|
Out of the total geographical area of 137.36 lakh hectares of Chhatisgarh, 34.80% i.e. 47.79 lakh ha is the net sown area. The uncultivable land is about 6.87 lakh ha (5%) and the area under forest is 63.03 lakh ha (45.89 %). Chhattisgarh is bounded by Southern Jharkhand and Orissa in East, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in West, Uttar Pradesh and Western Jharkhand in the North and Andhra Pradesh in the South. b) Agro and Sub Agro Climatic Zone More than 80 per cent population depends on agriculture. Main crops are paddy, wheat, maize, groundnut, pulses and oilseeds. On the basis of climate & topography the state is divided into 3 agro-climatic zones. The Bastar Plateau comprises of Bastar, Dantewada, Beejapur & Narayanpur districts and a part of Kanker (excluding Charama, Narharpur & Kanker Blocks). Northern parts of the state comes under “Northern Hilly Region” which comprises of Sarguja, Koriya & Jashpur Districts. Bilaspur, Raipur, Janjgeer-Champa, Raigarh, Rajnandgaon, Kawardha, Durg, Mahasamund, Dhamtari, Korba and parts of Kanker come under “Plains of Chhattisgarh”. The three agro climatic zones are: 1. Bastar Plateau Zone 2. Chhattisgarh Plain Zone 3. Northern Hill Zone The climate in general is different in these three zones. Some parts (northern plateau areas) of the Northern Hill Zone resembles temperate climate, while Southern parts of Bastar zone resembles tropical type climate. The net irrigated area is about 22% of net sown area. Rice and wheat are the major crops of the state with yield of 1455 and 1024 kg/ha which is less than the National average of respective crops. Though the productivity level of al1 food grains in the state is lower than the National average, but the total production of food grains in the state is more than the State’s requirement. Other major crops include gram, maize and tur. Soybean, rape and mustard seed are also grown in some parts of the state. Productivity of cereals and pulses is also more than the requirement of the state. The state currently has an area of 0.82 million ha which is under double cropping. The soil in Bastar Plateau Zone, Chhattisgarh Plains Zone, Northern Hills Zone is Light to Medium Light (Red – Yellow), Medium Heavy to Heavy (Brown – Black). e) Scope of Farm Mechanization TOP Farm power availability is 0.60 kW/ha against national average of 1.53 kW/ha. Animal drawn puddler, manual cono weeder, manual rice transplanter, manual pre-germinated paddy seeder, self-propelled rice transplanter and multi-crop thresher have tremendous scope for mechanizing paddy cultivation in the state. The animal drawn seed cum fertilizer drill and inclined plate planter have good scope for introduction in the pulse and oil seed growing region of the Chhatisgarh. The medium and large farmers should use rotavator, tractor mounted inclined plate planter and tractor drawn vertical conveyor reaper which are cost effective. For groundnut cultivation the suitable equipment are animal drawn groundnut digger, tractor mounted groundnut digger shaker and TNAU power operated groundnut thresher. For sunflower cultivation, Phule sunflower thresher and PAU sunflower thresher hold good promise. Large farmers can play a vital role in promoting custom hiring of high capacity improved equipment package viz. rotavator, seed cum fertilizer drill, tractor drawn planter, self-propelled rice transplanter, self-propelled/tractor drawn vertical conveyor reaper, power sprayer and multi-crop thresher. |