Research Paper Volume : 4 | Issue : 10 | October 2015 • ISSN No 2277 - 8179 Geography A Study on Changes of Landuse and KEYWORDS : Landuse changes – crop- Cropping Pattern in Tiruchirappalli ping pattern – climatic conditions - water District qualit y S.Balaselvakumar Asst. Professor of Geography, Periyar E.V.R. College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli Research Scholar, Department of Earth and Industrial Sciences, Tamil University, P.Sujatha Thanjavur ABSTRACT In this paper, an attempt was made to assess the changes and mapping the landuse and cropping pattern in Tiruchirappalli District for the five years of statistical data (2008 & 2012). Almost all the landuse categories are well found in the taluks of Thuraiyur and Manapparai and least in Tottiyam taluk. Musiri, Lalgudi and Manapparai taluks are well distributed the cropping pattern and Srirangam taluk is least. The changes were identified, in which the decrease of main landuse categories namely net-cultivable area (from 42.1 to 34.6 %) and other fallow land (from 14.3 to 10.8%). The increase of main landuse categories were identified namely forest (from 8.2 to 9.3%), land put to non-agricultural use (from 16.9 to 20.7%), and current fallow land (from 9.5 to 12.2%). Paddy, cotton and sugarcane were mainly cultivated in the study area. The changes of crops were identified, in which the decrease and increase namely cotton (from 6.7 to 5.7 %), paddy (from 36.3 to 46.2%) and sugarcane (from 5.5 to 5.0%). The changes of land use and cropping pattern may be affected by rainfall, climatic condition, and quality of water, physical factors and human activities. INTRODUCTION The amount of rainfall computed for the present study into four Agriculture is the most fundamental activity of mankind. It re- seasons viz., Winter (January and February months), Summer fers to the art of raising plant from soil and it is carried through- (March, April and May), Southwest (June, July August and Sep- out the world. Agricultural resources are the key to Indian tember) and North East (October, November and December). economic development and quality of life. The consumption of Of the four seasons, rainfall is found to be maximum during the agriculture domestic product are high in India, nearly 75 per northeast season. Considerable amount of rainfall is received cent percent of the people in India depend upon agriculture during the southwest monsoon. Rainfall during the other two products. Even in industrialized countries, agriculture is most seasons viz., winter and summer are very less. Temperature is important activity because it provides food crops like paddy and generally very high during summer. It is comparatively lower wheat etc., In this study area of the peoples have been involving during winter. In other months it is moderate. in agricultural activities but in the last decade’s peoples not ac- tively involved in agriculture practices and also the geographical The general slope of the district is towards east. It has a number of condition such as climate, rainfall and quality of soil to deter- detached hills, among which Pachamalai Hill is an important one, mine the system of agriculture pattern. which has a peak up to 1015m, located at Sengattupatti Rain Forest. Tiruchirappalli district is comprised of eight taluks. This includes Landuse is to study the spatial distribution of major landuse 14 blocks, 408 Village Panchayats and 1590 Villages. This district categories namely forest, cultivable land, fallow land, uncultiva- consists of four municipalities. Tiruchirappalli is the only Municipal ble land, waste land etc. Cropping pattern is the proportion of Corporation which is also the Head Quarters of the District. area under various crops at a point of as it changes over space and time. Landuse and cropping pattern of spatial distribution over a time scale are perquisite for making development plans (Cautam and Narayan, 1982& 1985; Dhinwa et.al., 1992; Ibrahim and Loulou, 1994). Its changes are associated with climate and human activities and natural environments. According to R. Baskaran and J.Punithavathi (2011) have been prepared maps for the changes of cropping pattern, crop concentration and ag- ricultural efficiency in Papanasam Taluk, Thanjavur District, Ta- mil Nadu, India. Sujatha, P et.al (2011) to attempted a study on landuse pattern and cropping pattern of Orthanadu Block, Than- javur District, Tamil Nadu and Arif H. Shah, Hakim F. Ahmad, Zahoor A. Nengroo (2013) studied the land-use and cropping pattern dynamics in Budgam District, Kashmir. A limited num- ber of research works have been studied landuse and cropping pattern for agriculture planning. On this basis of literature, in this study an attempt to understand the changes of landuse and cropping pattern in Triuchirappalli District. FIG NO .1 LOCATION MAP OF THE STUDY AREA STUDY AREA Tiruchirappalli district of the study area is located at the Central AIM AND OBJECTIVES. part of Tamil Nadu surrounded by Perambalur district in the north, The aim of the present study is to assess the landuse and crop- Pudukottai district in the south, Karur and Dindigul districtso in the ping pattern of Tiruchirappalli District. To achieve the above westo and Thanjavur district in the east.o It lies betweeno 10 10’ and aim, the following are considered as objectives. 