CHAPTER 4 OVERALL TOTAL AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION OF MAIN CROPS 4.1 Introduction Crops grown in the Ahmednagar district are grouped into various categories on the basis of different agronomic, nutritional, technological, economic and end-use factors. The most common and comprehensive classification gives following categories of crops : 1. Cereals : paddy (rice), wheat,jowar, bajra, vari, maize (ma k a ) , etc. 2. Pulses : gram (harbhara), pigeon pea (tur), green gram (mun g ) , black gram (udid), horse gram ikulith), field pea (mutter), lentil (masur), math, etc. 3. Oilseeds : groundnut, castor (erandi), linseed (alshi or jawas), sesame (til), safflower (kardai), sunflower, niger (karale), etc. 4. Fibre crops : cotton, sunnhemp (tag), mesta (ambadi), sisal (ghaypat), etc. 5. Fodder crops : lucerne, egyptian clover, ( barseem), para grass, etc. 6. Vegetables : potato, onion, cabbage, cauliflower, car rot, little gourd, bitter gourd, lady’s finger, brin- jal, cucumber, cluster bean, green peas, pumpkin, lettuce, radish, spinach, sweet potato, tomato, etc. 7. Fruit crops : grape, guava (peru), mango, papaya, sweet Ii 65 lime imosambi), sour lime {kagadi limbu), etc. 8. Condiments and spices : chilli, garlic, etc. 9. Drugs, dyes and narcotics : tobacco 10. Sugar crops : sugarcane The above list is not an exhaustive one. Only the important crops are incorporated in the list. Some of the crops belong to more than one categories. For example, cotton is a fibre as well as an oilseed crop. Cereals and pulses are consumable without much process­ ing. These crops fulfill basic human necessities of life. Whereas, some crops are mainly cultivated for market supply. For marketing purpose these crops require processing before their consumption. The oilseeds, sugarcane and fibre crops (for example : cotton) have to undergo processing before they could be used. The processing of some crops result in some by-products useful as animal feeds. Tobacco is a commercial crop. Producer’s own need for consumption of the tobacco is very little and ultimately most production of this crop is marketable surplus. Oil is extracted from oilseeds which is raw material for oil mills. Sugarcane is raw material of sugar factories. Cotton is raw material of spinning mills. Most of these crops thus work as the raw material for agro-based industries. Fodder crops are essential for the development of animal husbandry as well as production of milk and meat. Horticultural crop such as fruits, vegetables and flowers being mostly market oriented, are essentially commercial in character. 66 Table No. 4.1 shows that foodcrops formed a major part of agricultural production in the district. Sugarcane, the only sugar crop grown extensively in the irrigated belt, occupied over 5 per cent of the total gross cropped area of the district during the decade 1981-90. Among oilseeds, however, safflower and groundnut occupied a large area in the cropping pattern. In the category of fibre crops, very little area was occupied under cotton in the district. Among cereals, jowar was the main crop grown followed by bajra, wheat and rice while in case of pulses gram, tur, and mung were the major pulses grown in the district. Tobacco and condiment and spices had very negligible importance in the cropping pattern of the district. Cropping pattern, yield rate and talukawise analysis of cropped area are some of the important factors while study­ ing the overall agricultural production of main crops of the district. The changes in agricultural prosperity can be evaluated with reference to the shifts in the cropping pattern. One important factor influencing the agricultural production is the area under crops. "A change in the area has two aspects, one, the absolute increase in the total area cultivated and second, the change in the cropping pattern"^ Statistics regarding talukawise changes in crop­ ping pattern are helpful for the study of talukawise differ­ ences in the agricultural prosperity. This study will also focus the regional imbalance, if any, in the development of the district. 67 TABLE No. 4.1 Cropping pattern : area under important crops out of the total gross cropped area in Ahmednagar district Percentage Distribution of Area Sr. Crop No. 1960-61 70-71 80-81 89-90 80-81 to 89-90 Average 1. Rice 0.75 0.59 0.62 0.70 0.67 2. Wheat 3.79 3.53 3.96 4.15 4.19 3, Jowar 50.64 39.41 47.53 45.93 48.35 4. Baj ra 17.55 27.40 18.85 24.76 20.83 Total Cereals 73.84 71.90 72,02 76.32 74.80 5. Gram 2.24 1.53 1.30 1.52 1.45 6. Tur ! 