AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

LAND UTILISATION

Of the total geographical area [ Area figures furnished by the Directorate of Agriculture, Maharashtra State, Poona.] of the district of 15,54,099 acres in 1965-66 the net area sown was 10,19,629 acres., the gross area sown being 10,29,365. Tahsil-wise, Hinganghat had the highest net area under cultivation, it being 3,55,764 acres against its total area of 4,68,482 acres. Wardha ranked second with 3,82,362 acres out of its total of 5,48,370 and Arvi had only 2,80,603 of its total of 5,37,242 acres. Of the district total again, forests and miscellaneous tree crops together accounted for 1,96,982 acres while permanent pastures and other grazing lands occupied 1,30,830. An area of 17,788 acres was classed as barren and unculturable land. Culturable waste was put at 61,244 acres and land put to non-agricultural uses at 88,059.

Based on the figures of 1904-05 the old Wardha District Gazetteer gives the following statistics about the proportion of area occupied in the district.

"Of the total area of the district 182 square miles or 8 per cent are included in Government forest, 258 square miles or 11 per cent are classed as not available for cultivation, and 148 square miles or 6 per cent as culturable waste other than fallow. The remaining area amounting to 1,815 square miles or 11½ lakhs of acres and being 75½ per cent of the total area of the district or 82 per cent of the village area is occupied for cultivation. The limit of cultivation has thus been practically reached and there is little scope for further extension. The highest proportion of area occupied is in Hinganghat tahsil, where it amounts to 88 per cent of the village area as against 86 per cent in Wardha and 70 per cent in Arvi. At the settlement of 1892-94 over 90 per cent of the available area was occupied in the Sindi and Andori assessment groups of Wardha, and the Mandgaon, Hinganghat, Pohna, Wadner and Wagholi groups of Hinganghat. In Arvi the area of unoccupied land was still comparatively extensive and in two of the hilly groups Dhari and Kachnur was less than half the total. Between the 30 years' settlement of 1862-63 and that of 1892-94, the increase in the occupied area was 14 per cent and in the cultivated area excluding old fallow 17 per cent. A great part of the district was fully cultivated at the 30 years' settlement and in 11 out of 24 groups the occupied area advanced by less than 10 per cent during the period of settlement. On the other hand in the south-east of Hinganghat in the Girar and Kora groups, and over the whole of Arvi tahsil except the tract by the Wardha river, a substantial quantity of arable land must have been waste at the 30 years' settlement and in these tracts the expansion of cultivation averaged between 30 and 60 per cent." [ Central Provinces District Gazetteers, Wardha. Vol. A., 1906, pp.91-92.]

Something less than 147,000 acres of the occupied area in 1904-05 were under old or new fallow. The position has considerably improved since then and in 1963-64 the acreage under current and other fallows together amounted to a little over 49,000 acres. For the year 1965-66 figures only for the current fallows, which accounted for 23,775 acres, are available. Lands are generally not left as fallows except for regaining the fertility of the soil. However, it should be noted that a certain proportion of the village area will always be fallow owing to idleness or poverty of the individual cultivators, and other accidental circumstances. Besides, the poorer soils khardi and bardi also require periodical resting fallows. Scarcely ever good land is left untilled if the farmer can afford to cultivate it, and its fertility is kept up by the system of crop rotation. It is not unlikely that a considerable area classed under other fallows is reserved for grazing, the quantity of regular pastures available being insufficient. No trouble is experienced from the growth of Kans grass Saccharum spontaneum) in land left fallow probably because the soil is too shallow to enable the deep rooted Kans to flourish. Table No. 3 gives the details of fallows in each tahsil of Wardha district for 1957-58, 1959-60, 1963-64 and 1965-66.

TABLE No. 3.

DETAILS OF OTHER FALLOWS IN EACH TAHSIL OF WARDHA DISTRICT

(In acres)

The area sown more than once or the area on which two crops are taken is insignificant and its acreage varies from year to year. While such acreage was 4,470 in 1957-58 it increased to 9,736 in 1965-66. Though this latter figure is higher than the former by over 4,000 acres, it shows a decline of nearly 200 acres as compared to 1963-64 figure which stood at 9,926. In respect of double cropping the old Wardha Gazetteer states, " The maximum acreage as recorded as bearing after crops from 1891-1905 was 12,000 acres in 1897-98 and the minimum 600 acres in 1899-1900. In the former years a heavy fall of rain in September enabled much land to be resown while in the latter the absence of the autumn rain reduced second sowings to a minimum. Double crops are grown principally on fields round the village which are manured by the drainage which they receive and on low-lying fields of black-soil" [ Central Provinces District Gazetteers, Wardha District, Vol. A., 1906, pp. 93-94.]. As has already been stated, there is now little scope for bringing large new tracts under cultivation as its limit in the district has practically been reached.

