SPA TIAL AND TEM PO RAL CHANGES IN FAL LOW LAND OF EAST ERN AND SOUTH ERN
DRY ZONES OF KARNATAKA
Srikanth M.B., Gracy C.P. and Priyanka K.T.
De part ment of Ag ri cul tural Mar ket ing, Co op er a tion and Busi ness Man age ment, Uni ver sity of Ag ri cul tural Sci ences, GKVK, Bengaluru-65 E-mail : mbsrikanth54@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Fallow land is of two types viz., current fallow and fallow other than current fallow. Land left as fallow for one year is called ‘current fallow’ while that of 2 to 5 years is termed as ‘fallow other than current fallow’. In Karnataka, the gross cultivated area and wasteland were 120.09 lakh ha and 21.09 lakh ha, respectively. As compared to country’s average of about 8 per cent, the fallow land in Karnataka is much higher (11.07 %). The study based on primary data collected from 80randomly selected farmers of Tumakuru and Mandya districts of southern Karnataka revealed that about 18.80% of the irrigated land and 33.50% of rain-fed land out of the total operational land is left fallow in the pooled sample from the study area during 2017. More than 50 per cent of respondents depended on agriculture as the major source of income by cultivating different types of crops. Delayed monsoon / non-availability of water for irrigation was the major problem in the study area with a weighted score of 168. Majority of the farmers were willing to plant fodder trees like Melia dubia, Sesbania grandiflora, etc which could support goat/sheep rearing and augment income, followed by promotion of alternative crop systems like cultivation of bamboo or agroforestry, development of fallow lands into grazing lands by government investments, leasing out to companies/FPOs/SHGs by ensuring property rights etc.
Key words : Fal low land, Tem po ral, Land use pat tern, House hold in come, Al ter nate land use
India is the seventh largest country in terms of total geographical area and second by population in the world. The 29 states of the country are divided into 15 agro-climatic zones by the Indian Planning Commission based on the soilphysiographic and geological formation, climate, cropping patterns, development of irrigation and availability of mineral resources. Among these, fourteen regions are in the main land and the remaining one is in the islands of Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea (1). India’s total geographical area is 329 Mha, of which the area covered under forests increased from 69.84 Mha in 2000-01 to 71.79 Mha in 2014-15 (Table 1). At the same period land not available for cultivation increased from 41.23 to 43.88 Mha (6.43 %), which shows diversion of land towards construction and development of township. Fallow lands registered 4.50 per cent increase during the reference period by exhibiting an increase from 25.04 to 26.18 Mha. The growth in current fallows was 2.10 per cent as compared to other than current fallows (7.98 %). Similarly, gross cropped area had increased from 185.34 to 198.36 Mha, while cropping intensity from 131.13 to 141.55 Per cent.
Fallow land includes the land which was used for cultivation previously but is temporarily out of cultivation which are of two types viz., current fallow and fallow other than current fallow. Fallow of one year is called ‘current fallow’ while that of 2 to 5 years is classified as ‘fallow other than current fallow’. There have been varying trends in the extent of current fallow but it has recorded an increase from 10.68 Mha in 1950-51 to 14.79 Mhain 1999-2000 and further to 26.18 Mhaby 2014-15. But there
has been a sharp decline in fallow lands other than current fallows from 17.4 Mhain 1950-51 to 11.09 Mha in 2014-15. The extent of fallow land in the country has been varying around 10-11 Mha over the last ten years. The largest area of fallow land other than current fallow is in Rajasthan, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. However, Andhra Pradesh has the largest area as current fallow, followed by Rajasthan, Bihar, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Rainfall fluctuations and labour scarcity arethe major reason for the increase in fallow lands of Tamil Nadu state (2). Policy and research focus on conserving and managing common lands in a better manner to ensure rainwater harvesting, providing livelihood, fodder and fuel security to rural poor as well as to sustain the ecological balance.
