AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

LAND UTILISATION

Agriculture and forest are the two important heads in the land utilisation of the district and account roughly for nine lakh acres. The general topography of the district is such that it encourages cultivation and favours the growth of forest. As forest can be said to form only a part and parcel of agriculture, taken in a comprehensive term, the district reflects itself in a peculiar agricultural economy. The dependence of agricultural operations on forest resources for rabbing and similar other purposes is a phenomenon known widely. In brief, forest is as important as cultivation in representing the wealth of the district. The following table gives a clear picture of land utilisation, in the district, in 1958-59:-

TABLE No. 10.

   LAND UTILISATION IN KOLABA DISTRICT (1958-59).

(FIGURES IN ACRES)

TABLE No. 10. contd.

Sudhagad, Alibag, Mangaon, Panvel, Mahad and Roha appear to have contributed substantially to the net area sown in the district. Similarly, except Mhasla, Shriwardhan, Poladpur and Murud all the sub-divisions seem to share satisfactorily in the total forest area. Roha, Poladpur and Sudhagad account for most of the area under current fallows. With the exception of Roha, Murud and Shriwardhan every sub-division appears to have made a sizeable addition to cultivable and other waste land in the district. The following table indicates taluka-wise distribution of land on agricultural heads in 1958-59:-

TABLE No. 11

 LAND UTILISATTON, KOLABA (1958-59)

(FIGURES IN ACRES)

TABLE No. 11 contd.

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