Land:
Total geographical area of the state is about 161.98 lakhs hectares. It is noteworthy to find that 61% of the geographical area is under cultivation in the state. Kheda, Mehsana, Amreli, Surat, Gandhinagar, Anand, Patan, Bhavnagar and Banaskantha districts have more than 70% of their area under cultivation. The state has 9.00% of their land as waste land and the same may be effectively used under various watershed projects. 5.00% of area are under pasture land and land under non-agriculture use or cultivable unutilized categories are covered about 15.00% of the geographical area.
Soils:
The soils of Gujarat can be broadly classified into nine groups: black soil, mixed red and black soils, residual sandy soils, alluvial soils, saline/alkali soils, lateritic soils, hilly soils, desert soils and forest soils.
Climate:
In terms of the standard climatic types, tropical climates viz., sub-humid, arid and semi-arid are spread over different regions of the state. Out of total area of the state 58. 60 per cent fall under arid and semi-arid climatic zone. The arid zone contributes 24.94 per cent, while the semi-arid zone forms 33.66 per cent of the total area of the state. The regions in the extreme north comprising the district of Kutchh and the western parts of Banaskantha and Mehsana, the northern fringe of Saurashtra (Jamnagar) and its western part have arid climate the rest of the State has semi-arid climate. The district of Valsad, Dangs, Surat, Vadodara and Kheda in the extreme south of the State have sub-humid climate.
Rainfall:
The average annual rainfall over different parts of the State varies widely from 300 mm in the Western half of Kutch to 2100 mm in the Southern part of Valsad district and the Dangs. The monsoon usually commences by the middle of June and withdraws by the end of September, about 95% of the total annual rainfall being received during these months rainfall is received in June, nearly 40% in the July, 25% in August and 15% to 25% in July, August and September. The maximum number of rainy days is in July and August.
Temperature:
There is considerable variation State-wise average temperature during the course of the year. The average weekly minimum temperature is about 12.5 C. experienced generally in the month of January. Some parts of the State occasionally experience frost during this period.
The average weekly maximum temperature is 39.9 C, generally reached by about the second week of May. Thus, January is the coldest month, while May is the hottest month for Gujarat. October is another month of higher temperature.
Agriculture : As per the 4th advance estimates, production of food grains during 2020-21 was estimated at 10.20 million tonnes compared to 9.33 million tonnes production of the previous year. During the year 2020-21, the production of cotton bales of 170 kg each was 74.48 lakh bales as compared to 88.01 lakh bales during the year 2019-20. The production of oil seeds was estimated at 5.95 million tonnes during the year 2020-21 against the production of 6.66 million tonnes during the year 2019-20.
Despite having largely fertile land, as compared to the productivity of food grain in Punjab (4519 kg/ha), Haryana (3891) kg/ha) or agriculture intensive states of Andhra Pradesh (3038) kg/ha) and Tamil Nadu (2988) kg/ha), the productivity in Gujarat is 2236 kg/ha which is less than the all India food grain productivity of 2325 kg/ha.
Gujarat is the largest producer of Cotton, Groundnut and Condiments & Spices in India despite the fact that 58% of land area is under arid zone and semi-arid regions. As a major producer of groundnut, Gujarat accounted for 42.55 % of the total groundnut production in India in the year 2017-18 and 43% in the year 2018-19. Gujarat is also the largest producer of Castor, Cumin, Fennel seeds and Psyllium Husk in the world.
Animal Husbandry: Gujarat is the 5th largest milk producer in India. 7.7% of the milk production of the country was from Gujarat in the year 2018-19. The State is one of the largest processor of milk in India. Dairy industry has been well established in Gujarat State and it is a model for other states in the country. During the year 2019-20, per day 203.43 lakh litres milk has been received in 22 Co-operative dairy plants whose per day capacity was 262.63 lakh litres milk. There are 19522 co-operative milk societies in the State. Amul Dairy is Asia’s biggest dairy and has been ranked 8th largest milk processor in the world by International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN), a global dairy research network.
Horticulture : In the State, horticulture production comprises Vegetables (55%) followed by Fruits (40 % ), Spices (4%) and Flowers (1%). During the year 2018-19, the state share at the national level in the production of fruit crop is 9%, vegetable crop is 8 %, spice crop is 12% and flower crop is 8%.
The major fruit crops grown in Gujarat are Banana, Mango, Citrus, Papaya, Pomegranate, Gauva and Sapota (Chikoo) while vegetable crops grown are Onion, Potato, Brinjal, Tomato, Okra, Tuber and Cucurbits. The State mainly produces spices viz. Cumin, Fennel, Coriander, Chilly and Garlic. The State enjoys monopoly in seed spices. Isabgul is prominent medicinal crop grown in the State. Area under new fruit crops viz. Tissue Culture Date Palm, Dragon Fruit (Kamalam Fruit) and Strawberry is increasing day by day. The State has also introduced horticulture crops like cashew nut, palmarosa, sweet orange and medicinal crops. Onion dehydration industry of the State is the biggest in the country. In floriculture, flowers like carnation, gerbera and rose are cultivated using Hi-Tech Green Houses. ili During the year 2019-20 vis-à-vis the previous year 2018-19, the production of fruit crops increased to 92.61 lakh tonnes from 92.26 lakh tonnes, that of vegetables to 132.30 lakh tonnes from 125.40 lakh tonnes, spices to 10.96 lakh tonnes from 8.24 lakh tonnes and flowers remained same at 1.96 lakh tonnes.
Fisheries: Gujarat has the longest coastal-line of 1600 kms in the country, which is broken by several bays, inlets, estuaries and marshy lands. It contributes about 20% of the country’s total marine production. The area available for fishing activities extends from Lakhpat in Kachchh district in the north to Umargaon in Valsad district in the south. Important commercial varieties of fish namely Pomfret, Jew fish, Bombay Duck, Shrimp, Lobster, Squid, Cuttle fish, Silver bar, Hilsa, Shark, Catfish, Mullets, etc. are caught in large quantities in these areas. In addition, the Gulf of Kachchh has congenial conditions for growth and sustenance of different types of Oysters, Shellfish and Sea Weeds. During the year 2019-20, the total fish production was estimated at 8.58 lakh tonnes (7.01 lakh tonnes of Marine fish and 1.57 lakh tonnes of Inland fish) worth 7612.67 crore. The marine fish production contributes about 81.65 percent of total fish production of the State. During the year 2019-20, the state had exported 279751 tonnes of fish and fish products, earning a foreign exchange of 5,019.48 crore.
Forestry: The forest area of Gujarat was approximately 21859 sq.km in the year 2018-19, which was about 11.15% of the total geographical area of the State. As on 31 March 2020, the State had 23 Wildlife Sanctuaries and 4 National Parks covering about 8.72 % of the total geographical area of the State.
Farm Mechanization is making slow headway in the state. The sale of tractors and other farm machinery has been growing in last few years. Resultantly, the Farm Mechanization has remained restricted largely to use of Tractors due to lack of awareness about other attachments and small farm machines that are causing revolutionary trends in other States. There is a need to increase the availability of farm power from 2.02 kW per ha (2016-17) to 4.0 kW per ha by the end of 2030 to cope up with increasing demand of food grains. Average per hectare farm power availability of the State is 2.56 kW/ha, which is above the national average (Source: SMAM Report 2018, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Gal). Financial assistance is available for different category of farmers through Central Government programme on Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) to improve the existing farm power availability.
Scale of Finance
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