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Changes in agricultural land use efficiency in Andhra Pradesh
Changes in agricultural land use efficiency in Andhra Pradesh A study by the Standard Coefficient method
N.B.K. Reddy and Y.V. Ramanaiah
The authors explain a project undertaken to assess the extent of spatial and temporal changes in agricultural land use in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India from 1963-64 to 1976-79 at fiveyearly intervals. They begin with a review of the methodology and a critique of Kendall’s Ranking Coefficient method. In an attempt to eliminate the problems of this method, and to build on its strengths, the Standard Coefficient method was devised. Variations in the spatial pattern are examined. The authors explain the results and elaborate on their implications for effective agricultural land use planning.
agricultural land use; India; land use efficiency Keywords:
Dr N.B.K. Reddy and Dr Y.V. Ramanaiah are at the Department of Geography, Sri Venkateswara Universitv._ Tiruoati - 517 502, India. This article is an edited version of a paper presented at a meeting of the International Geographical Union Working Group on the Dynamics of Land Use Systems held at Caen, France in August 1984. The editors of Land Use Policy wish to thank Dr R.D. Hill for his help in preparing this paper for publication. ‘M.G. Kendall, ‘The geographical distribution of crop productivity in England’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Vol 102, 1939, pp 21-48.
210
Agricultural
land use efficiency
is a dynamic
but complex
concept.
It
represents the degree of optimal use and performance of cultivated as well as cultivable land. The efficiency of agricultural land use in a region by the interaction of physical, socioeconomic and technological factors. Quite often, the term ‘agricultural efficiency’ is used synonymously with ‘agricultural productivity’ or ‘crop productivity’, yet subtle differences exist. The concept of agricultural land use efficiency is as complex as it is Yet, some attempts have been made to elusive for quantification. quantify it in order to make it more tangible, comprehensible, precise is determined
and objective.
Kendall was the first to develop a measure for agricultural efficiency based on the output per unit area - he devised a system of ranking coefficient.’ His method formed the basis for many later studies. He took into account the ,vields 1 oer unit area of 10 leading ” croos 1 in 48 administrative counties in England. His Ranking Coefficient method comprises three steps:
0 ii) iii)
the component area1 units are ranked in the order of output per unit area for each of the selected crops; * the ranks of each component areal unit for the selected crops are added; the sum of the ranks of each areal unit is divided by the number of selected crops to obtain the ranking coefficient.
In this method a county with relatively high yields will have a low ranking, and thus a low ranking coefficient and vice versa. The ranking coefficient may be expected to give some sort of guide to the relative importance of counties. For measuring the agricultural efficiency, Stamp applied Kendall’s
0264-8377/85/03210-07$03.00
0 1985 Butterworth
& Co (Publishers)
Ltd
Changes in agricultural
land use efficiency in Andhra
Pradesh
N.B.K. Reddy
Coefficient method for international comparison.2 He selected 20 countries and nine major crops. In India, Shafi was the first to use this method for determining the agricultural efficiency of Uttar Pradesh by taking the per acre yields of eight foodgrain crops.” Sapre and Deshpande noticed the inherent weakness of the Ranking Coefficient method because of the neglect of the area1 strength of crops for which yields per acre are taken to calculate the ranking coefficients.4 For example, a component area1 unit claims the first rank for paddy on the basis of its per acre yield even if less than 1% of the cropland is devoted to it. Here, the agricultural land given over to this crop is negligible and its overall contribution to agricultural production is insignificant although its efficiency ranking is very high because of high per acre yield. In order to overcome this, Sapre and Deshpande have slightly revised the Ranking Coefficient method by assigning weight to the area under different crops and using weighted average ranks instead of simple average ranks of Kendall.’ The weights given for ranks of various crops are proportional to the percentage of cropland under each crop. Singh applied Kendall’s Ranking Coefficient method to measure the land use efficiency of Baraut Block in the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh.’ In his study, he took five variables: net sown area; irrigated land; land cropped more than once; non-cultivable land; and cultivable wasteland. Here, the first three variables were positive and the last two negative. For the positive variables, the first rank was given to the highest percentage value of the variable, for negative variables the first rank was given to the lowest percentage value of the variable. Finally, the given ranks of both the positive and negative variables of a component area1 unit were added and averaged to obtain the ranking coefficient. The ranking coefficients are therefore inversely related to their respective agricultural land use efficiencies of the component area units.
