Chapter – I

AGRICULTURAL GEOGRAPHY AN OVERVIEW

1.0 Introduction

Agriculture is as old as the man and his civilization. It is very

hard to trace when and where it has begun. But it is the known fact

that, he lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering in the beginning. It is

also believed that, when the man was there in a cave, during the

Paleolithic period, hunting the animals and gathering the fruits and

nuts were his occupations. During the Stone Age period, the hunter’s

place was at mazin in the soviet union1, at Mallaha in Israel and at

Suberde in Turkey2. During the Neolithic period, he moved; out of the

cave and started sedentary way of life apply by involving himself in

cultivation of land.

The history of the agriculture depicts that, agriculture has

begun with domestication of plants and animals in the Middle East

countries. The einkorn wheat (Triticum Monacoccum), emmer wheat

(Triticum Dicoccum), and barley (Hardeum Spontaneum) were

cultivated about 7000 B.C. at Alikosh on the borders of Iraq and Iran3.

There is also reference of beans (Phasealus), peas (pisum), bottle

gourds (Lagenaria), and water chestnut (Trapa) may have been grown

at the spirit cave in north Thailand, about 7000 B.C. In America,

pumpkins (cucurbita) and gourds (Lagennaria) are known to have

existed in North East in Mexico about 7000 B.C. Where the

agriculture have developed independently in northern and south

eastern part of Asia about 7500 B.C. and in central Mexico about
6500 B.C. The practice of agriculture has spread from the above

mentioned countries and from the Middle East to other parts of the

world. Then the people who were skilled at making things like pots,

cloths or tools and weapons were engaged in their own special activities.

In these days, agriculture was developed independently by different

groups of the people in different parts of the world. Some of them were

remained in their own occupation like hunting and gathering.

Agriculture is the age-old occupation of human beings, therefore

any country if we see, our almost half of the economic status depends

upon agriculture. Agriculture also supports to many industries by

providing raw materials to them. Development of agriculture always

depends on fertile soil, rainfall, water resources, suitable climatic

condition, leveled topography, water vapour or humidity in the

atmosphere, fertilizers and chemicals improved seeds and modern

form technology etc. About 2/3 of total population is fed by only

agriculture and remaining 1/3 of the population is fed by other

sources like industries etc. Even though, we are living in industrial

age, still agriculture is the chief occupation of man and is the

backbone of country’s economy. More than 50% of labour force of the

world is directly engaged in agriculture alone. The types of agriculture

differ from one region to another region and it is mainly because of

temperature, rainfall, soil fertility and topography etc.

The rational use of land and water introduction of high yielding

varieties of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, changes in cropping patterns

are all the needs of the present day agriculture, in the agrarian

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countries of the world. Even though some revolutionary changes are

taking place of irrigation facilities and introduction of modern tools

and equipments and form technology. Still there is a long way to go in

future to improve the agriculture in backward countries of the world.

The European voyages of discovery that began in the 1400’s

A.D. affected the agriculture throughout the world. American Indians

had developed advanced system of agriculture. In various parts of

Americas, Indian farmers grew cocoa beans, corn, peanuts, peppers,

rubber trees, sweet potatoes, tobacco and tomatoes. Europeans in

turn brought their seeds, livestock and farming tools and methods to

the regions they explode and settled.

By the late 1600 A.D., England, France, the Netherlands,

Portugal and Spain had colonies, throughout America. In tropical

regions, the colonists established plantation crops, like cocoa beans,

coffee and sugar for export. By the end of 1700 A.D. Maryland,

Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia were growing rice, sugarcane,

tobacco etc. The French who controlled Canada from 1500 A.D. to

1763 A.D. had encouraged farming.

Rice growers such as China, India and Japan had greatly

increased their rice production from 1600 A.D. to 1800 A.D. by

improving through the methods of irrigation. But in 1600 A.D. the

wealthy land owners of Asia had began the system of tenant farming.

Which lasted in the mid of 1900 A.D.4

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1.1 Agriculture in the 19th Century5

Since, the 1800’s, science and technology have helped the

agriculture to produce more and more food grains. Science and

technology have contributed to the great increase in farm production

in three main ways. They have:

i) Provided farmers with new sources of power,

ii) Producing improved plant varieties and improved lives (varieties)

or breeds of livestock, and

iii) Developed new agriculture chemicals.