Karnataka state situated in the southern part of the country has moderate temperature and receives bimodal rainfall distribution from south-west and north-east monsoon. The favourable climatic conditions promote diversified crop cultivation and agronomic practices. Net area sown during the year 2015-16 was 100.06 lakh ha (52.52 %), gross cropped area was120.09 lakh ha (63.04 %) and cropping intensity was 120 per cent. The gross cultivated area and wasteland were 120.09 lakh ha and 21.09 lakh ha, respectively (Table 2). As compared to country’s average of about 8 per cent, the fallow land in Karnataka is much higher (11.07 %); while the cropping intensity of Karnataka (120 %) is about 22 per cent lower than country’s average (141.55 %)
The growing magnitude of fallow land in Karnataka is
a cause for concern to local livelihood and food security issues. There is a need to reduce the extent and frequency of fallow land in order to increase agricultural production and farm family subsistence. This can be achieved through scientific cultivation, proper dose of fertilizers, providing irrigation facilities, crop rotation, adoption of certain cost reducing technologies and combination of several other similar farming techniques.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study was undertaken in Tumakuru and Mandya districts of southern Karnataka. In each district villages each were selected from two taluks which have reported large extent of fallow land under irrigated and rain fed situations. Primary survey of land holding, crop cultivation, extent of fallow land and reasons for leaving land fallow was obtained from 80 randomly selected farmers through a pretested schedule. The data were analysed with the help of tabular presentation, descriptive statistics and adoptive scores.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Demographic profile of the respondents could be one of the important indicators influencing extent of land utilization. General demographic characteristics of respondents is depicted in Table-3. About 1/3rd of the sample farmers had studied up to high school level, while about 1/4th were illiterates, 23.25 per cent had primary schooling and 11.25 per cent were graduates. The caste-wise distribution of respondents revealed that a majority (60%) belonged to other backward class, followed by general category (23.75%) and the rest belonged to Scheduled Caste (11.25%) and Tribe (5%). Average size of the family was 5.52 consisting of two males, two females and one child. Out of 442 members from 80 families, 252 of them were working in own farms, 47 in others farms for daily wages and only 18 of them were dependent on non-agricultural jobs.
Land holding details of sample farmers shows that a major portion (86.13 %) of land was inherited which spread over 2.86 blocks showing the impact of subdivision and fragmentation, followed by leased-in land (8.80 %), government allotted land (3.69 %) and purchased land (3.09 %). The pattern shows that farmers pursued agriculture as primary occupation by accessing more land. With regard to the land fallowness, about 31 % of land was kept fallow for more than one year and 25 % was current fallow during 2017.
Extent of fallow land in relation to operational land is depicted in Table 5. It may be observed here that out of the total operational area of 387.22acres, 18.80% of the irrigated land and 33.50% of rain-fed land is left fallow in the pooled sample from the study area. This shows that
irrespective of type of holding, due to one or the other reason, substantial extent of area is left as fallow. Extent of fallow land in relation to operational holding is noteworthy from policy point of view.
Extent of land left as fallow over the years is presented in the Table 6. In rain-fed condition about 54 acres (26.67%) of operational area was kept fallow for more than five years which was earlier used for growing crops likeragi, paddy, tur, sunflower, groundnut etc.The current year fallow land was about 40 acres accounting for 25.77% of operational holding. In the case of irrigated land, 32 acres (15.80%) of operational land was kept fallow for more than five years which was earlier used for growing fruit crops, vegetables and plantation crops. In the current year 26 acres (12.84%) of land was fallow and on which crops such as coconut, flowers and vegetables were cultivated previously. Due to low rains over the years and non-availability of ground water, more operational area was turning into fallow lands in Mandya and Tumakuru districts of Karnataka.
Since, substantial area is being kept fallow by the sample respondents, the source of income and livelihood sustenance of households were analysed. The major source of household income of sample respondents from farm and nonfarm activities is presented in Table7. More than 50 per cent of respondents depended on agriculture as the major source of income which includes cultivation of different types of crops, followed by dairy cows (45%), sheep/goat rearing (38.75%), horticultural crops (22.50%), any other farm related activities (18.75%), private sector employee (11.25%) etc. However, none reported to have taken up fish rearing, apiculture or government employment as a source of livelihood. Due to non-availability of irrigation water, dairy is a predominant activity for which food/ fodder crops were taken up on more area. Dairy cows and goat/sheep rearing are an important activity due to regular income, ease of management with available dry fodder and green leaves from tree lopping.