Y.V. Ramanaiah
Evaluation
Ranking
‘L.D. Stamp, Applied Geography, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, UK, 1960. 3M. Shafi, ‘Measurement of agricultural efficiency in UP’, Economic Geography, Vol36, No 4, 1960, pp 296305. ?S.G. Sapre and V.D. Deshpande, ‘Interdistrict variations in agricultural efficiency in Maharashtra State’, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol 19, No 1, 1964. PP 242-252. 5lbid. ‘B.B. Singh, Geonomic Study: Baraut Block Meerut (UP), unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Geography, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
LAND USE POLICY July 1985
of the Ranking Coefficient
method
Kendall’s Ranking Coefficient method has certain inherent merits: it is a simple, effective and quick device for rapid analysis of efficiency; it is easy to calculate and compute the ranking coefficients; whatever may be the units of measurement of the diverse variables employed, they are reduced to a common base for easy comparison and aggregation. The method also suffers from certain shortcomings: ranking the area1 units as percentage values of the variables of each is a time-consuming task, especially with a large number of area1 units; if the difference in values between two area1 units is, for instance, as small as 0.1% in one case and as large as 20% or more in another, the rank difference will be one in both the cases. The ranks assigned do not therefore show the extent of actual differences. Results can only be approximate and gross. Ranks do not accurately indicate absolute changes, positive or negative, especially if the ranks remain the same between the two points of time because ranks merely indicate relative positions and not real changes, and the ranking coefficients are inversely proportional to their agricultural land use efficiency values. Standard
Coefficient
In order
to eliminate
method or minimize
the shortcomings
of the Ranking
211
Changes in agricultural
land use efficiencv
in Andhra
Pradesh
Coefficient method, an attempt has been made to modify the disadvantages, retaining its merits. Instead of assigning ranks the Standard Coefficient method adds and makes an average of the actual percentage values of the variables of a particular component area1 unit. The average percentage value of the variables of a component area1 unit obtained is the standard coefficient and denotes a level of efficiency. The problem of positive and negative variables also has to be resolved. One way is to convert the percentage of each variable into a standard value. In the case of positive variables the highest value of each variable among all the area1 units will be 100 - the maximum standard value. For instance, if in a particular component area1 unit, the highest percentage value of a variable is 90% then the standard value of that variable is 100. With reference to this maximum standard value, the percentages of the variable of the remaining area1 units are computed proportionally, to obtain the respective standard values. In the case of the negative variables, the computation of the standard values from the percentage is done in reverse sequence, with the lowest percentage of the negative variable assigned a maximum standard value of 100. With reference to this maximum standard value, the percentage of the variable of the remaining area1 units are computed to obtain the respective standard values. It may be noted here that as the value of the negative variable increases, the standard value decreases. After computing the standard values of both the positive and negative variables of a component area1 unit, the values of all the variables of each unit are added and averaged to obtain the standard coefficient which is directly proportional to the degree of agricultural land use efficiency. This Standard Coefficient method has a number of merits and applications: i) ii) iii) iv)
The actual relative difference of the variables among the area1 units is clearly brought out. Although the time consuming ranking process is avoided, calculation of standard values for each variable is still necessary. The results obtained present the temporal variations and spatial spread of agricultural land use efficiency clearly. The standard coefficients are directly proportional to the degree of agricultural land use efficiency unlike in Kendall’s Ranking Coefficient method where the ranking coefficients are inversely proportional to the degree of agricultural land use efficiency.
Spatial and temporal changes efficiency in Andhra Pradesh
‘A faluk is the Hindu word for a subdivision of a district.
