Tribal Development in Western India by Shah Amita;Pathak Jharna;

Author:Shah, Amita;Pathak, Jharna;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 3570333
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

Characteristics of Tribal Areas of Gujarat

Land use, irrigation and area under crops

Gujarat is predominantly characterised by dry land conditions spread over large parts of area that are brought under agriculture. During 2001–5, about 52 per cent of the state’s reported area was under cultivation whereas 10 per cent was under forest. Of the remaining land, close to 30 per cent of the reported area is under the categories of barren and uncultivated land, cultural waste, pasture, and permanent fallow. About 36 per cent of the net sown area receives irrigation (GoG 2008). With a population of 50.7 million in 2001, the population density was 258 per sq. km. The poverty head count ratio was 18.9 per cent during 2004–5; this was among the lowest across the major states in India.

An attempt has been made to compare state-level indicators with the 11 (out of 26) districts in the state where the tribal blocks are located. The idea is to see whether the 11 districts depict a fairly different situation than the state-level aggregates. The comparison, however, is constrained by the fact that in seven out of the 11 districts (except Dangs, Dahod, Valsad, and Narmada) the district average may tend to reflect more of the non-tribal rather than tribal situation owing to relatively lower concentration of tribal population (ranging from about 8 to 48 per cent in these districts).

Table 6.1 suggests that while the tribal areas show relatively adverse socio-economic indicators such as higher poverty ratio, lower proportion of households reporting food adequacy, and cultivation of subsistence (food crops), these districts seem to be fairly comparable (for example, average landholding size and proportion of gross cropped area (GCA) to total reporting area). What is noteworthy is that the tribal directs are relatively placed better vis-à-vis a number of indicators such as (lower) population growth, rainfall profile, proportion of forest area, proportion of area irrigated, and storage facility per unit of land.

Table 6.1: Characteristics of the Study Area

Indicators Tribal Area (11 Districts) All Gujarat (26 Districts)

(i) Population in million (2001–2) 7.5 50.7

(ii) Poverty (Head count ratio) (2004–5)* 34.3 (tribal community) 18.9

(iii) Population growth per annum (1991–2001) 2.1 (tribal community) 2.3

(iv) Rainfall (Minimum–Maximum) 475 mm in Dahod–3825 mm in Dangs 351 mm in Kachchh–3825 mm in Dangs

(v) Average size of the land holding (in ha) (2003–4) 1.9 2.1

(vi) Area under forest (per cent geographical area) (2001–5) 18.2 9.8

(vii) GGA as percentage to reporting area (2001–5) 54.6 58.0

(viii) Gross irrigated area to GGA (2001–5) 40.7 (9.8) 35.7 (4.6)

(ix) Use of chemical fertilisers (per ha of GGA) 109.5 [49.6] 120.0 [41.8]

(x) No. of storage facilities per 1000 sq km 3.7 2.1

(xi) No. of pump sets per 1000 ha of net sown area 49.1 56.2

(xii) Share of food crops to GGA 62.0 44.5

(xiii) Percentage of households reporting enough food for year (2002–3)* 26.2 (tribal community) 31.5

Source: Calculated from data obtained from various volumes of Socio Economic Review (GoG 1995, 2002, 2004, 2006).

Note: a. Figure in parentheses indicate percentage change between 1991–95 till 2001–5

b. Figures in [] brackets indicate percentage change between 1992–93 till 2002–3

c.

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