1.2 Agriculture in the 20th Century6

Agriculture technology has developed more rapidly in the 20th

century. With the result the Africa and Asia have initiated large-scale

efforts to improve their agriculture. The modern agriculture is

practiced throughout the world in general, India and study area in

particular with tractors, unit machinery, tomato harvesting machinery,

equipments, automobiles, trucks, medicines spraying pumps,

harvesters, fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, chemicals to control

diseases, corn pickers, etc.

1.3 Agriculture in India during British Period7

British did not come to stay and make India their new home.

They came to rule, to exploit, to extract as much as wealth possible.

But at the same time, they thought how to make a commercialization

of agriculture.

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 The main changes brought in India during the British period

that have direct bearing on agrarian transformation are now discussed

under two headings,

i) Changes in the institutional structures, and

ii) The technological upgradation of agriculture.

In the formal type of land system, they introduced three types of

land settlements such as Zamindari, Ryotwari and Mahalwari. In

Ryotwari areas, absentee landlords were given right to collect the land

revenue. It was believed that, this newly created class of landlords

would initiate modern farming practices. Under the Ryotwari and

Mahalwari areas, the cultivating sections of the village community had

direct land rights and even there leasing in and leasing out of land

took place on a large scale, as land passed into the lands of non

cultivators due to indebtedness and other reasons.

During British period, few changes in technology of production

in agriculture took place. The upgradation of the irrigation came in

primarily, as a result of frequent famines, during the late nineteenth

and early twentieth century. British undertook large investment in

irrigation and had created a reasonable network of canal irrigation in

Punjab, Sindh and Uttar Pradesh in 1920’s. Some agricultural

Universities were instituted and research was encouraged. It was

during the British period, the foundations for research and scientific

development in agriculture were laid down.

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1.4 Agriculture in Post Independent Period8

It was only after the independence that, a planned attempt was

made to bring about agrarian transformation in India with a view to

improving the lot of peasantry. The policy makers adopted a two-fold

strategy for agriculture. The first strategy was to implement land

reforms and the second element of the national policy was that, large

investments were undertaken in irrigation, power and other rural

infrastructure.

Broadly speaking, two periods can be distinguished in the

history of development during the post independence. The first period

roughly extended from 1951 to 1961. During this period, the main

emphasis was to bring the institutional changes and land reforms and

to expand the irrigation infrastructure. In the second period, which

extended from 1960-61 onwards, the main emphasis was on

increasing yields through modern inputs and improved methods of

production. In this period, the role of technology contributed a major

input in agriculture.

1.5 Indian Agriculture

Indian agriculture is one of the oldest occupations and it is the

main occupation of more than 65% of working population of the country.

It is continued in its old fashion except some rich farmers and farmers

with irrigation tracks. After the independence of our country,

agricultural development launched through five year plans, but the

effects were not felt till 1960. Later on it was realized that, there is no

way to develop Indian economy unless there is an agricultural

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development. Then new methods of cultivation i.e., Scientific and

technological methods, have been used for agricultural operations

wherever possible. Also the ‘Package programme’ often called as the

“green revolution” is introduced first time in Indian agriculture through

high yielding varieties of seeds in the year 1960. New agricultural

practices have, however, broken the traditional institutions of rural

India and have created grate disparities in the assets and income of

different parts of the countries,9 at present agriculture plays an

important role in Indian economic status. Now, geographers are taking

much interest in regional disparities in agricultural development, crop

productivity, agricultural income, agricultural infrastructure etc.

Indian agriculture has undergone a revolutionary change in

recent years. The production is also substantially increased. There are

few district/river basins zones those are highly developed, some are

moderately developed, and still many have to develop in agriculture. It

is interesting to note that, food grain production increased by more

than two-times from 50 million tons in 1950-51 to 150 million tons in

1983-8410, 199.06 million tons in 1999-2000 and 241.56 million tons in

2010-11 in the entire country.