212
in agricultural
land
use
Seven variables were used in the project: (i) net sown area; (ii) intensity of cropping; (iii) intensity of irrigation; (iv) area irrigated more than once; (v) area under high yielding variety; (vi) non-cultivable land; and (vii) cultivable wasteland. These were considered to be the essential determinants of agricultural land use efficiency. The first five variables are the positive indicators and the last two are negative. and regionalize agricultural land use It is possible to group the tuluks,’ efficiency by aggregating and averaging the standard coefficients of the seven variables. For classification there are five agricultural land use efficiency categories: very high (,45.0), high (35.1 - 45), moderate (25.1 - 35), low (15.1 - 25) and very low (515.0). These are recognized on the LAND USE POLICY July 1985
Changes in agricultural Table 1. Pattern of agricultural
land use efficiency in Andhra Pradesh, 1963-64
Range of mean Category of agricultural standard coefficients land use efficiency 1963-64
45.0 35.1 to 45 25.1 to 3.5 15.1 to 25 15.0
Very high 7 High 12 Moderate 20 Low 102 Very low 54
land use efficiency in Andhra
Number of tahks
1966-69
1973-74
1976-79
8 7 24 97 59
13 10 35 119 18
15 14 66
a7 13
Pradesh
to 1976-79.
Variation between 1963-64 and 1976-79
ShiR from successively lower to higher land categories
8 2 46 15 -41
8 10 56 41
basis of the mean standard coefficient values calculated for each tafuk for 1963-64, 196869, 1973-74 and 197&79. The results of the study are summarized in Table 1 and in Figures 1 and 2. Table 1 reveals that the agricultural land use efficiency in the state has improved considerably during the U-year period between 1963-64 and 1978-79. The number of taluks under the three categories - very high, high and with moderate efficiency - have more than doubled. The most striking change is in the category of moderate agricultural land use efficiency where there has been an increase from 20 to 66 tafuks. The spectacular spatial spread of the moderate, high and very high agricultural land use efficiency categories from 39 to 95 taluks, and the significant spatial decrease of the low and very low agricultural land use efficiency categories from 156 to 100 taluks was brought about by the increased efficiency that is patently visible among the various agricultural land use efficiency categories. Growth in efficiency for the successive categories has been greater at the lower level than at the higher level. As many as 41 taluks moved from the very low to low efficiency category, 56 taluks from the low to moderate category, 10 tafuks from the moderate to high category and 8 taluks from high to very high efficiency category. The study has further revealed that agricultural land use efficiency is spreading throughout the state, indicating increasing agricultural prosperity. Spatial pattern of agricultural land use efficiency in 1963-64 In 1963-64,
there were 19 taluks with high and very high efficiency,
20
N
P
Figure 1. Land Andhra Pradesh.
use
efficiency
LAND USE POLICY July 1985
in
213
Changes in agricultural land USF efficiency in Andhru Pradesh
Figure 2. Volume of change in land use efficiency in Andhra Pradesh.
taluks with
efficiency and 1.56 taluks with low and very low taluks in the Kirshna and Godavari deltas, two in Kurnool district and one in Visakhapatnam district had high and very high agricultural land use efficiency. The taluks with moderate efficiency were scattered in various districts in the state with some clusters in the Pennar delta of Nellore district, Vamsadhara project area of Srikakulam district, the upland taluks under the Nagarjunasagar project area. The overwhelmingly large part of the state was under low and very low efficiency category. Gudivada taluks in the Krishna delta with a mean standard coefficient of 60.1 and Rampachodavaram taluk in the upland Agency area of East Godavari district with a mean standard coefficient of 3.4 have presented a contrasting picture.
efficiency.
