Dharwad district is primarily Agriculture oriented with Hubballi being the major trading center. APMC at Amargol is an important market for Red Chillies, Onions, Rice, Cotton, and Jowar.
Major Crops grown in Dharwad District
The presence of different types of Soil and different Climatic Regions helps Dharwad District to cultivate different types of crops. Some of them are listed below.
Cash Crops: A Cash Crop is an agricultural crop that is grown to sell for profit. Jowar, Wheat, Bengal gram, Green gram, Black gram, Tur Dal, Cashew are some of the cash crops grown in the Dharwad district.
Commercial Crops: Crops giving comparatively better returns to farmers are known as Commercial Crops: Groundnut, Onions, Maize, Cotton, and Sunflower are some of the commercial crops grown in the Dharwad district.
Horticulture Crops: Horticultural Crops include Annual and Perennial species, Fruits and Vegetables, and Decorative Indoor and Landscape Plants. Mango, Sapota, Banana, Guava, Papaya, Coconut, Cashew, and Chilly are some of the Horticulture crops grown in the Dharwad district.
Vegetables: Potato, Brinjal, Ladies Finger, Tomato, Onion, Green Peas, Green Chilly are some of the vegetables grown in the Dharwad district.
Flower Crops: Rose, Gaillardia (Sunflower family), Jasmine, Marigold (Sunflower family) are some of the flower crops grown in Dharwad District.
Climatic Regions of the District
Different types of climatic regions in the Dharwad district allow growing different varieties of Crops. The district may be divided into 3 natural regions, viz., The Malnad, Semi-Malnad, and Plains.
It can also be divided into 3 major regions based on the amount of annual rainfall viz., Dry Zone, Transitional Zone, and High Rainfall region.
Dry Zone: The Navalagund taluk comes under Dry Zone, with mostly Medium to Deep Black soils and a typical Rabi-based cropping system. The average annual rainfall ranges from 500-600m.m. The kharif crops are mainly Greengram, Groundnut, and Chilli with Onion as an intercrop. The Rabi crops are mainly Bengalgram and Wheat.
Transitional Zone: Transitional zone comprises three taluks viz., Dharwad, Hubli, and Kundagol. Here the Rainfall is fairly assured with an Average Annual Rainfall of 700 -750mm. Red and Black soils are predominant in these taluks. Cotton, Groundnut, Soyabean, Blackgram, Hybrid Jowar, Green gram, and Maize are some of the important crops in Kharif. Bengal gram, Wheat, and Jowar grown on residual soil moisture during the Rabi season. Horticulture crops like Mango, Sapota, Guava, and Banana are the main fruit crops and vegetables like Peas, Brinjal, Tomato, Green chilli, etc. are also grown here.
High Rainfall Zone: Kalaghatagi taluka comes under Hilly Tract or Malnad region characterized by High Rainfall areas with an average of up to 900 mm of Rain per year. The majority of the area is Red soil mixed with a small quantity of Black Soil. Paddy occupies a major area in the Monsoon season. After the monsoon, Seasonal crops like Soyabean, Cotton, and Maize are grown due to change in rainfall patterns.
Land Utilization and Cropping Pattern of Dharwad District
Net Sown Area is around 56.89% of the Total area of Dharwad district. Forest constitutes around 7.75%, other Uncultivated land amounts to around 7.42% and around 27.94% 0f Total area of Dharwad district is utilized for Miscellaneous usage.
Cereals are the highest cultivated crops in the Dharwad district. Around 40.37% of total crops grown in the Dharwad district are Cereals. Followed by Pulses which accounts for 24.59% of the total crops. Oilseeds constitute around 16.33% whereas Commercial Crops are around 13.02% and other crops are around the remaining 5.69%.
Weightage of Crops produced in Dharwad district
As per 2016 data, During the Kharif season, Dharwad district produced around 181413 MT of Cereals, whereas the total pulses produced is about 33,744 MT. The Oilseed Production of the district was around 58,140 MT.
Average productivity in the case of Cereals is higher in Maize (2273 kg/hectare), followed by Paddy (1028 kg/hectare). The average productivity of pulses – Avare is relatively higher (1014 kg/hectare), followed by Tur (669 kg/ha), while it is lower in cowpea (191 kg/hectare).
Among oilseeds, the productivity in Sunflower (1075 kg/hectare) is relatively higher, followed by moderate productivity in Groundnut (891 kg//hectare) and Soyabean (805 kg/hectare). Sugarcane showed a productivity of 63 t/hectare.
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