AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

CEREALS

Jowar, wheat, bajri and rice are the important cereals grown in the district. Tables Nos. 4 and 5 give taluka-wise acreage and out-turn of cereals during the period between 1961-62, 1965-66 and 1971-72. The tables also include acreage under other cereals such as maize, Italian millets, kutki, vari, etc. A brief account of the important cereals is given in the following pages:—

Jowar : Of the cereals, jowar occupies the highest acreage in the district. It is grown all over the district. However, Shrigonda, Karjat, Ahmadnagar, Jamkhed and Nevasa talukas produce considerable quantity of jowar in the district. Sangamner and especially Akola talukas are the lowest jowar producing areas. It can also be seen from the table that the acreage under this crop since 1961-62 except that for 1964-65 had gone down till 1965-66.

Jowar is a main crop of the rabi season in the district. In 1971-72 it occupied an area of 8,02,717 hectares, out of which 60,313 hectares were under irrigation. The following statement gives acreage under jowar in the district since 1880-81:—

The pre-sowing tillage comprises one ploughing and two to three harrowings. The seeds are drilled at 15" to 18" apart in October, the seed-rate being three to four kilograms of M-35-1 jowar per acre and three kilograms of hybrid jowar per acre. Mostly safflower is grown as a mixed crop with jowar. In heavy soils five to ten kilograms of nitrate is applied at the time of sowing while in case of irrigated soils five cart-loads of farm-yard manure is applied. Besides, 20 kilograms of nitrate and 10 kilograms of P₂O₅ are applied. Half a dose of nitrogen is given after a month. Generally one or two hoeings are given to the dry crop and one weeding and one hoeing are given to irrigated crop. About four irrigations are given to the crop. The yield of the crop comes to two to three quintals in non-irrigated fields and six to seven quintals in irrigated fields.

TABLE No. 4—AREA UNDER CEREALS IN AHMADNAGAR DISTRICT IN 1961-62,1965-66 AND 1971-72

(In acres)

[ Figures for 1971-72 are in hectares.]

TABLE No. 5—TOTAL OUT-TURN OF CEREALS IN AHMADNAGAR
 DISTRICT FROM 1961-62 TO 1965-66

(In tons)

TABLE No. 5—contd.

(In tons)

*Figures for 1971-72 of district total are in metric tonnes.

N. A.—Not available.

Watching is essential when the crop begins to get ear-heads and it is continued for about two months. When ripe, the crop is pulled out and tied into sheaves. Five sheaves form a pachunda. The sheaves are laid in pachundas to dry. On the threshing floor women are employed to break off the ears and throw them on the floor. When this is done, muzzled bullocks tread out the corn which is then winnowed by three men. One stands on a raised platform and another hands up baskets of the grain mixed with the outer coverings of the grain and the small stalks. When there is enough breeze the man on the platform slowly empties the basket. A third man below keeps the pile of good grain separated from the chaff.

Jowar is chiefly in use as a bread grain, but is also eaten parched as lahi. The parched unripe heads called hurda constitute a leading article of food with the labouring classes a short time before and after the harvest season. Straws of jowar are used as fodder in its natural state. It is stacked and thatched.

Wheat: Next in importance in the district is the wheat crop. In 1971-72 it occupied an area of 56,873 hectares. Wheat is grown all over the district. However, its cultivation is concentrated in Kopargaon, Shevgaon, Nevasa, Rahuri, and Shrirampur talukas. Of these, Kopargaon occupies the highest acreage under wheat. However, the area under wheat has decreased considerably as can be seen from the following statement:—

Prior to sowing one ploughing and two to three harrowings are given. Sowing is done in October-November, the distance between the two rows being ten to twelve inches. About 20 to 25 kilograms of seed are required per acre. The seed-rate used for Mexican varieties is 35 to 40 kilograms per acre. Generally 20 kilograms of nitrate and 10 kilograms of P₂O₅ are given to the crop but for Mexican variety the rates of the manures are doubled. Half of the dose of nitrogen is given at the time of sowing and the remaining after one month. The irrigated crop requires less inter-culturing. About four irrigations are given to the crop where such facilities are available. One to two hoeings are given to dry crop. Wheat is sometimes grown as a single crop and sometimes mixed with safflower. The yield per acre in non-irrigated fields is about three quintals and that in irrigated fields eight to ten quintals.

