Locational Analysis of Crop Landuse in Gurgaon District
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LOCATIONAL ANALYSIS OF CROP LANDUSE IN GURGAON DISTRICT THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN GEOGRAPHY UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROF. MOHAMMAD SHAFI Professor Emeritus DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY, ALIGARH BY MOHD. MAZHAR ALI KHAN T-5%%1 DEPRATMENT OF GEOGRAPHY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH 1998 LOCATIONAL ANALYSIS OF CROP LANDUSE IN GURGAON DISTRICT THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN GEOGRAPHY UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROF. MOHAMMAD SHAFI Professor Emeritus DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY, ALIGARH BY MOHD. MAZHAR ALI KHAN DEPRATMENT OF GEOGRAPHY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH 1998 ABSTRACT The district of Gurgaon, a part of Southern Haryana Plain, is named after its city headquarter, Gurgaon. With a geographical area of 2675.0021 square kilometers (259.37 thousand hectares), it extends between the geographical co-ordinates of 27° 39' 40" N to 28° 31* 05" N and 76° 39* 40" E to 77° 20' 15" E. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The aims and objectives of the present study are to test the following hypotheses both at macro-level i.e., regional scale and at micro-level i.e., village scale. Hypotheses for Macro-Level Study 1. With increasing distance from the urban settlements (market centre), the intensity of cropping decreases. This hypothesis is tested because according to Von Thunen, the intensity of cropping decreases towards the margin of cultivation. It also seems to decline with distance from railways and highways, because as perceived by the researcher, the application of the doses of inputs is also affected with increasing distance/decreasing accessibility from the lines of communication. 2. With increasing distance from the canal i.e., decreasing intensity of canal irrigation, the intensity of cropping decreases. Since in semi- 1 arid climate of the region water is the main input to agriculture, canal irrigation brings about perceptible changes in the intensity of cropping. 3. With increasing intensity of tube-well irrigation, the intensity of cropping increases for the reasons mentioned above. 4. The locational distribution of cereals, pulses and oil seeds will increase or in other words, the intensity of cereals, pulses, and oil seeds cultivation will decrease with increasing distance from the urban settlements while that of vegetables and fodder will .decrease at macro-level. According to Von Thunen those crops which are less intensive like cereals find more favourable locations at some distance away from the settlement while crops like vegetables which are in much demand in cities and are perishable, occupy a location near the market-places. Fodder show a declining locational trend away from the cities because of its low-value and bulky nature. 5. Following the same reasoning mentioned above, the locational distribution of cereals, pulses and oil seeds will increase while that of vegetables and fodder will decrease with increasing distance from railways and highways, since accessibility decreases with increasing distance from them. 2 6. With increasing distance from the canal or decreasing intensity of canal irrigation, the locational distribution of cereals (Kharif), pulses, fodder and oil seeds will increase, as these crops require comparatively less amount of water. While the area under cereals (Rabi) and vegetables will decrease, because they require much water for being grown. 7. In angular zoning with increasing intensity of tube-well irrigation the locational distribution of cereals (Kharif), fodder, pulses and oil seeds decreases since these crops require less amount of water, while that of cereals (Rabi) and vegetables will increase. Hypotheses for Micro-level study 8. With increasing distance from the village settlement, the intensity of cropping decreases. This hypothesis is formulated for being tested, because soil fertility and the level of inputs decline gradually with distance from the village settlement. 9. The locational distribution of Kharif cereals, pulses, fodder and oil seeds will increase with increasing distance from the village settlement, because these crops need less amount of water for their cultivation. The fodder crops are of low-value and high-bulk in nature and their cultivation is extensive, moreover, the distances involved at village scale are comparatively smaller. 