Indian geographers have made a remarkable study in the field of

agriculture. In this connection, there are many geographical journals

like Indian geographical journal (the first professional journal in the

country), the organization of the madras geographical association etc.,

through which the studies on agriculture are brought to the notice of

the learneds. At the same time, establishment of university departments

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of geography at Aligarh (1931) Madras (1932) Calcutta (1941) and

Varanasi (1946) have played an important role in the development of

agriculture branches of geography. Regional studies on agricultural

theme are intensively taken up and studies at Macro, Meso and Micro

levels are also involved. During the last 50 years, notable work on

agricultural geography have come from the efforts of the distinguished

geographer such as; Gopalan S.K. (1937) Mukhevjee B.N. (1942),

Deshpande C.D. (1942), Dayal P. (1950), Mukherjee A.B. (1956), Shafi

(1960), Mishra S.N. (1964) and many others. Among the Indian

geographers who have contributed in the field of land utilization

agriculture planning along with the case studies, the following are

noteworthy; Mishra R.P. (1969), Reddy N.B.K., Noor mohammad,

Vithal Reddy, Tiwari V.K., Majid Hussain, Mandal R.B., Roy B.K.,

Chaterjee S.P., Rafiullah S.N., Choudhari N.R., Sinha B.N. etc.

Apart from the above mentioned eminent scholars there are

many scientific organizations that have been engaged in agricultural

research. They are National Atlas organization, Indian statistical

institute and central arid research institute, National Atlas and

thematic mapping organization Calcutta, Atlas of agricultural resources

of India, (36 plates), Indian concord of Social Science research

(ICSSR), Irrigational Atlas of India (35 plates), International crop

research Institute for Semi-arid tropics (ICRISAT) etc.

1.6 New Agriculture Strategy and Green Revolution11

Since, the mid-1960’s, the traditional agriculture practices are

gradually being replaced by modern technology and farm practices in

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India and a veritable revolution is taking place in our country. Initially

the new technology was tried in 1960-61 as a pilot project in seven

districts and was called Intensive Agriculture District Programme (IADP).

Later, the high-Yielding Varieties Programmes (HYVP) was also added

and the strategy was extended to cover the entire country. This strategy

has been called by various names. Modern agricultural technologies,

seed fertilizer - water technology, are simply part of green revolution.

The term ‘green revolution’12 has been used to indicate higher

production through enhanced productivity per hectare. Such a vertical

growth in productivity, rather than a horizontal expansion in area is

the only pathway available to us during this century to meet the food

and livelihood needs of a growing population.

As a result of the new agriculture strategy13, area under

improved seeds has gone up from about 15 million hectares, during

1970-71 to nearly 75 million hectares in 1995-96, in the year 1996-

97, little bit increased trend i.e., 76.42 million hectares. The new

varieties are of short term duration and consequently, instead of

growing one crop, two crops and sometimes, even three crops are

grown. In the case of wheat, enthusiasm has prevailed among farmers

in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Western U.P. for the new

Mexican varieties like Lerma Roja, Sonara-64, Kalyan and P.V. 18 and

a situation developed in which the demand for seeds by the farmers

exceeded the supply. But, in the case of rice, the new varieties like

T.N. 1, IR-8, Tinen-3 and ADT-17, which were tried and found

successful on a laboratory scale, could not be successfully applied on

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the field. Some breakthrough, however, has been achieved in rice

areas by developing better and more acceptable varieties like IR-8.

Traditional agriculture relies heavily on indigenous inputs such

as, the use of organic manures, seeds, simple ploughs and other

primitive agricultural tools, bullocks, etc. Modern technology, on the

other hand, consists of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, improved

varieties of seeds including, hybrid seeds, agricultural machinery,

extensive irrigation, use of diesel and electric power, etc. Since 1966,

the use of modern agricultural inputs have increased at a compound

rate of 10 percent per annum in contrast to the traditional inputs rising

at the rate of only one percent per annum, during the same period.

Green revolution has introduced, new agriculture technology

and its uses such resources like fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural

machinery etc., which are produced outside the agricultural sector. As

a result, industries supplying the modern farm inputs, are growing at

a rapid rate. Massive programmes of farm mechanization and irrigation

have also led to an increase in the consumption of electricity and

diesel in rural areas of India in general and study area in particular.

The major achievements14 of the new strategy in green

revolution to increased the production of major cereals, viz., wheat

and rice. There is increase in rice production from 89.68 million tons

in 1999-2000 to 95.98 million tons in 2010-11. The yield per hectare

has also recorded improvements from 1986 Kgs. in 1999-2000 to

nearly 2239 Kgs. in 2010-11.