At the end of the 19th century five varieties of wheat were grown, two of them watered or garden bakshi and khaple or jod and three dry-crop or field varieties, pivle, kate and pothe. At present the Agriculture Department of the State has recommended improved strains of the crop for the district which include Vijay (Niphad 81), N-62 and N-152.

The crop is pulled out or sickled when dead ripe in March. It is tied into sheaves and spread in pachundas to dry like jowar. The first operation on the threshing floor is to beat out the earth clinging to the roots of the plants. When this is done, the sheaves are loosened and spread over the floor, and trodden with unmuzzled bullocks till the stalks are broken into pieces and the grain is freed. Parched green wheat ears called ombya are eaten and the straw mixed with chaff is used as a fodder.

Bajri: The cultivation of bajri in the district stands third in so far as the total acreage under cereals is concerned. Bajri is grown all over the district. However, Sangamner and Parner talukas account for the major share of production of bajri in the district. In 1971-72 the area under bajri crop was 1,21,239 hectares and that under irrigated 5,469 hectares.

The area under bajri in the district since 1880-81 is given below.—

In the non-irrigated area the ' Akola bajri seed' is sown on a large scale and in irrigated area pusamati and H. B-1 varieties are sown. Sowing is generally done in the first fortnight of July. Before sowing, the land is brought to fine tilth by ploughing and harrowing. At present the seed-rate is one to one and a half kilograms per acre and the distance between the two rows is about 12 inches. One hoeing is given after a month. Generally no manure is applied to light soils on which dry crops are grown. On the other hand, if bajri is grown as an irrigated crop about 10 to 20 kilograms of nitrate and 10 kilograms of P₂O₅ in the form of manure mixture are applied to it. Sometimes a mixture of ammonium sulphate and super-phosphate is also applied. The average yield of dry crop per acre is above 150 kilograms and that of irrigated crop is about 600 kilograms. Behind the seed drill or tiphan comes a single seed tube or mogha held generally by a woman and fastened to the tiphan by a rope. This tube is used for sowing. Sometimes rala, math, ambadi, mug, etc., are sown mixed with bajri. These crops are all reaped at different times.

Bajri is the chief food of the middle classes. It is pleasanter to the taste and is more nourishing than jowar and is used chiefly as a bread grain. The stalks called sarmad are given to cattle. The green ears are parched and eaten under the name limbur.

Paddy: It is mostly grown in Akola taluka, in the western part of the district near the Sahyadri ranges. It is also produced as a change crop in garden lands in the east. The acreage under this crop in the district since 1880-81 is given below:—

One ploughing by a light plough and three harrowings are given. The seeds are first sown in the specially prepared seed-beds in the month of June and transplanted in small bunches when the seedlings are about a foot high in the month of July at a distance of 9"x6". The seed-rate per acre is 10 to 12 kilograms in case of transplanting and about 20 kilograms when the seeds are drilled. Now-a-days improved strains of the crop are grown and among them mention may be made of taichung, native-1, I R-8 and ambemohar. Five cart-loads of farm-yard manure are applied before sowing, 10 kilograms each of nitrate and P₂O₅ are given at the time of sowing and the last instalment of 10 kilograms of nitrate is applied one month after the transplanting. Hoeing is done, twice or thrice, by the ' Akola hoe'. The average yield per acre is about 500 to 600 kilograms.

Rice is part of the daily food of the upper classes. It is either simply boiled or parched or scalded in a variety of preparations known as lahi, pohe and murmure. Rice-flour is used in many preparations.

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