3 10. With distance from the village settlement the locational distribution of Rabi cereals specially wheat will increase particularly in villages with assured irrigation facilities, because high yielding varieties of wheat, the dominant Rabi cereal require several waters during its field life. 11. The locational distribution of vegetables will decrease with increasing distance from the village settlement. The reason for this type of pattern is that vegetable fields need much attention and field visits of the cultivators for the purpose of protection from stray animals. METHODOLOGY Data Generation at Macro-level The present study is planned on two levels. A macro-level approach deals with circular zoning around urban settlements, oblonged zoning along railway, parallel zoning along highway and canal as well as angular zoning around the urban settlements. In each case of zoning, six zones each of two kilometers width were drawn from the point of origin up to a distance of twelve kilometers. As far as the sampling of the villages is concerned, for each category of zonation and for each zone in every category, a stratified random sampling was carried out keeping the size of the sample to 20% 4 for each zone separately. In this way 92 villages out of 451 were picked up for the present study on macro-level (Fig. 1.0, Appendix-I). The crops data collected for each village were clubbed together in several categories of crop groups like cereals, vegetables, oil seeds, pulses, and fodder separately for both Kharif and Rabi cropping seasons (Appendix-II). For all the villages, lying in each zone, the corresponding acreage values of various crops/crop groups and other categories like net sown area and double cropped area, both for Rabi and Kharif cropping seasons were added up separately and their percentages were calculated by taking net sown area in the denominator. Statistical treatment of data was done using simple bivariate correlation and regression analyses. Student's t-test was applied on regression coefficients to test the formulated hypotheses. For this purpose, independent variables selected were (a) the average distance of each zone from its point of origin i.e., 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 kilometers (b) zone-wise intensity of irrigation in case of angular zoning about Sohna and Nagina. The rest of the variables were dependent variables like, double cropped area, and the various categories of crops/crop groups. For each pair of variables, a scatter plot along with least square line was plotted in order to study the trend and strength of relationship. In corresponding zones of each zoning schemes, the percentages of the locational distribution of crops and intensity of various crops/crop groups both for Rabi and Kharif cropping seasons were calculated with respect to net area sown, and were plotted in the form of line graphs. 5 These line graphs were presenting the percentage of crop groups along the ordinate and distances from the settlements/railway/highway/canal along the abscissa. In case of angular zoning around Sohna and Nagina, since number of tube-wells were of less significance as compared to intensity of tube-well irrigation, hence, intensity of tube-well irrigation was selected as independent variable and plotted along abscissa for the purpose of research. Scatter plots with least square line as well as statistics about correlation, regression and student's t-test were also worked out in order to help interpretation of the results with some level of confidence. Data generation at micro-level The second part of the study is based on micro-level investigation, which is related to the study of individual villages. In order to satisfy each of the following criteria, a representative village was selected through purposive sampling. 1. Less than 2 kilometers from a small town and far away (more than 2 kilometers) from railway, road, and canal and having a great dependency upon rainfall for agriculture, so that the influence of a small town on the crops could be assessed. 2. The location of crops under tube-well irrigation and far away (more than 2 kilometers) from any of the city, road, railway and canal was examined, so that the sole influence of tube-well irrigation could be assessed. 3. With maximum dependency on rainfall for cropping, and far away 6 (more than 2 kilometers) from any of the city, road, railway and canal, so that the locational patterns of crops in a rain-fed agriculture system could be studied. 4. At a distance of less than 2 kilometers from a road/railway-the transportation artery and far away (more than 2 kilometers) from city and canal within rain-fed agriculture system, so that the influence of road/railway (i.e., accessibility) on the location of crops could be assessed. 5. Less than 2 kilometers from canal with maximum area under canal irrigation, and far away (more than 2 kilometers) from city, road, railway, so that the influence of canal/canal irrigation on the location of crops could be assessed. 6. Less than 2 kilometers from a big city, and road together with maximum area put to tube-well irrigation, and far away (more than 2 kilometers) from canal, so that the combined influence of big cities, easy accessibility, tube-well and irrigation on the location of crops could be assessed. Taking the core of the village settlement as the centre of the village, the land surrounding the village settlement was demarcated into six concentric rings of almost equal width. The total area lying under each zone was computed by using square method with the help of a graph paper.