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 The production of wheat was 76.37 million tons in 1999-2000

and it rose to 86.87 million tons in 2010-11. This increase can be

attributed to an extension of the area, but the yield per hectare rose

from 2778 Kgs. to 2988 Kgs.

It is interesting to observe that, the ratio of wheat to rice has

steadily increased from 1999-2000 and also in 2010-11, to over 17.42

percent in 1999-2000 and nearly 10.49 percent in 2010-11. It is due

to the impact of green revolution in the country. Even though rice

continues to be the most important cereal in the country, wheat is

catching up fast.

1.7 Classification of Agriculture

G.G. Chisholm classified agriculture in the last 1890’s. It was

nothing more than a long list of crops and animal products divided

into for broad latitudinal groups. His classification was based on the

goods produced. So, it was criticized severely. Later on, a German

geographer H. Engelbrecht, in the year 1930 published a map entitled,

“Agricultural Zones of the Earth”, which distinguished between twelve

main types of farming. In the year 1936, Derwent Whittlesey devised a

classification that became widely accepted because; it avoided the

weaknesses of the earlier system. (Table 1.1)

Among the above mentioned classification, the study area comes

in the subsistent type of agriculture. This study aims to contribute the

agricultural factors and cropping pattern and crop combination of the

district, which is the micro-level study in the agricultural geography.

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 Table - 1.1: Whittlesey’s Classification of Agriculture

Sl. Whittlesey’s Categories Simplified Version Main Group

No.
Subsistent
1. Nomadic Herding Nomadic Herding
categories
Shifting
Cultivation with
2. Shifting Cultivation -
some scattered
sedimentary tillage

Rudimental Sedimentary Intensive tillage

3. -
tillage without paddy/rice
Intensive subsistence tillage
4. - -
with rice dominant
Intensive subsistence tillage
5. - -
without paddy/ rice
Subsistence crop and live
6. - -
stock forming
Mediterranean
Subsistence/
7. Mediterranean Agriculture Agriculture live
Commercial
stock ranching
8. Live stock ranching -
Tropical and Sub-
Commercial plantation crop
9. tropical cash -
tillage
cropping
Commercial grain reforming Extensive grain
10. -
and group farming farming
Commercial
Commercial live stock and Crop and live stock
11. and semi-
crop farming farming
commercial
12. Commercial dairying Dairying -
Specialized
13. Specialized Horticulture -
Horticulture

1.8 Major Classification of Agricultural Regions of India

The major classification of Indian agricultural regions are based

on topography, soil, climatic conditions, land use pattern, water

supply, farming practices, crop combination and agricultural

productivity. Agro-economic factors are also taken into consideration

for classification of agricultural regions.

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 In India, various attempts have been made from time to time for

agricultural regionalization of the country. These attempts were made

by some individual scholars and organizations-like:

1. Dr. M.S. Randhawa,

2. P. Sengupta and

3. Planning Commission etc.

1. Randhawa’s Agricultural Regions15

The great and well-known agricultural scientist Dr. M.S.

Randhawa has divided India into five main agricultural regions on the

basis of climate, crops and live stock animals etc.

These regions are -

i) The temperate Himalayas Region.

ii) The Dry Northern Wheat Region.

iii) The Eastern rice Region.

iv) The Malabar Coconut (Western West) Region.

v) The Southern Millet (Medium Rainfall) Region.

2. P. Sengupta Classification16

In 1968 P. Sengupta has outlined four agricultural zones or

Macro-agricultural regions, eleven meso-regions and sixty micro-regions

in ‘Economic Regionalization of India’. The macro-regions are;

i) Himalaya’s Agricultural zone

ii) Dry Agricultural zone

iii) Sub-Humid Agricultural zone and

iv) Wet Agricultural zone.

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 The three zones are based on rainfall distribution except the

Himalayan zone.

3. Planning Commission Scheme

The planning commission has divided the country into 15 Agro-

climate regions i.e., on the basis of Agro-climate factors like type of

soil, rainfall, temperature and water resources etc.

These regions are –

i) Western Himalayan Region

ii) Eastern Himalayan Region

iii) Lower Gangetic Plains Region

iv) Middle Gangetic Plains Region

v) Upper Gangetic Plains Region

vi) Trans - Gangetic Plains Region

vii) Eastern plateau and Hills Region

viii) Central Plateau

ix) Western Plateau

x) Southern Plateau

xi) East Coast Plains

xii) West Coast Plains and Ghats Region

xiii) Gujarat Plains

xiv) Western Dry Region

xv) The Islands Region.