The proportion of area under important food and non-food crops for the district compared with the corresponding figures for the state and based on the averages for 3 years from 1957-58 to 1959-60 are reproduced from the District Census Handbook, Wardha, 1961. " Jowar obviously ranks first among the food crops of the district covering 31.04 per cent, of the gross cropped area which is about the same as the average for Maharashtra (30.95 per cent). Among food-crops pulses come next in importance with 12.39 per cent, of the gross cropped area. Tur, gram and mug are the important pulses of the district. Wheat covers another 10.98 per cent and is also an important cereal of the district. Rice (0.48 per cent.) and bajri (0.24 per cent.) are rarely grown. All the food crops together form 56.46 per cent, of the gross cropped area as against 69.88 per cent, for Maharashtra. Compared to the State averages, the district has lower proportions of areas under almost all the food-crops except jowar, wheat and pulses. The district proportion of wheat is more than twice the State average."

" Cotton with more than 2¾ times the average proportion for Maharashtra and occupying 37.76 per cent, of gross cropped area is the most important among non-food crops. In fact it is the most important crop of the district. Oil-seeds cover 5.53 per cent, of the gross cropped area. Among oil-seeds, safflower is the most important crop covering 56 per cent, of area. Sesamum covers another 35 per cent. Groundnut has almost insignificant area (0.41 per cent.) under it. This pattern is somewhat different from that of Maharashtra where 3/4th of the area under oil-seeds is covered by groundnut." [ District Census Handbook, Wardha District, 1961, Page No. 31.]

The old Wardha District Gazetteer gives the following proportion of area under different crops during 1904-05:" In 1904-05 cotton covered 400,000 acres or 40 per cent, of the cropped area, juar 310,000 or 30 percent, wheat nearly 100,000 or 10 per cent, and linseed 600,000 or 6 per cent. Cotton and juar now, therefore, cover two-thirds of the whole area and overshadow all other crops. Next in importance to the above staples comes arhar with an acreage of 85,000 or 8 per cent, of the total. This pulse is usually grown as a mixture with cotton. Til occupies 22,000 or 2 per cent, of the total, and rice only 3,000, while the pulses urad and tiura are grown on about 9000 acres." [Central Provinces District Gazetteers, Wardha District, Vol. A., 1906, pp. 94.]

The table below, based on the statistics provided by the Directorate of Agriculture, Maharashtra State, Poona, indicates tahsil-wise land-utilisation. The figures are for 1957-58, 1959-60, 1963-64 and 1965-66.

TABLE No. 4

CLASSIFICATION OF AREA IN EACH TAHSIL OF WARDHA DISTRICT

(In Acres.)

TABLE No. 4-contd.

Forest Area.

Forests in Wardha district both under the Forest and Revenue departments together cover an area of 2,52,021.79 acres. [ Figures supplied by the Divisional Forest Officer, Wardha Division and indicate position as it existed in 1964.65. Wardha Division includes Katol tahsil of Nagpur district which, if added, would increase the total by 612 acres.] Of the area in charge of the Forest department 1,28,278.27 acres constitute Reserved Forests and 85,360.52 acres Protected Forests. The remaining 38,383 acres are in charge of the Revenue department. It may be added here that the Forest department has allotted 413.73 acres of reserved forests and 234.13 acres of protected ones to rehabilitate the landless persons, freedom fighters and those affected by the Gold Control Act under the related Government Resolutions.

The forest area is distributed throughout the district but is mostly concentrated in Wardha and Arvi tahsils. The reserved forests are valuable and are well preserved and managed. Most of the area under protected forests constitutes the ex-proprietary forests vested in the State in 1951. These were not in a proper state and now schemes have been launched to work them on the basis of carefully prepared working plans. Wardha has no deserts and swampy areas but afforestation work has been undertaken in the catchment areas of the important rivers. To make supplies of better quality grass and fodder available to the local cattle, schemes for improving pasture areas are continually undertaken. A Silvicultural Research Station is being established to tackle the local silvicultural problems. The forests in Wardha fall under the broad type "Southern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests" and consist of sub-types (1) Teak forests and (2) Miscellaneous forests. Teak constitutes 90 per cent of the crop and is the most valuable.

The table below indicates tahsil-wise distribution of forests under the Forest and Revenue Departments in 1964.65.

TABLE No. 5

TAHSIL-WISE AREA [Area in acres.] UNDER FORESTS, WARDHA DISTRICT 1964.65

In order to make data available for scientific development of agriculture a soil survey scheme to determine the suitability or otherwise of soil for any particular crop was initiated in 1967. From January to June 1967 an area of 10,184.84 acres was surveyed and samples collected. The results of the survey would greatly help the cultivator in taking right type of crops on right type of soils.

In the southern parts of Wardha district, especially in Hinganghat and Deoli blocks, lands are water-logged as a result of which very poor yields are obtained. To reclaim such lands by adopting appropriate soil conservation methods, initially a plot measuring 88.02 acres has been selected in Allipur village in Hinganghat and work is in progress.

Wardha district has an area of 370,074 acres which needs contour bunding and contour terraining. Keeping in view the importance of the development of agriculture, work in this regard was taken up in March 1960 and upto March 1967 an area of 99,042.06 acres was so terrained and bunded. Such schemes as have been initiated in the district not only help increase the productivity of land but bring more area under the plough.

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