moderate
Sixteen
Spatial pattern of agricultural lard use efficiency in 1978-79 In 1978-79, about 29 taluks had high and very high agricultural land use efficiency, 66 taluks had moderate efficiency and 100 taluks had low and very low efficiency. High and very high efficiency is observed in the Krishna and Godavari deltas. Outside this region a few raluks come under this category but they are scattered throughout the state. A large number of taluks come under moderate efficiency. Yet, about 50% of the area of the state still has a low and very low efficiency. It is interesting to note that most of the very low efficiency taluks in 1963364 were upgraded to low efficiency areas by 1978-79. This is a positive trend which tends to reduce regional imbalance. Bhimavaram taluk in the Godavari delta with a mean standard
214
LAND USE POLICY July 1985
Changes in agricultural land use efficiency in Andhra Pradesh
coefficient of 72.2 and Rampachodavaram taluk with a mean standard coefficient of 9.4 present extreme degrees of agricultural land use efficiency. Much of the improvement in the agricultural land use efficiency has taken place in the upland areas of the state because of an increase in the development of irrigation (by both canals and wells), improvement of socioeconomic conditions, modernization of agriculture, and the introduction of better soil and water conservation, and management methods. Very high agricultural land use efficiency 1978-79 Very high agricultural land use efficiency was found in 15 taluks distributed throughout the Krishna and Godavari deltas. The reasons for this are obvious. This deltaic plain is fertile and intensively irrigated by the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater. The region has a stable agricultural economy and has experienced agricultural modernization and improvement in socioeconomic conditions. A high proportion of farmland is under high-intensity canal irrigation, double cropping and is high yielding. The region has a much lower percentage of non-cultivable land and fallow land. Agriculturally it is the most productive region in the state and will probably continue to maintain its pre-eminence. The taluks under this category of agricultural land use efficiency have increased from seven in 1963-64 to 15 in 1978-79, but this increase is confined to the Krishna and Godavari deltas. High agricultural land use efficiency 1978-79 The high agricultural land use efficiency category is observed in 14 taluks. These are spatially not contiguous in their distribution although some, especially in the Krishna and Godavari deltas, have formed clusters. Others have scattered and isolated location in different irrigated areas, for example in the Pennar delta and Nagarjunasagar area. Moderate agricultural land use efficiency 1978-79 This category was established in 66 taluks distributed to a lesser extent in some parts of the coastal plain and to a larger extent in the upland areas. These areas have some protective irrigation facilities which are not adequate for double cropping. The region has a potential for further improvement, provided irrigation facilities are augmented, better water and soil management is practised and socioeconomic conditions improved. Low agricultural land use efficiency 1978-79 This category was found in 87 taluks located in the coastal plain and the interior plateau (in Telangana and Rayalaseema) where irrigation is inadequate, forest and fallow lands poor, and the rainfall and relief conditions not very favourable. A large part of the state is under this category. However, the conditions could be considerably ameliorated by proper use of ground and surface water, better land and water management and improvement in socioeconomic conditions. The application of dry farming techniques would greatly help to develop agriculture in this region.
LAND USE POLICY July 1985
215
Changes in agricultural land use efficiency in Andhra Pradesh
Very low agricultural land use efficiency 1978-79 Thirteen taluks in the Agency area of East Godavari and Khammam districts and parts of Anantapur, Guddapah, Kurnool, Hyderabad, Adilabad and Nellore districts fell into this category. Very little could be done to improve the conditions in this region as it suffers from many natural constraints. Volume of change from 196364
to 1978-79
A hundred and fifty taluks improved their efficiency during the period. In terms of standard coefficient values, higher increases of efficiency of over 10 are observed in 44 taluks distributed in the central and southern coastal plain and parts of Warangal, Karimnagar, Adilabad and Nalgonda districts in Telangana. In the remaining 106 taluks, the increase in efficiency has been low to moderate. In contrast, decreases in agricultural land use efficiency were registered in 38 taluks. These are mostly in parts of Rayalaseema, Agency areas, Srikakulam and Mahabubnagar districts where drought, lack of irrigation and rugged terrain conditions prevail. Higher decreases of efficiency of over 10 standard coefficients are observed in four taluks - Adoni and Alur of Kurnool district, Sidhout taluk of Cuddapah district and Bhadrachalam tafuk of Khammam district. However, in the remaining 34 taluks the decrease in efficiency was mostly marginal.