1.9 Concept and Approaches to Agricultural Geography

Agricultural geography is one of the important branches of

economic geography and draws its subject matter both from the

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physical as well as social sciences. Geographers with their usual

training and background is some how able to cover in their field, the

multitudinal facts of the over-widening and inter-disciplinary field of

agriculture. Now the field of geography is changing from inventory,

narrative and descriptive to an analytical, quantitative and predictive

science of any items spread over the surface of the earth. Hence, the

field of agriculture geography is also changing from inventory to a

predictive science of crops and live stock and forecast about their

trend. Since agriculture is one of the primary economic activities, the

study and relationship of agriculture with its environment may well

deserve the title “The Science of Agriculture”.

Geographers are also very interested in studying various aspects

of agriculture at Micro, Meso and Macro levels. The specialists have

gradually developed the subject matter of agriculture geography with

the help of modern, sophisticated and dependable tools of investigation

and analysis. As a science, agricultural geography is concerned with

the formulation and testing of hypothesis, interpretation of spatial

distribution and location of various characteristics of agricultural

activities on the earth and the measurement of geographic relationship

with them. As a science it also seeks to identify, describe and clarify

the problems of agriculture against a geographical backdrop.

1.10 Scope of the Subject

The potentiality of a region depends upon the intensive and

extensive growth of agriculture for the well being of human society.

The growth of this aspect brings economic prosperity through better

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agricultural production, planned location for industries, concentration

of population and developed communications. Thus, one cannot think

of any progress without improving conditions of people. Agricultural

land use and industries are the immense value in any scheme of

regional development and planning. Agriculture included land devoted

to the production of cultivated plants, crops and rearing of livestock.

However, some writers restrict the term agriculture only to the

growing of crops alone. As such the scope of agricultural geography

includes regional agricultural analysis, food and commercial crops,

problems of agriculture and planning, the ownership of agriculture

land, agro-climatology, agricultural region, land classification, land

conservation, crop combination levels of agricultural development and

ultimately supply of food in relation to population growth.

The concept of agricultural geography is generally based on the

following ideas of agricultural economics.

1) The use of resource of environment, space, time, property, goods,

techniques and information.

2) The scarcity of land resource or agricultural commodity on a

particular space and time which provides

3) Improving the quality of agricultural land for better production of

food grain and cash crops.

4) Exchange of agricultural goods and landed property rights which

play an important role in subsistence agriculture for economic

development.

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5) The choice of alternate enterprises, farming systems and methods

of agricultural practices, transport network and market behaviour

of agricultural goods.

On the basis of these ideas agricultural geographers are

interested to study on two levels.

1) They are interested in barren fields, soil fertility, water resources,

fertilizers, irrigational facilities, cultivation and production of

individual crops with high yields. Marketing of agricultural goods

and animal rearing.

2) Also geographers are concerned with the functional relationship of

these structures that give rise to the complex and dynamic

character in agricultural practices. With the help of these two levels

of agricultural studies, the principles of agricultural geography are:

i) Principles of comparative advantage

ii) Law of diminishing returns

iii) Principles of economic rent

iv) Minimization of effort and input

v) Maximization of production

vi) Protective space and optimization of crops

vii) Optimization of quality of produce in relation to environmental

factors and

viii) Principles of agricultural typology.

While studying agricultural geography more attention is given to

three sets of relations. They are;

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i) Between the physical environment and agricultural operations, a

physical environment exerts upon agricultural operations.

ii) Between Socio-economic and agriculture space, as Socio-economic

factors affect the intensity of land use, selection of crops, farming

methods, relationship between cropping and livestock raising etc.

iii) A resemble of historical relationship to find out the causes of

stagnation in agriculture in the past. These would assess the

degree of change from subsistence to commercial type of farming.

1.11 Significance of Agriculture

Agriculture occupies an important place in the Indian economy

and despite of the concerted industrialization in the last five decades,

agriculture continues to be a dominant sector of the Indian economy.

