Agriculture will not only be a sustainable activity but also the need of the same not reduces in future. Necessities may change, living standards could also change but the requirement of agriculture has been a priority 1000 years back & it will be a priority even after 1000 years.
In this progressing era of industrial development, natural abundance gifted to us is continuously utilized leaving very few traces for the future generations.
Irrigation is a necessity for agriculture in Kutch. Due to lack of infrastructure and rainfall mere 37%, 1,87,000 hectares of gross cultivated area was brought under various source of irrigation up to the year 1999-2000. Things are changes now and more and more area is getting covered under irrigation facilities.
Current scenario of irrigation facilities across the Kutch is more satisfactory after coming to the Sardar Sarovar Canals (Narmada Water) in the area of Eastern Kutch i.e., Rapar Taluka.
The economy of Kutch is still agro-based and therefore in spite of the shortage of water, a lot of emphases is being laid on agricultural and farming activities. Beside State government, the Non-governmental charitable and research institutes like the V.R.T.I. or Vivekananda Research and Training Institute at Mandvi and its sister concerns are helping the farmers in adopting latest farming techniques.
New ventures like the building of water harvesting structures, Farm Ponds, Drip Irrigation technique, Soil and Water Analysis, Bio-Gas, smokeless stove, cattle feed projects and plantation are being promoted by the institute. Irrigation is a necessity for agriculture in Kutch. Current scenario of irrigation facilities across the Kutch is more satisfactory after coming to the Sardar Sarovar Canals (Narmada Water) in the area of Eastern Kutch.
The key function of the Department are:
Acres after acres of land developed into fruit orchards of different kinds, break the wiry brown monotony of the Kutch landscape in Gujarat. This “transformation” of the semi-arid land has been in the making for the last decade and has brought in much cheer to the farmer communities who have replaced their traditional crops with horticultural produce, thereby garnering a good margin of profit.The region exhibits its monopoly in India in production of fruit crops such as dates. Kutch is one of the largest producers of dates in India, along with contributing to huge production numbers to papaya, coconut & chiku. Farmers in the region are also concentrating on mango production recently. Extensive mango orchards along with palm trees can be seen in the vicinity of Anjar, Mundra and Mandvi.
But an interesting picture immerses when considered the production of fruits per cultivator and compared with the state-level figures. Production in kg per cultivator provides an overall intensity of farming of a specific crop. In date production, the intensity in Kutch is obviously the highest. But interestingly in the cases of papaya, mango and in chiku, production per cultivator is far higher than that of Gujarat.
Mango is an important fruit crop being cultivated in Kutch. Mango is mainly cultivated in Bhuj, Anjar, Mandvi and Nakhtarana Taluka in Kutch.”Kesar” is the main cultivated in these areas. The mango tree starts giving the fruit after 3(three) years and the crop of additional areas in the last three years are yet to come. The growth story of the increase in production will be continued in the years to come. It is also worth noting that 50% area of Mango in Kutch has been developed using a modern system of micro-irrigation “Drip irrigation” to optimize the use of water in this water scarcity areas. Kutch has added advantage of proximity and easy availability of refrigerated containers at Kandla Port and Mundra Port for making export to Gulf countries and Europe as against other Kesar Mango producing areas like Junagadh and Valsad. The export of Kesar Mango is increased significantly and there will also be a potential for setting up of small/medium scale mango processing unit in future to manufacture Mango pulp and other mango based food products.
State Government has also focused their efforts in the adoption of high-tech agriculture for date palm farming in the form of development of tissue culture plants for making available disease-free quality planting materials for production of improved quality of date fruits in Kutch. Due to suitable agro climate conditions for date palm in many areas of Kutch, it is expected to produce better results in next 4 to 5 years period.
Production (IN MT): 746004
Groundnuts are often roasted and salted, but also are often eaten raw, or boiled in salt water. They can also be made into peanut butter, peanut brittle, candy bars, and other products. Peanut oil is often used in cooking because it has amild flavour and burns only at a relatively high temperature.
Groundnut is an important crop in Kutch. Groundnut in Kutch is produced as a Kharif crop and it is heavily dependent on rain. The productivity of groundnut in the region is higher among the districts in Gujarat.
Production (IN MT): 1,54,300
Castor oil is a vegetable oil obtained from the castor bean (or preferably castor seed as the castor plant Ricinus communis L. is not a member of the bean family). The plant is a native of India, where it bears several ancient Sanskrit names, the most ancient and most usual being Eranda, which has passed into several other Indian languages. Castor is a major crop in Kutch and in the neighbouring Banaskantha districts. Castor oil is a valuable purgative and extremely versatile and unique in its composition. Castor oil consists of 90% of the unsaturated C: 18 ricinoleic fatty acids. It is a major source of sebacic acid. Banaskantha and Mahesana being first and second, collectively produced more than half of the total in the state.
On the other hand, Gujarat being top castor seeds producing state in India in 2001-02 produced 70 % of the total castor seeds in the country, and FAO figures place India in the year 2002 at number one position in castor seed production in the world with more than 40 % production of the global total.
Production (IN MT): 2,44,500
Millet or Bajra is extensively grown in Kutch. Millet is the collective name of a group of genera of the Grass family (Gramineae/Paniceae) widely grown around the world for food or animal feed. Pearl millet has been grown in India and Africa since prehistoric times. It is now generally accepted that pearl millet originated in Africa and that it was introduced into India from there. Millet is well adapted to low rainfall and high temperature and thus can be grown in areas where other cereal crops, such as wheat or maize, would not survive.Today pearl millet is grown on 260,000 km² worldwide. It is an important crop in Kutch.Kutch produced 6.5 % of the total millet in Gujarat. Semi-arid climatic conditions with lack of rainfall and irrigation and high temperature in the region favour millet production in the region.Traditionally, bajra or millet is accepted as an important food in the region.
