ECONOMIC TRENDS

ECONOMIC RESOURCES

Agriculture is by far the most important of the natural resources in the district. Agricultural land covering a net cultivated area of about 10,19,629 acres in 1965-66 is not only the principal source of the livelihood of the people but is also the principal source of agro-industrial raw material such as, cotton, cotton seed, groundnut, castor seed, etc. The land under cultivation can be classified into the following categories, such as, black cotton soil, medium deep black soil, shallow soil, kharadi and baradi soil. Black soil however occupies the largest proportion of the cultivated soil, and is found in the Arvi tahsil and some parts of Wardha and Hinganghat tahsils. The Wardha valley contains very fertile tracts of soil. These soils are suitable for cotton, as well as for wheat, jowar, groundnut, gram, tur and sesamum.

Forests.

Forests are valuable national wealth and play an important role in building the national economy. They not only supply fuel, timber, building material and some raw materials for industries but also help to increase the fertility of agricultural land by preventing soil erosion and by guaranteeing assured rainfall.

Wardha district is not bestowed with this wealth as most of the forests in the district are scattered in small patches and do not possess valuable species such as teak and seamal. They cover an area of about 2.20 lakh acres and are not very productive. The development programme for forests has, therefore, to concentrate on plantation of denuded areas, afforestation (especially of valuable species), demarcation of working plans and providing roads in the inaccessible areas.

Under the plan programmes, 70 acres of forest land was brought under valuable trees during the Second Plan and 530 acres during the Third Plan. Besides, an area of about 377 acres of denuded forests was afforested during the Second Plan and 200 acres during the Third Plan.

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