Agriculture being the largest industry in the country, it covers an area

about 193 million hectares of cropped area and (even in 2006-07)

provides employment to more than 65 percent of the total labour force

in the country. Fluctuations in agricultural output, has an important

influence on the state of the national economy. The share of

agriculture in gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been in the range of

52 to 55 percent during 1950-51 to 1960-61. The share of agriculture

indicated a sharp decline and reached a level of 26 percent in 1996-97

and 13.7% in 2012-13. The share of agriculture in the GDP is still

dominating as compared to other advanced countries like USA (1

percent) and United Kingdom (1 percent).

Agricultural mechanization is one of the important means,

introduced during 20th century, for achieving agriculture productivity.

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A new technology and using modern equipments in agriculture aimed

at augmenting agricultural production. Towards this end, the various

programmes and schemes were carried out. For instance, in

Karnataka, the programmes like Women and Youth Training

Employment (WYTEP) was introduced in 1982-83, covering all the

districts. It was aimed at training women and youth in the application

of relevant technology in agricultural operations and thereby bringing

them into the mainstream of agricultural activities. In the same line,

High Yielding Varieties Programmes (HYVP) was introduced during

1965-66, with a view to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains. During

1990-91, an area of 31.57 lakh hectares was covered under the

programmes. Similarly, Dry-land Development Programme (DDP) was

introduced aiming at minimizing risk in rainfed farming and inducing

investments in the use of inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizers,

pesticides and so on.

The economic survey 1998-99 has expressed grave concern at

the low growth rate in food grains output during 1990s, which has

been at only 1.72 percent being just equal to the annual exponential

growth in population. In 1990s, the annual growth rate in agricultural

production has been 3.54 percent. The survey noted that, the decline

in food-grain production in 1997-98 to 192.4 million tons from a peak

level of 199.4 million tons in 1996-97 increased to 241.56 million tons

in 2010-11. The food-grain production increased to 38.8 percent

compared to 1997-98 due to improved agricultural methods and

government policies.

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 The sustained and broad based growth of agriculture is

considered very essential for elevating poverty, generating incomes

and employment, assuring food security and sustaining a buoyant

domestic market for industry and services. In this direction, the

Government of India has come out with new agricultural policies.

These aim at dismantling all controls that, hinders maximization of

farm income future trading in all important agricultural products to

minimize market fluctuations allowing heading of risks facilitating

flow of credit to farmers against pledging of their produces and keep

agriculture outside the regulatory and tax collection system. The

overall thrust of the policy is to achieve an annual growth rate in

excess of 4 percent to pave the way for not only meeting the domestic

demands, but also creating surplus for exports. Furthermore, a very

high proportion of working population is engaged in agriculture as it is

the main source of livelihood. The total cultivators and farm labourers

(cultivators, agriculture labourers, livestock, forestry, fishing and

plantations etc.), together constitute around 68.8 percent (151.9

million) in 1981 and 67.8 percent in 1991. In the year 2001 constitute

around 39.30 percent (1025.25 million) and 39.79 percent (1210.85

million) of the total working population in the year 2011. Where as in

developed countries, it is less than 10 percent of the working

population, for instance in USA, it is 2 percent, and in the U.K., it is 2

percent and in France 8 percent. It has been the source of raw

materials to our leading industries. Small scale and cottage industries

are also depend on agriculture for their raw material. The dependence

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of industrial growth, on agricultural output is clearly brought out

that, one percent increase in agricultural production enhance

industrial production by about 5 percent.

Importance of Indian agriculture also extends to export trade.

The exportable agricultural products interalia are coffee, tea, oil cakes,

tobacco, cashew kernels, spices, sugar, raw cotton, fish and fish

preparations, meat and meat preparations, vegetable oil and fruits etc.

They account for more than 90 percent share in agricultural exports.

1.12 Analytical Approach towards the Study

Land is one of the important resources which plays an important

role in determining man’s economic, special and cultural progress as

it is evident from the socio economic history of different nation’s.

Planners and geographers should plan, how to use land in respect of

various natural aspects and they should suggest proper utilization of

available agricultural land. A systematic framework and survey is

needed for up-dating land use and land cover maps which will help

planners and agricultural geographers to plan for further land use.

“Land use data are needed in the analysis of environmental processes

and problems that must be understood if living conditions and

standards are to be improved or to be maintained at current level”17.