216
LAND USE POLICY July 1985
N.B.K. Reddy and Y.V. Ramanaiah
The authors explain a project undertaken to assess the extent of spatial and temporal changes in agricultural land use in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India from 1963-64 to 1976-79 at fiveyearly intervals. They begin with a review of the methodology and a critique of Kendall’s Ranking Coefficient method. In an attempt to eliminate the problems of this method, and to build on its strengths, the Standard Coefficient method was devised. Variations in the spatial pattern are examined. The authors explain the results and elaborate on their implications for effective agricultural land use planning.
agricultural land use; India; land use efficiency Keywords:
Dr N.B.K. Reddy and Dr Y.V. Ramanaiah are at the Department of Geography, Sri Venkateswara Universitv._ Tiruoati - 517 502, India. This article is an edited version of a paper presented at a meeting of the International Geographical Union Working Group on the Dynamics of Land Use Systems held at Caen, France in August 1984. The editors of Land Use Policy wish to thank Dr R.D. Hill for his help in preparing this paper for publication. ‘M.G. Kendall, ‘The geographical distribution of crop productivity in England’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Vol 102, 1939, pp 21-48.
210
Agricultural
land use efficiency
is a dynamic
but complex
concept.
It
represents the degree of optimal use and performance of cultivated as well as cultivable land. The efficiency of agricultural land use in a region by the interaction of physical, socioeconomic and technological factors. Quite often, the term ‘agricultural efficiency’ is used synonymously with ‘agricultural productivity’ or ‘crop productivity’, yet subtle differences exist. The concept of agricultural land use efficiency is as complex as it is Yet, some attempts have been made to elusive for quantification. quantify it in order to make it more tangible, comprehensible, precise is determined
and objective.
Kendall was the first to develop a measure for agricultural efficiency based on the output per unit area - he devised a system of ranking coefficient.’ His method formed the basis for many later studies. He took into account the ,vields 1 oer unit area of 10 leading ” croos 1 in 48 administrative counties in England. His Ranking Coefficient method comprises three steps:
0 ii) iii)
the component area1 units are ranked in the order of output per unit area for each of the selected crops; * the ranks of each component areal unit for the selected crops are added; the sum of the ranks of each areal unit is divided by the number of selected crops to obtain the ranking coefficient.
In this method a county with relatively high yields will have a low ranking, and thus a low ranking coefficient and vice versa. The ranking coefficient may be expected to give some sort of guide to the relative importance of counties. For measuring the agricultural efficiency, Stamp applied Kendall’s
0264-8377/85/03210-07$03.00
0 1985 Butterworth
& Co (Publishers)
Ltd
Changes in agricultural
land use efficiency in Andhra
Pradesh
N.B.K. Reddy
Coefficient method for international comparison.2 He selected 20 countries and nine major crops. In India, Shafi was the first to use this method for determining the agricultural efficiency of Uttar Pradesh by taking the per acre yields of eight foodgrain crops.” Sapre and Deshpande noticed the inherent weakness of the Ranking Coefficient method because of the neglect of the area1 strength of crops for which yields per acre are taken to calculate the ranking coefficients.4 For example, a component area1 unit claims the first rank for paddy on the basis of its per acre yield even if less than 1% of the cropland is devoted to it. Here, the agricultural land given over to this crop is negligible and its overall contribution to agricultural production is insignificant although its efficiency ranking is very high because of high per acre yield. In order to overcome this, Sapre and Deshpande have slightly revised the Ranking Coefficient method by assigning weight to the area under different crops and using weighted average ranks instead of simple average ranks of Kendall.’ The weights given for ranks of various crops are proportional to the percentage of cropland under each crop. Singh applied Kendall’s Ranking Coefficient method to measure the land use efficiency of Baraut Block in the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh.’ In his study, he took five variables: net sown area; irrigated land; land cropped more than once; non-cultivable land; and cultivable wasteland. Here, the first three variables were positive and the last two negative. For the positive variables, the first rank was given to the highest percentage value of the variable, for negative variables the first rank was given to the lowest percentage value of the variable. Finally, the given ranks of both the positive and negative variables of a component area1 unit were added and averaged to obtain the ranking coefficient. The ranking coefficients are therefore inversely related to their respective agricultural land use efficiencies of the component area units.
