Formed in 1960, combining districts from the erstwhile Bombay province, Nizam’s dominions and Central Provinces and Berar, during the linguistic reorganization of the states in India INTRODUCTION TO MAHARASHTRA Presentation by S.J. Phansalkar

MAP OF MAHARASHTRA

Area thousand sq km Population (excl. Mumbai) 85 million Rural population 69% # BPL (rural) 23% on new definition (it was 43% in 1997 on the basis of poverty line = Rs. 49 at 1973 prices) Average monthly per capita consumption expenditure (rural) equivalent to Rs. 171 (1988 prices), which is below the average for India

Av. land holding 2 ha % irrigated area 13% Irrigation by source: Canals22% Tanks14% Ground water56% Others6%

Three zones of Maharashtra

Konkan Thane Raigadh Ratnagiri Sindhudurn districts Back

Desh or Central Maharashtra Kolhapur Satara Sangli Solapur Pune Nashik Ahmednagar The whole of Marathwada Dhule Jalgaon Nandurbar Akola Washim Buldhana Back

Vidharbha Amrawati Yavatmal Nagpur Wardha, Bhandara Gondia Chandrapur Gadchirloi Back

Attributes High rainfall UHM Highly industrialized Lateritic soils Acute water problem in dry seasons Highly denuded Crops: field crops are rice and inferior millets Coastal horticulture: alphanso, cashew, sapota etc. Horticulture in the hands of large, often absentee landlords from Gujarat and Mumbai High urbanization around Greater Mumbai Tribal people: Katkari, Thakarada and Mahadeo kolis in the hills FEATURES OF ALL REGIONS KONKAN

DESH Rainshadow region, low rainfall, less than 700 mm Intensely cultivated Surface irrigated Ground water sources vanished Field crops: sugarcane, sorghum, soyabean, sunflower, safflower, pigeon pea, cotton Horticulture crops grown in pockets Western and Central Maharashtra districts

Crops include vegetables: tomato, onion, full range of vegetables Fruits Grape Grape Pomegranate Strawberry Banana Soils are loamy to clay loam UHM in Western parts, flat in the rest High degree of poverty Communities: caste Hindu, special horticultural communities of malis PUNE, NASHIK, SANGLI, JALGAON

GRAPE Back

POMEGRANATE Back

STRAWBERRY Back

BANANA Back

VIDHARBHA High rainfall, predictable monsoon, average rain above mm Main crops: cotton, pigeon pea, soyabean, sorghum. Rice in the Eastern district Low irrigation level Largely ground water based Very poor proportion in second crops Horticultural crop: mandarine, orange (show Northern regions of Amrawati and Nagpur districts) Ground water levels fast receding in orange belt Acute poverty Politics of cotton

Twelve project districts Within these, there are different focus areas: Pomegranate Nasik and Solapur Banana:Jalgaon and Dhule Vegetables: Aurangabad, Jalna, Ahmednagar Orange: Amrawati Highly ground water stressed regions Expensive conventional drip systems also very popular Subsidy scheme on drip systems Large marketing network in Central Maharashtra for drip related materials PROJECT AREA