Various departments in the state and central government,

university departments and private sectors have been trying to collect

data related to land resources for last many years, but their work,

mostly were independent without any co-ordination and resulted in

certain amount of duplication. Because of the slow process of

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collection of data, some time will become out dated and this will lead

to failure of plans. There are very few organizations like National Atlas

and the Thematic Mapping Organization, All India soil and land use

survey, Directorate of economic and statistics, Department of

agriculture etc, that have developed their own classification schemes

for land use planning. Land use maps so prepared give an idea of land

use pattern and trends of change. National Remote Sensing Agency,

Hyderabad, has used lands at imaginary to update the existing land

use map in a short time in certain areas.

1.13 The Aims and Objectives of the Study Area

The present study is made to bring out systematic account of

the complex, diversified and dynamic nature of agriculture of Koppal

District through the process of identification, classification, delineation

and description of problems on agricultural development and nutritional

standards. This is to provide a comprehensive understanding and to

gain insights into the problem as well as planning for the development

of agriculture nutrition of all the villages of Koppal District. The

present study attempts.

1) To study and identify the natural resource endowment and

economic regions of the district.

2) To analyze taluka wise growth of population, occupational

structure and functional nature of the district.

3) To analyze the land use pattern (taluka wise) and cultivable area,

and to know the cropping pattern and demarcate the area under

different crops in talukas of the district.

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4) To know role of irrigation in agricultural development.

5) To analyze the crop regions with reference to crop area and crop

combination.

6) To evaluate the volume of change in area, productivity and

production of important principal crops.

7) To evaluate the agricultural efficiency of the district.

8) To know the variations in spatial development of all talukas of

Koppal district in terms of socio-economic and demographic

indicators.

There are many studies on agricultural geography by different

geographers. In this regard the work of Whittlesey (1930) is well

known18. Among the various fields of geography, economic geography,

perhaps more than any other has experienced and undergone a

remarkable change within the past thirty years. “Geography was

tended in the past to be the descriptive rather than analytical19”.

Today agriculturist and agronomists are increasingly concerned with

world-wide distribution of crops, animals, types of rural economy and

the problems associated with them20. Gregor opines that, it was only

at the end of the 19th Century that geographic literature on agriculture

began to be seen. In the same period Author Young of England and

J.N. Schwerz of Germany also thought on the same lines as Gregor

contributed significantly to the literature on agriculture. Gregor calls

it as an old subject and young field21. Later on in 1807, Alexander Von

Humbolt references to “Natural paintings of tropical land” and in 1911

Krzynowskis article on “Scientific position of agricultural geography”,

23
were amongst the first to be landed in this field. They devoted for his

methodological work on the “Problems of agricultural geography”22.

T.H. Engelbrecht (1883)23 and many other young geographers have

contributed substantially on the themes of agricultural geography.

1.14 Selection of the Study Area

India is one of the developing countries in the world, and stands

second in population next to China. So it is quite natural in having a

number of problems like insufficient food, old methods of agriculture,

lack of transportation, lack of industrial development, unemployment,

starvation, etc., at state and national levels. Koppal District being part

and partial of Karnataka state and India, it is quite natural and not

exceptional, if it has same problems or even more.

Apart from that, there are quite a number of works, which have

to be done at the state and national level agricultural development

planning’s. But only a few of them have been done on Shinha B.N.24,

Mishra R.P., Ayyar N.P., Tiwari A.K., Doi K., Bhat L.S.25, Sharma A.N.26,

Chakraborth S.C.27, Mukherji, Partha28, out of these experts some of

the geographers have done on micro level planning through a

geographical approach to get an effective result. This field is yet to be

developed by many of the geographers in India, where there is ample

scope for doing research. This has inspired the researcher to choose

the topic for study purpose.

1.15 Reasons for the Selection of the Study Area

With a spatial emphasis on social justice, the Indian Government

has been trying hard to evolve a workable feasible acceptable strategy

24
for developing its backward area and regions. As a result of it almost

all states have been making attempts through designed programmes

and measures to develop the backward area of the state. Since,

Koppal District has been considered as one of the backward district in

Karnataka state from the point of view of agricultural and amenities,

in spite of rich natural and human resources, it has been selected for

the study purpose.

Koppal District experiences the geographical characteristics of

Maidan region, and it is known for its geological structure in India.

This is presently an agrarian-based district in the state. In view of the

backwardness in agricultural development, attention has recently

been given by the government to establish industrial units by inviting

entrepreneurs, from outside the state. To eradicate the disparities found

in the state, the government of Karnataka has introduced ‘District

Planning Units’ in backward district, based on the observation and

survey, mainly from Statisticians and some government administrators.

