AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

LAND UTILIZATION

The total geographical area of the district shows considerable increase over that given in the old Gazetteer mainly because of its reconstitution in 1949 when the former Sawantwadi State was merged in the then Bombay State and made a part of the district, and due to some border re-adjustments. In 1955-56, the total area was 31,65,863 acres.

The district is formed by a narrow belt of low land lying between the Indian Ocean and the Sahyadri hills. Though hilly and rugged as a whole, the district presents in different parts many characteristic features. Near the Sahyadri hills the valleys are more open and the hills less rugged than towards the centre of the district, which is more of a mass of wild rugged hills. These again, towards the coast, fall into nearly level plateaus, in great part made barren by a capping of laterite rock, cleft by deep narrow steepsided valleys and ravines, through which rivers and streams find their way from the Sahyadri hills to the sea. These rivers have on their banks nearly all the fertile land of the southern Konkan. Over the rest of the country the soil is miserably poor. This explains why the area under cultivation (9,59,547 acres) is as low as 30 per cent of the total area.

TABLE No. 9

TABLE STATEMENT SHOWING CULTIVATED AND UNCULTIVATED AREA IN RATNAGIRI DISTRICT IN THE YEAR 1955-56.

TABLE No. 9 continued..

Nearly 70 per cent, of the area of the district was reported as uncultivated in 1955-56. Out of this about 39 per cent, is barren and unculturable; 33 per cent, is culturable waste (i.e. ail lands available for cultivation, whether or not taken up for cultivation or abandoned after five years for one reason or the other); 20 per rent, is under fallows; 3 per cent, is put to non-agricultural uses e.g. for buildings, roads, railways, canals, etc.; 2 per cent, is under forests and the rest is under pastures, grazing grounds, miscellaneous tree crops and groves etc.

Other Fallows.

A significant fact to be noted is a large proportion of land left fallow for necessary soil accumulation. In varkas lands, in particular, crop rotation has to be followed as a rule owing to gradual washing away of the soil. Usually nagli, vari, harik and sesamum are taken out in turn whereafter the land is kept fallow for about 4-5 years. Thereafter the rotation is resumed.

TABLE No. 10.

DISTRIBUTION OF CROPPED AREA IN RATNAGIRI DISTRICT DURING THE YEAR 1955-56.

In acres.

continued..

 

	Grand Total.	Area- cropped more than once	Net cropped area.	Cropped area of forecast crops.
				Matured.	Failed.
Dapoli	92,183	1,015	91,168	--	--
Handangad	26,792	550	26,242	28,792	--
Khed	55,446	1,598	53,848	53,848	--
Chiplun	1,10,453	1,314	1,09,139	1,09,139	--
Guhagar	32,037	812	31,225	32,037	--
Sangameshwar	52,244	1,136	51,108	52,244	--
Ratnagiri	72,301	1,516	70,785	72,301	--
Lanje	62,317	371	61,946	62,317	--
Rajapur	85,655	1,842	83,813	85,655	--
Deogad	33,550	1,844	31,706	34,587	--
Kankavli	51,147	555	50,592	50,592	--
Malvan	52,446	2,827	49,619	52,446	--
Vengurla	30,805	1,150	29,655	--	--
Kudal	57,631	3,482	54,149	57,631	--
Sawantwadi	62,283	3,946	58,337	62,693	--
District Total	8,77,290	23,958	8,53,332	7,52,282	--

Out of the total cultivated area, 1,006,215 acres were left fallow during 1955-56. Net area sown was 8,53,332 acres. Area cropped more than once was 23958 acres. Gross cropped area was, therefore, 8,77,290 acres. Chiplun taluka has the highest acreage under plough. More than 40 per cent, of gross cropped area was to be found in Chiplun, Dapoli, Rajapur and Ratnagiri talukas. Bagayat (irrigated) land is only 3.8 per cent, of gross cropped area and is concentrated in Vengurla and Sawantwadi talukas. The rest of the land (jirayat) depends upon monsoon. Gross cropped area may further be classified as under food and nonfood crops. Though the district mainly produces food crops, acreage under non-food crops was of the order of 27 per cent in 1955-56. Almost all the crops are taken in kharif season. Acreage under rabi crops was hardly 9,000.

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