Although crop cultivation is a predominant occupation for the respondents, it is observed that substantial portion of the agriculture land is left fallow. Therefore, the respondents were asked to elicit important reasons for keeping land fallow and thereasons for fallow land (current/over the years) is depicted in Table 8. The reasons were obtained on a three-point scale and weighted scores were computed. This was necessitated as the intensity of a particular reason could differ across the households based on the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of respondents. Delayed monsoon / non-availability of water for irrigation was the
major problem in the study area with a weighted score of 168. Since, the study area pertains to southern dry zone and eastern dry zone of Karnataka with an average rainfall of 650-850 mm per annum, water availability is insufficient for raising crops through traditional practices. Problem of wild animals like peacock, deer, monkeys, wild
boar and such animal menace made it practically impossible to harvest a crop; eroded soil/ poor fertility of soil and non-availability of labour emerged as other major factors with a weighted score of 50, 42 and 33 respectively.
The accumulation of fallow land at an alarming rate Table-1 : Land use pattern in India between 2000-01 and 2014-15.
Sl. No. Classification 2000-01 2014-15 Percentage
change from 2000-01 to
2014-15 Area
(million ha)
Percentage to total
Area (million ha)
Percentage to total
I Total geographical area 328.73 100 328.73 100 NA
II Reporting Area for Land Utilisation Statistics 305.19 92.84 307.82 93.64 0.86
1 Forests 69.84 21.25 71.79 21.84 2.79
2 Not Available for Cultivation (A+B) 41.23 12.54 43.88 13.35 6.43
(A) Area Under Non-agricultural Uses 23.75 7.22 26.88 8.18 13.18
(B) Barren & uncultivable land 17.48 5.32 17.00 5.17 -2.75
3 Other Uncultivated land excluding Fallow 27.74 8.44 25.83 7.86 -6.89
(A) Permanent Pasture & other Grazing Land 10.66 3.24 10.26 3.12 -3.75
(B) Land under Miscellaneous Tree Crops 3.44 1.05 3.10 0.94 -9.88
(C) Culturable Waste Land 13.63 4.15 12.47 3.79 -8.51
4 Fallow Lands (A+B) 25.04 7.62 26.18 7.96 4.55
(A) Fallow Lands other than Current Fallows 10.27 3.12 11.09 3.37 7.98
(B) Current Fallows 14.78 4.50 15.09 4.59 2.10
5 Net Area Sown 141.34 43.00 140.13 42.63 -0.86
6 Total Cropped Area (Gross Cropped Area) 185.34 56.38 198.36 60.34 7.02
7 Area Sown more than once 44.00 13.38 58.23 17.71 32.34
8 Cropping Intensity 131.13 141.55 7.95
9 Net Irrigated Area 55.20 16.79 68.38 20.80 23.88
10 Gross Irrigated Area 76.19 23.18 96.46 29.34 26.60
Source : Land use statistics 2014-15, DAC & FW
Table-2 : Classification of total geographical area of Karnataka. (2015-16)
Sl. No. Classification Area (lakh ha) Percentage to
geographical area
1. Forest 30.73 16.13
2. Not available for cultivation : 22.69 11.91
(a) Land put to non-agri. uses 14.76 7.75
(b) Barren and uncultivable land 7.93 4.16
3. Cultivable waste 4.09 2.15
4. Uncultivated land excluding fallow land: 11.83 6.21
(a) Permanent pastures and other grazing land 9.07 4.76
(b) Misc. Tree crops, Groves 2.76 1.45
5. Fallow Land (a+b) : 21.09 11.07
(a) Current fallow 14.53 7.63
(b) Other fallow land 6.56 3.44
6. Net Area Sown 100.06 52.52
7. Total (Gross) Cropped Area 120.09 63.04
8. Area sown more than once 20.03 11.52
9. Total Geographical Area 190.50 100
Cropping Intensity (%) 120
358 Srikanth et al.,
is a cause for concern from the point of food security and sustenance of families. The respondents in the study area were asked to indicate on a 3-point scale their willingness to convert fallow lands to alternative uses and the
adoptive scores are presented in Table 9. A majority of the farmers were willing to plant fodder trees like Melia dubia, Sesbania grandiflora, etc which could support goat/sheep rearing and augment income which had a Table-3 : General characteristics of sample respondents. (n = 80)
Sl. No. Particulars No. %
1 Educational qualification Illiterate 21 26.25
Primary 19 23.25
High school 24 30.00
PUC 7 8.75
Graduate 9 11.25
2 Caste SC 9 11.25
ST 4 5.00
OBC 48 60.00
General 19 23.75
3 Family details family size (Avg.) 5.52
No. of adults 380
Male 193
Female 187
Children 62
4 Occupation Working on farm 252
5 Other job 18
6 Wage employment on others farm 47
Table-4 : Land holding details of the respondents. (in acres)
Sl. No. Land holding particulars Total
(acres) % to totalholding No.blocksAvg.
