Assessment of Changes in Land Use Pattern in South Gujarat Region

Abstract

The quantity of production of any specific crop mainly depends on its productivity and the land quality of the cropped area. The land in the South Gujarat region including four coastal districts is 12.24% of the total geographical area of the state. The present investigation was carried out to study the inter-sectoral land use dynamics and pattern of distribution of the particular classes of land across South Gujarat. The study is based on secondary data from 2000-01 to 2019-20 collected from the different publications of the Government. Analysis of data was done by using a simple identity of linearly additive land use changes model and Location Coefficient. The barren and uncultivable land, forest land and land under miscellaneous tree crops and groves declined whereas land area under current fallow land, non-agriculture and permanent pasture and grazing raised in South Gujarat during the study period. The land area under forest and land under miscellaneous tree crops and groves shifted towards agricultural land or land for non-agriculture activities or both over the study period in South Gujarat. The unfavourable shift in land use in the desirable ecological sector and a favourable shift in land use in the undesirable ecological sector were observed in South Gujarat. The land area under the agricultural sector annually increased by 92106 ha which was at the cost of the desirable ecological sector. The location coefficient for the area under forest, the area under non-agricultural uses and the net sown area was higher during the study period indicating that there was a higher concentration of these categories of land in South Gujarat. The location coefficient of current fallow land indicated a sharp increase in the area under fallow land during the study period, implying that suitable interventions are needed to bring this area under cultivation to increase agricultural production.