Particularly, bread (rotla) prepared from it is extensively in use among the local folk. Therefore, millet farming is a traditional practice in the region. Annual production varies significantly from one year to another depending upon variations in rainfall. The area under millet in Kutch is one of the highest (4th) in the state accounting for around 10% of the total area (2002).
Production (IN MT): 1,82,000
Kutch produced about 6.5 lakh cotton bales this year. This is double compared to last year’s 3 lakh bales. When districts in Gujarat are compared in terms of yield, it was revealed that in 2001-02, productivity in Kutch was the highest in Gujarat, which is far higher than the average productivity of Gujarat and India. The spinning mills of southern states are direct buyers for this premium cotton. Due to easy availability of port facilities adjacent to this area, the cotton grown here can easily be exported.
Production (IN MT): 49,691
Kutch is very important for the production of a few of the spices & vegetables. It is one of the largest producers of the unique spice crop. Moreover, various other spices ranging from cumin to coriander is being produced in Kutch. The production of vegetable increased substantially over a period of time.
Production (IN MT): 49687
Due to lack of availability of water, Kutch was not an important vegetable producer. In 2000-01, Kutch produced 1% of Gujarat’s vegetables. The production of vegetable increased substantially over a period of time.
Production (IN MT): 248047
Kutch has lots of varieties of Acacia trees. Some of Acacia trees are Acacia Senegal, Acacia Leucophloea, and Acacia Nilotica etc. The Mesquite is a leguminous plant and it grows in the arid regions. The wild exotic plants were brought from South America and they were grown to stop the spread of the deserts and the soil-erosion. These plants are also called ‘Gando Bawal’ (Prosopis Juliflora). Some of these plants are also used as cattle feed. The coastal area has some halophytes species named Suaeda, Sporobolus and Urochondra etc. Mangroves like Avicennia Marina, Avicennia Officinalis, and Rhizophora mucronata are found in the muddy creek areas. The best fodder providing tree named ‘Koo-Babul’ is also grown in Kutch. It has many better nutritional values. Its pods contain a big amount of protein. Many other kinds of fodder are grown separately for camels, buffaloes, cows, sheep, and goats. Planting a variety of trees, shrubs, creepers, and bushes is now possible in Kutch to provide the requirements of both human beings and animals.
Kutch also produces flowers and production for the same is increasing year by year. There is an increase in production in the last three years.
Production (IN MT): 2687
Animal husbandry is the second largest employment provider in Kutch after agriculture. Livestock breeding is a very important agriculture allied activity in Kutch. Traditionally Kutch is famous for livestock-related activities and rural folk is highly dependent on it. The district panchayat carries out tasks like sending the sick animals to the animal hospitals, treating the disease-ridden animals on visits or through private calls, and providing treatment for the various illnesses of the animals suffer. Also, it provides information and guidance regarding different private projects. Total 18 Kendra in the district to handle the task of artificial insemination to get high-quality sperms of animals like the ox and other such animals that give milk. The cow breeds like jersey, H.F. ox’s 50% sperm is given artificial egg donation to get more milk.
Kutch produced 5,74,767 liters milk per day during 2003-04 which is increased substantially by 2010-11. Kutch has produced 8,84,023 liters milk during the year 2010-11.
Under the Sankalp Patra project animal reproduction increase camp and animal education growth camp is organized to train the animal breeders to enable them to be able to take care of their animals, to benefit from animal rearing projects. Also, the animal treatment Kendra try to uplift the economic condition of the animal breeders.
An Intensive Sheep Development Programme with assistance from the Government of India is also being implemented in Kutch by the state government. The Government of Gujarat is engaged in sheep development in the region through 24 sheep extension centers. It spends around INR 6 million per annum for breed development, health care and vaccination, training, marketing of wool (produced by the breeders), and also for weaver’s development providing raw materials, purchase of products, organizing exhibitions and marketing. Two sheep breeding farm has been also established in Mandvi and Bhuj. Gusheel is implementing a technical and design development scheme with central government funds, which facilitates around 4/5 workshops (10 in Gujarat) for weavers with students from NID and NIFT.
Presently there is no wool-yarn making facility in Gujarat. Wool is being transported to the Northern Indian states for yarn making and woolen product manufacturing. With yarns manufactured in these states, woolen products along with carpets are being manufactured in Gujarat.
Production (IN MT): 20,14,211
Banni buffaloes are also known as “Kutchi” or “Kundi”. The breeding tract includes the Banni area of Kutchchh district of Gujarat. The breeds are mostly maintained by maldharis under locally adapted typical extensive production system in its breeding tract. Banni buffalo has unique qualities of adaptation such as the ability to survive water scarcity conditions, to cover long distances during periods of drought and disease resistance.
Banni buffaloes yield on an average 2857.2 kg milk in lactation with 6.65 % of fat contents. The lactation yield ranges from 1095 Kg to 6054 Kg.
The swimming camels of Kutch
Amidst the stringent laws of nature, exist certain miracles that have the power to confound us beyond measure. One of these wondrous creations of nature is the swimming camels of Kutch. Residing in the diverse land of Kutch, the Kharai breed of camels is one-of-a-kind. These animals swim over 3 kilometres to the islands off the coast of Kutch, where they feed on lush mangroves over a 3-4 day long stay. They then swim back, with their herders in tow, to the vast desert that is their home.