It is observed that the involvement of Geographers, Economists/Regional

planners is very meager. On account of the attempt has been made to

show planning through geographical knowledge and techniques.

In view of the main emphasis given for micro-level development

programmes by the government, Koppal District has been chosen for

the present thesis through a geographical approach. Koppal District is

one of the prominent districts having the number of villages in the

Koppal District. According to 2011 census, it stands fifteenth in terms

of area, and twenty-first in terms of population.

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1.16 Methodology

To study the various aspects of agricultural geography of Koppal

District of Karnataka state, the data for two periods i.e., 1999-2000

and 2010-11 are taken from the different sources.

The present work is based on primary and secondary data.

Primary data is based on actual field work by questionnaire and a

personal interview method. Data has been collected from various

government and Semi-government offices and respondents from

different villages. Talukawise one village has been randomly selected

for survey work. The study has been analyzed with the help of latest

Quantitative Techniques, like Intensity of Irrigation, Intensity of

Cropping, Ranking of crops, Crop Combination, Crop Concentration,

Crop diversification, Crop Productivity, Arable Land use Efficiency,

Rank order score method, Maps, Diagrams and Photos.

26
References

1) “The World Book Encyclopedia”. A. Vol. 1, p. 145.

2) “The New Encyclopedia”. Vol. 1, p. 325.

3) Ibid., p. 325.

4) “The World Book Encyclopedia”. A. Vol. 1, p. 147.

5) “The New Encyclopedia”. Britannica. Vol. 1, pp. 337-339.

6) “Agrarian Transformation”. Interaction between Traditional and

Modernity, p. 38.

7) Yojana. August 15, 1993. Article – “Agrarian Transformation”, p. 40.

8) “Indian Economy”. Rudradatta, K.P.M., Sundaram, p. 560.

9) Manorama Year Book 2001: “Growing the Food We Need”.

10) “New Agricultural Strategy and Green Revolution”. Ruddar Datt,

K.P.M. Sundharam, p. 560.

11) Ibid., p. 561.

12) Randhawa. M.S.: “A History of Agriculture in India”. Vol. 1, p. 23.

13) Singh Jagadish: “India, A Comprehensive Systematic Geography”.

p. 32.

14) Hussain, Majid (1982): “Crop combination in India a Study”.

Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi.

15) Reddy, K.V. and Rao, Rammohari, R. (1984): “Readings in

Agricultural Resource Development”. Hyderabad Publications,

Hyderabad.

16) Anderson J.R. (1976): “Land Use and Land Cover Classification

System for use in Remote Sensor Data”. Professional Paper No.

964, UGCS, Reston Virginia.

27
17) Gordon, Clerk (1984): ‘The Meaning of Agricultural Regions”.

Scottish Geography Magazine, Vol. 100, p. 34.

18) Chisholm, M. (1971): “Research in Human Geography”. S.S.R.C.

London, p. 2.

19) Synoms, L. (1968): “Agricultural Geography”. Bell’s London, p. 1.

20) Gregor, H.F. (1970): “Geography of Agriculture Themes in

Research”. Prentice Hall, p. 1.

21) Krzynowski. R. (1911): “Die Wissenschaftliche Stullung der land

writeschafts geographic”. Fuhlings Land Writeschaftliche Zeitung,

Vol. 60, pp. 252-265.

22) Engelbrecht, T.H. (1883): “Der Standard der Land

writeschaftszweique Liche Jaharbicher”. Vol. 12, pp. 459-509.

23) Sinha, B.N. (1959): “Geo-Economic Planning of Orissa State”.

Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Calcutta University, Calcutta.

24) Misra, R.P. (1969): (Ed.) “Regional Planning”. Concept Techniques

Policies, A Case Study, Mysore.

25) Bhat, L.S. (1976): “Micro level Planning: A Case Study of Karnal

Area”.

26) Sharma, A.N. (1981): Spatial Approach for District Planning: A

Case Study of Karnal District.

27) Chakraborthy, S.C. (1972): “Delimitations of Planning Area: An

Experiment on Calcutta, 1961”. Vol. 34, 1972, Geog. Rev. of

India.

28) Mukherji, Partha (1977): “Micro-level Planning: Strategy for Rural

Development”.

28