AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

CROPPED AREA

More than eighty per cent of the gross cropped area is under food crops which include cereals and pulses, condiments and spices and fruits and vegetables. Of these, cereals and pulses occupy almost an entire area under food crops, leaving hardly two or three per cent of the total area under food crops for the cultivation of condiments and spices and fruits and vegetables. Non-food crops, which account for nearly one-fifth of the total gross cropped area include grass and babuls, edible oil seeds and fibres. Of these, grass and babuls take up a little over ninety per cent of the total area under non-food crops. The remaining area under non-food crops is utilised almost wholly in the cultivation of edible oil seeds, leaving a very insignificant portion of it for the growth of fibres. Mangaon, Mahad, Alibag, Panvel and Roha enjoy a significant share in the area under food crops. Karjat, Sudhagad and Poladpur seem to make a very small addition to the area under non-food crops. The contribution to the non-food crops appears to have been made, by places along the sea coast due to the growth of coconut and, by those on the hilly tracts, due to the growth of grass and babuls. The following table gives the distribution of area under food and non-food crops in the district, in 1958-59:-

TABLE No. 14

GROSS CROPPED AREA IN KOLABA DISTRICT (1958-59) (IN ACRES).

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