11 20’ of the Northern latitudes and 78 10’ and 79 0’ of Eastern latitudes. Its cover an area of 4403.79 sq.km and its forms parts the 1. To analyze the changes and mapping the landuse and crop- Survey of India (SOI) topographic sheets having the index of num- ping pattern in years 2008 and 2012. bers, 58/E 16, 58/I 4,7,8,11,12,14,15,16 58/M 3,4,7,8 58/F 13, 14 58/J 2. To find out the major dominating crops and landuse pattern 1,2,5,6,7,9,10,13 and 58/N 1 on a scale of 1:50,000 (Fig. 1). in the study area. 66 IJSR - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH Research Paper Volume : 4 | Issue : 10 | October 2015 • ISSN No 2277 - 8179 METHODOLOGY concentrated in Thuraiyur taluk of the study area, which is occu- pying 92.64sq.km (11.5 per cent). Remaining taluks of the study area Lalgudi and Musiri are in the second and third place in bar- ren and uncultivable landuse pattern which is 26.58sq.km (4.5 per cent) and 28.12sq.km (4.2 per cent) respectively. Uncultiva- ble lands are very lesser in Manapparai taluk, which is 21.24sq. km (2.1 per cent). LAND PUT TO NON- AGRICULTURAL USE Land put to non – agricultural use is 743.09sq.km out of 4403.79 sq.km total geographical area which is about 16.9 per cent. In the year 2008 the non- agricultural land was ex- tremely concentrated in Tiruchirappalli taluk which is about 130.59sq.km (38.4 per cent).The area extents of non-agricul- tural land are moderately found in Srirangam and Thottiyam taluks which occupies 88.41sq.km (24.7 per cent) and 66.27sq. km (23.8 per cent). Lesser area extent of non-agricultural land is found in Thuraiyur taluk, which is 47.62sq.km (5.9 per The present study is based on secondary sources of informa- cent). tion regarding area under different crops and landuse for the year 2008 and 2012 were collected from statistical department During 2012 the non-agricultural land area is 911.80sq.km out of Tiruchirappalli District (Flow chart). Statistical methods were of 4403.79 sq.km total geographical area which is about 20.7 used to analysed the changes of landuse and cropping pattern of per cent. The area extents of non-agricultural land are concen- the study area. The change of spatial maps are created by using trated in Tiruchirappalli taluk of the study area, which is occu- the GIS software. pying 143.32sq.km (42.2 per cent). Remaining the taluks of the study area Srirangam and Lalgudi are in second and third place ASSESSMENT OF LANDUSE PATTERN (2008 AND 2012) in land put to non-agriculture use which is 102.42 sq.km (28.6 The assessment of landuse and cropping pattern is a perquisite per cent) and 164.42 sq.km (27.6 per cent) has been seen. Non- for planning and management of the development of Indian agriculture use lands are very lesser in Thottiyam taluk, which is economy. The landuse patterns of the study area were collected 17.56sq.km (6.3 per cent). from the statistical department of Trichirappalli in the year 2008 and 2012. The given table 1 & 2 and spatial map (Fig 2 & 3) de- CULTIVABLE WASTE scribe the landuse categories in the following section. Cultivable waste land is 127.60sq.km out of 4403.79sq.km to- tal geographical area which is about 2.9 per cent. In the year FOREST 2008 the cultivable waste land was extremely concentrated in As per the statistical report of 2008, the forest area is 362.46sq. Tiruchirappalli taluk which is about 18.50sq.km (5.4 per cent). km out of 4403.79sq.km the total geographical area which is The area extents of cultivable waste land are moderately found about 8.2 per cent. Forest areas are highly concentrated in in Musiri and Srirangam taluks which is occupying 32.95sq. Thuraiyur taluk which is about 233.09sq.km (28.8 per cent). km.(5.0 per cent) and 15.71sq.km.(4.4 per cent) respectively. The remains taluks of the study area, forest area is found to be Lesser area extent of cultivable waste land is found in Thot- more in Manapparai and Manachanallur taluks, which occupies tiyam taluk, which is 2.95sq.km (1.1 per cent).