1. Inherited 327.87 86.13 2.86
2. Govt. allotted 14.05 3.69 0.83
3. Purchased 11.75 3.09 1.17
4. Sold 2.00 0.53 0.00
5. Leased out in last 5 years 0 0.00 0.00
6. Leased in in last 5 years 33.50 8.80 0.50
7. Current year 93.20 24.48 1.65
8. Fallow land for more than 1 year 117.30 30.81 1.44
9. Divided & transferred among siblings in last 5 years 5.00 1.31 0.33
Total holding 380.67 100.00
Table-5 : Fallow land vis-a visoperational land holding.
Land particulars Total area (ac) % to Operational holding
Irrigated Owned 138.67 35.81
Leased in 31.50 8.13
Leased out 0.00 0.00
Left fallow 72.80 18.80
Total irrigated 170.17 43.95
Rainfed Owned 217.05 56.05
Leased in 0.00 0.00
Leased out 0.00 0.00
Left fallow 129.70 33.50
Total rainfed 217.05 56.05
adoptive score of 65, followed by promotion of alternative crop systems like agro-forestry /bamboo plantation etc., with an adoptive score (62), development of fallow lands into grazing lands by government investments (51), leasing out to companies/FPOs/SHGs by ensuring property rights (34), alternative uses like solar power
generation (32), contract farming (23) etc., were the other preferred choices. Thus, farmers on the whole are ready to cultivate the land with agroforestry, animal-based activities with some support from government. Cultivation Table-6 : Temporal scenario of fallow land.
Number of years kept as fallow Crops grown earlier Extent
(acres) fallow land% to total Rain-fed 1 year Paddy, horse gram, millets, maize, Bengal gram, tur, coconut 39.45 19.48
2 years Paddy, horse gram, cotton, groundnut, millets, maize, tur 13.00 6.42
3 years Ragi, cotton, groundnut, tur, niger, maize 16.55 8.17
4 years Ragi, maize, horse gram, cotton, groundnut, tur 17.50 8.64 5 years &
above
Ragi, paddy, tomato, onion, horse gram, tur, groundnut, sunflower, mulberry, coconut, flowers and vegetables
54.00 26.67
Total rainfed fallow 140.50 69.38
Total fallow rain-fed and Irrigated
1 year Groundnut, vegetables, ragi 26.00 12.84
2 years Vegetables and food crops 4.00 1.98
3 years Vegetables and food crops 0.00 0.00
4 years Arecanut, coconut, cotton, vegetables, paddy, millets, watermelon, pomegranate, ragi
0.00 0.00
5 years Areca nut, coconut, cotton, vegetables, horse gram, paddy, millets, watermelon, pomegranate, ragi
32.00 15.80
Total fallow irrigated 62.00 30.62
Total fallow land 202.5 100
Table-7 : Major source of household income. (n=80)
Sl. No. Activity No. Percentage Rank
1. Agriculture 46 57.50 I
2. Dairy 36 45.00 II
3. Sheep/Goat rearing 31 38.75 III
4. Horticulture 18 22.50 IV
5. Any other 15 18.75 V
6. Private sector employee 9 11.25 VI
7. Poultry Rearing 4 5.00 VII
8. Business 3 3.75 VIII
9. Sericulture 1 1.25 IX
10. Remittance from outside 1 1.25 X
Table-8 : Weighted index of reasons for keeping land fallow.
