Gujarat has been divided into eight Agro Climatic Zones on the basis of agro-climatic condition, soil type, topography and cropping pattern. The Vadodara district falls under middle Gujarat of agro-climatic zone-III of the Gujarat State. Geographically, Vadodara district is lies between 21° 49’ to 22° 49’ North latitude and 72° 51’ to 74° 17’ East longitude. Total area of the district is 7,77,000 ha out of which 5,37,653 ha area cultivable. The district consists of 12 talukas. There are four Agro-Ecological Situations in the district.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION OF VADODARA DISTRICT
Vadodara District has 12 talukas with 1543 villages. Total population of the district is about 36.42 lakhs. Male population is 52per cent, while 48 per cent of the population consist of female. 6 per cent of the population belong to scheduled caste category. However, the percentage of scheduled tribe population is 27 percent.
Table 1. General information of the district
|Sl No.||Name of the block/Taluk/ Mandal||Geographical Area||No. of Gramapanchayaths||No. of revenue villages|
Table 2 : Demographic Information for the Vadodara District
Land Utilization Statistics
Total geographical area of the district is about 36.41 lakhs hectares. It is noteworthy to find that about 68per cent of the geographical area is under cultivation in the district. 8 talukas out of 12 have about more than 70per cent of their geographical area under cultivation. However, the coverage of forest area is only 4per cent and hence, there is need to increase the coverage of forest. Pasture land forms 5.00per cent of geographical area.
Table 3: Information on Land use pattern in the Vadodara District.
|Sl No.||Name of the Block||Geographical Area (Ha.)||Cultivable Area (Ha.)||Cultivated Area (Ha.)||Cultivable waste||Current Fallow (Ha.)|
Sources of irrigation:
The main sources of irrigation for crop production are tube-well and Canal. The excess irrigation to the crop has badly affected to soil fertility and productivity.
|Sr. No.||Source of irrigation||Area covered (ha)|
|2||By Well or Tube well||180226|
Agricultural marketing System
At present day it is well understood that a well developed marketing system is crucial for the growth of agricultural sectors. The principal marketing channels in the district are (1) specializes commodity marketing, (2) general purpose marketing, (3) Private traders and (4) Contractors.
The specialize commodity marketing viz; APMC at district level and sub yards at taluka level. Mainly groundnut, cotton, wheat, castor, sesamum, jowar/sorghum, bajari, garlic etc. are selling through APMC and block level co-operative. They also generally lead with fruit crops at the block level viz; Padara, Dabhoi, Savali and Karjan. Beside this, primary milk co-operatives linked with district milk co-operative society (NDDB).
Based on important features of Agro-climatic zone and other important aspects like edaphic factors (soil texture, structure and depth); source of irrigation, climatic factors at micro level (rainfall, temperature variation, relative humidity) and existing farming system. The entire district is divided into four agro-ecological situations (AES).
Table 4: Agro-ecological situation of the district
|Sl. No.||Name of AES||Situation||Crop grown||Cropping pattern||Taluka/Mandal covered|
|1||AES-I||Sandy Loam soil with high rainfall||Predominately Maize, Cotton , Tur, Tobacco, Vegetables & Horticulture crops||Cotton based Paddy-Wheat Pigeonpea based Tobacco-Bajra Vegetable based Sesamum-Jowar||Vadodara, Savli, Padara, Vaghodia, Part of Dabhoi|
|2||AES-V||Medium Black soil with high rainfall||Predominately Maize Pulses, Drilled Paddy, Hill millets||Drilled Paddy- Groundnut Maize –Pulse Hill millets- fallow||Pavi Jetpur, Naswadi, Part of Chhota Udaipur|
|3||AES-IX||Deep Black soil with high rainfall||Major Banana, Cotton, Vegetables, Sugarcane||Cotton based Banana based Sugarcane based Paddy-Wheat||Karjan, Part of Dabhoi, Sankheda, Shinor|
|4||AES-XII||Hilly Light soil with high rainfall||Drilled Paddy, Maize, Pulses||Drilled Paddy- -Groundnut Maize –Pulse Hill millets- -fallow||Part of Chhota Udaipur & Kavant|
3. Agriculture in Vadodara district SEASON WISE CROPS GROWN
Table 5: Agricultural statistics Crops, Area, Production and Productivity
|Sr. No||Crop||Area (ha)||Production (t/ha)||Productivity (qt./ha)|
Horticulture in the district
Main horticulture crops in Vadodara district are vegetables (27581 ha), fruits (21447 ha) and spices (mainly chilli). Main vegetable crops are brinjal, Lady’s Finger and Tomato. Citrus, Ber, Guava and mangoes are the main fruits. There are medicinal crops, too, grown over an area of 90 ha.
Animal Husbandry in the district
Cows and buffalos are the main cattle in the district. Cow population stands at 444071. The number of buffaloes in the district is 385583. Poultry (336964 birds), too, has significant population in the district. The other domestic animals are goat and sheep. Looking at the number of cows and buffaloes in Vadodara district, there is potential for producing organic manures and promote organic farming in the district. However the task is not easy as the farmers will have to be convinced first regarding the advantages of using organic manures and practice organic farming. They need to understand it in long term perspective. Also, the need for integrating the animal husbandry with promotion of organic farming needs to be understood properly.
Production and productivity of livestock in the district
|Category||Population||Production (000 tonnes)|