1 .07 N.A. 0.85 1 .46 1.02 7. Mung 1 N.A. N.A. 1.33 0.73 0.91 Total Pulses 7.74 8.49 6.87 6.03 6.16 Total Foodgrains 81 .58 80.39 78.90 82.35 80.96 i 8. Sugarcane 2.72 3.94 5.94 5.81 5.18 Total foodcrops 85.14 85.33 85.85 89.67 87.33 9. Cotton 2.44 2.19 0.92 0.04 0.27 10. Groundnut 2.37 1.61 1 .14 0.79 0.93 11. Safflower N.A. 4.49 4.45 2.70 4.13 Total nonfood crops 14.86 14.67 14.15 10.33 12.67 1 Total gross cropped area 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 Source : Source for the data 60-61, 70-71, 80-81 : Directorate of Economics and Statistics : Socio-Ecpmfflic Reyiew aDd District Statistical Abstract of Ahme.dnaaa.r district : 1981-82. Government of Maharashtra, Bombay- pp.28-29. Note : (1) Average figures of 81-90 are calculated by re­ searcher on the basis of 10 years’ data given in Table No. 4.3. (2) Totals may not tally as the minor crops are not i mentioned, though they are taken into account in the total. (3) Gross cropped area is the total of net sown area and area sown more than once in the same year. 68 4.2 Cropping pattern of the district Table No. 4.1 shows the data regarding percentage of area under important crops of the total gross cropped area in Ahmednagar district. The Table is self explanatory and depicts the analysis of cropping pattern of the district. Some highlighted features from this Table are listed below : (1) Cropped area can be divided into two categories as area under total food crops and area under total non food crops. Gross cropped area is the sum of total net area under crops and area cropped more than once in the same year. While comparing area under total food crops in 1960-61, with that in the decade 1981-90, it is found that there is a marginal increase in cropped area by over two per cent under total food crops. In contrast, the area under total non food crops shows a continuous decreasing trend. (2) Area under total food grains can again be subdivided into two parts namely, area under total cereals and area under total pulses. Area under total cereals in 1960-61 was 73,84 per cent of total gross cropped area, which increased marginally to 74.80 per cent in the decade 1981-1990. Ultimately, it resulted in decrease of the area under total pulses in the decade. It was 7.74 per cent in 1960-61, which is 6.16 per cent in the decade 1981-90. (3) The crops from different categories, namely, jotfar. 69 bajra, sugarcane, wheat and safflower, together account for 82.68 per cent area in the cropping pattern out of the total gross cropped area. Out of these crops, jowar ranks first with 48.35 per cent followed by baJra, sugarcane, wheat and safflower with 20.83, 5,18, 4.19 per cent and 4,13 per cent area, respectively, during the decade 1981-90. Average index numbers of area under major crops with 1960-61 as the base year have been worked out for the decade 1981-90 at two points, viz, at the beginning, i. e, 1980-81 and at the end of the decade i,e, 1989-90, Based on these values, the average value for the decade has been worked out and presented in Table No. 4.2. It is observed that, during the last thirty years there is an increasing trend in the percentage of area under 'total food crops’. Ultimately the percentage of area under 'non food crops’ have slightly declined in the decade 1981- 90. By critically analysing these fluctuations in the per­ centages of area under different crops, it may be observed that, the area under rice, jowar, gram, cotton and groundnut was decreasing while that under bajra and sugarcane showed improving trend. There is a notable decline pertaining to cropped area under cotton and groundnut. Both these are cash crops which help to promote the development of agro-based industries. The former is the raw material for spinning mills, while the later is the raw material for oil mills, groundnut decorti­ cation units, food industries, etc. The Table further re- 70 veals that during the thirty years there was a considerable increase in the cropped area under sugarcane which is a raw material for the sugar factories of the district. TABLE No. 4.2 Average index numbers of area under important crops in the Ahmednagar district Average Index Number of Area Sr. Crop No. 1960-61 70-71 80-81 89-90 80-81 to 89-90 Average 1. Rice 100,00 78.66 82.66 93,33 89.33 2. Wheat 100,00 93,13 104,48 109.49 110.55 3.