Sl. No. Reasons Low Medium High Weighted score
1. Delayed Monsoon / Non-availability of irrigation water 0 6 52 168
2. Eroded Soil/Poor fertility/Problematic soil 2 8 8 42
3. Non-Availability of Labour 1 10 4 33
4. Away from residence 0 1 0 2
5. Paucity of funds/Credit 0 3 1 9
6. Litigation/Court cases/Family dispute 0 0 2 6
7. Non-economical holding size 0 3 1 9
8. Problem of wild animals 2 12 8 50
9. Speculative investment 0 4 1 11
10. Fear of losing land due to tenancy law 0 3 1 9
360 Srikanth et al.,
of multipurpose species like bamboo and tree species can generate income from otherwise unproductive fallow land.
The respondents in the study area were asked to indicate the economic land holding size for managing their households assuming the present socio-economic situation to continue. Family size is an important consideration while deciding the extent of land requirement for livelihood security (Table-10). Households of up to 4 members per family opined that 5.77 acres of rainfed land or 1.58 acres of irrigated land is required to sustain family needs, family comprising of 5-8 members and respondents with 9 & above respectively indicated that 6.22 acres rainfed or 2.77 acres of irrigated land and 7.81 acres of rainfed land or 3.11 acres of irrigated land required to meet family expenditure. The findings of the study corroborate the fact that, land fallow is not on account of surplus land at the disposal of farmers but due to challenges faced in farming. Further, it is confirmed that irrigation is sine qua non to raise crops, rear livestock and to earn sufficient income with less land area.
CONCLUSION
Incessant expansion in fallow land is a bane to food security and sustainable income of farmers. India with a gross cropped area of 131.13 Mha has about 26 Mha fallow land which is approximately 8 per cent of its total
geographical area. Although Karnataka state has good weather throughout the year for rising crops, it is observed that about 11.07 per cent of the total geographical area is left fallow. Therefore, the study on status of fallow land in Tumakuru and Mandya districts was taken up for finding the extent of land fallows, reasons for leaving fallow land and the suggested alternatives. Fallow land as a percentage of operational land showed that 33.50 per cent of the rainfed area and 18.80 per cent of the irrigated land is left fallow across different size groups of farms. Among the reasons, delayed monsoon/ non-availability of irrigation water and problem of wild animals were the major reasons. Land owners are willing to put the land to agriculture related production activities like agroforestry, bamboo farming etc., The study highlights the importance of providing irrigation to mitigate the extensive land requirement for operating economically viable holding size.
REFERENCES
1. Anonymous, (2017). Pocket book of Agricultural Statistics, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare: 19-20. 2. Ramasamy, C.R.; Balasubramanian and S.D. Sivakumar,
(2005). Dynamics of Land Use Pattern with Special Reference to Fallow Lands – An Empirical Investigation in Tamil Nadu, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 60(4): 629-643.
Received : August-2018 Revised : August-2018 Accepted : September-2018
Table-9 : Farmers willingness for alternative land use to mitigate fallowness.
Sl. No. Alternative land uses Adoptive Score
1. Group Farming/FPO/Cooperative farming 16
2. Contract Farming 23
3. Leasing-out to companies/FPOs/SHGs by ensuring property rights 34
4. Enhancing the operational holding by leasing in 15
5. Promotion of alternative crop systems like agro-forestry/bamboo plantation etc. 62
6. Alternative uses like solar power generation 32
7. Developing into grazing lands by Govt. investment 51
8. Promoting fodder trees to support sheep and goats 65
9. Payment for ecosystem services (like carbon credits) 2
Table-10 : Economically viable holding size.
Sl. No. Family size class
(members) Actual land(Acres) Kept fallow (Acres) Rainfed onlyLand required to sustain (Acres)Irrigated only
1. Up to 4 5.03 2.33 5.77 1.58
2. 5-8 4.51 1.57 6.22 2.77
