forest products comprise mainly wood (i.e. timber and fuel). The total coupe revenue in Kolhapur district in 1955-56 amounted to Rs. 73,166. Minor products in the district are kaju fruits, watsol, amsol, honey and wax, ghaymori phade, mano fruits, bibi fruits, apta temburni leaves, sawat cotton, lavala kuchal seed, shembi bark, wavding, karanj seed and hirda fruits. They yielded a revenue of Rs. 26,086. Among the minor products hirda fruits are a major contributor to the revenue; next in importance are shikekai and apta temburni leaves.

Culturable Waste Lands.

Culturable waste lands come next in importance (about 21 per cent.) to forests which occupied the highest acreage of uncultivated area. These include all lands available for cultivation, whether not taken up for cultivation or abandoned after five years for one reason or the other. Such lands may be either fallow or covered with shrubs and jungles which are not put to any use. They may be assessed or unassessed and may lie in isolated blocks or within cultivated holdings. This category also includes lands once cultivated but not cultivated for five years in succession.

The remaining 39 per cent. of uncultivated area is distributed mainly under three categories. Permanent pastures and other grazing lands stand next to culturable waste lands. Barren land and mountains occupy a considerable part of the district. The area occupied by buildings, roads and railways and water (i.e., land put to non-agricultural uses) was 6 per cent. of the total uncultivated area. The area under other categories, namely, "other fallows" and "land under miscellaneous tree crops and groves" was almost insignificant.

Cropped Area.

The gross cropped area of the district has been recorded as 9,37,674 acres in 1955-56, of which 19,061 acres of land are cropped more than once; hence net cropped area in the district in that year comes to 9,18,613. It is interesting to study how this cropped area is distributed as between food and non-food crops as also in different seasons. The following tables bring out these features very clearly:-

TABLE No.10.
DISTRIBUTION OF CROPPED AREA IN KOLHAPUR DISTRICT DURING THE YEAR 1955-56.

(In acres)

continued.

TABLE No. 11.

ACREAGES UNDER DIFFERENT CROPS IN KOLHAPUR DISTRICT DURING 1955-56.

continued.

Most of the crops in the district are taken in kharif season. Only about four per cent, of gross cropped area is under crops taken in rabi season. Another point that emerges from these tables is that about 63 per cent, of cropped area is under food crops as against 37 per cent, under non-food crops. This shows that the place of non-food crops is not insignificant in the agricultural economy of the district, though food crops do occupy a dominant position.

The main food crops of the district are: rice, jowar, ragi, varai, sava, bajri, maize, wheat and other hill-millets among cereals; turi, horse-gram,, gram, black-gram, vatana,, mug, other pulses and sugarcane. Fruits and vegetables constitute a negligible portion. Among the important non-food crops are: groundnut and niger among oilseeds; tobacco among drugs and narcotics; chillies among condiments and spices; cotton and fodder crops. Betel leaves and fibres other than cottton are also grown in the district, though acreage under them is negligible.

changes in Crop Pattern.

Has there been any change in the crop pattetrn followed by the husbandmen of the district since compilation of last Gazetteer (1886)? The data available for comparison are not based on identical conditions in regard to total acreage, classification of crops etc. Therefore the comparison would not be completely valid. However, broad indication may be obtained from the following table:-

TABLE No. 12.

ACREAGE UNDER DIFFERENT CROPS IN KOLHAPUR DISTRICT IN ACRES IN 1881-82 AND 1955-56.

* Figures are for Kolhapur State.

TABLE No. 12-contd.

* Figures are for Kolhapur State.

TABLE No. 12-concld.

* Figures are for Kolhapur State.

It will be observed that in the former Kolhapur State, cereals occupied nearly 70 per cent. of the cropped area in 1881-82. This percentage showed a decline of nearly 20 points in 1955-56. The area under rice, increased by about 22 per cent. while in the case of jowar it went down by nearly 20 per cent. In the case of pulse crops, no significant change is observed in the acreages for the group as a whole. Area under oilseeds increased from six per cent. in 1881-82 to 13 per cent. in 1955-56. Among oilseeds, area under groundnut registered a considerable increase from 60 per cent. in 1881-82 to 96 per cent. in 1955-56. Groundnut cultivation gained in importance because of the cash value of the crop. Tobacco, because of its increasing importance as a cash crop, also recorded an increase of over three per cent. In 1881-82, acreage under this crop was little more than one per cent. of gross cropped area while in 1955-56 it rose to five per cent. In the case of sugarcane, there is an increase of about 4 per cent. over the acreage under this crop in 1881-82. Increased and improved irrigation facilities are responsible to a large extent for this increase.

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