Y.V. Ramanaiah
Evaluation
Ranking
‘L.D. Stamp, Applied Geography, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, UK, 1960. 3M. Shafi, ‘Measurement of agricultural efficiency in UP’, Economic Geography, Vol36, No 4, 1960, pp 296305. ?S.G. Sapre and V.D. Deshpande, ‘Interdistrict variations in agricultural efficiency in Maharashtra State’, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol 19, No 1, 1964. PP 242-252. 5lbid. ‘B.B. Singh, Geonomic Study: Baraut Block Meerut (UP), unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Geography, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
LAND USE POLICY July 1985
of the Ranking Coefficient
method
Kendall’s Ranking Coefficient method has certain inherent merits: it is a simple, effective and quick device for rapid analysis of efficiency; it is easy to calculate and compute the ranking coefficients; whatever may be the units of measurement of the diverse variables employed, they are reduced to a common base for easy comparison and aggregation. The method also suffers from certain shortcomings: ranking the area1 units as percentage values of the variables of each is a time-consuming task, especially with a large number of area1 units; if the difference in values between two area1 units is, for instance, as small as 0.1% in one case and as large as 20% or more in another, the rank difference will be one in both the cases. The ranks assigned do not therefore show the extent of actual differences. Results can only be approximate and gross. Ranks do not accurately indicate absolute changes, positive or negative, especially if the ranks remain the same between the two points of time because ranks merely indicate relative positions and not real changes, and the ranking coefficients are inversely proportional to their agricultural land use efficiency values. Standard
Coefficient
In order
to eliminate
method or minimize
the shortcomings
of the Ranking
211
Changes in agricultural
land use efficiencv
in Andhra
Pradesh
Coefficient method, an attempt has been made to modify the disadvantages, retaining its merits. Instead of assigning ranks the Standard Coefficient method adds and makes an average of the actual percentage values of the variables of a particular component area1 unit. The average percentage value of the variables of a component area1 unit obtained is the standard coefficient and denotes a level of efficiency. The problem of positive and negative variables also has to be resolved. One way is to convert the percentage of each variable into a standard value. In the case of positive variables the highest value of each variable among all the area1 units will be 100 - the maximum standard value. For instance, if in a particular component area1 unit, the highest percentage value of a variable is 90% then the standard value of that variable is 100. With reference to this maximum standard value, the percentages of the variable of the remaining area1 units are computed proportionally, to obtain the respective standard values. In the case of the negative variables, the computation of the standard values from the percentage is done in reverse sequence, with the lowest percentage of the negative variable assigned a maximum standard value of 100. With reference to this maximum standard value, the percentage of the variable of the remaining area1 units are computed to obtain the respective standard values. It may be noted here that as the value of the negative variable increases, the standard value decreases. After computing the standard values of both the positive and negative variables of a component area1 unit, the values of all the variables of each unit are added and averaged to obtain the standard coefficient which is directly proportional to the degree of agricultural land use efficiency. This Standard Coefficient method has a number of merits and applications: i) ii) iii) iv)
The actual relative difference of the variables among the area1 units is clearly brought out. Although the time consuming ranking process is avoided, calculation of standard values for each variable is still necessary. The results obtained present the temporal variations and spatial spread of agricultural land use efficiency clearly. The standard coefficients are directly proportional to the degree of agricultural land use efficiency unlike in Kendall’s Ranking Coefficient method where the ranking coefficients are inversely proportional to the degree of agricultural land use efficiency.
Spatial and temporal changes efficiency in Andhra Pradesh
‘A faluk is the Hindu word for a subdivision of a district.
212
in agricultural
land
use
Seven variables were used in the project: (i) net sown area; (ii) intensity of cropping; (iii) intensity of irrigation; (iv) area irrigated more than once; (v) area under high yielding variety; (vi) non-cultivable land; and (vii) cultivable wasteland. These were considered to be the essential determinants of agricultural land use efficiency. The first five variables are the positive indicators and the last two are negative. and regionalize agricultural land use It is possible to group the tuluks,’ efficiency by aggregating and averaging the standard coefficients of the seven variables. For classification there are five agricultural land use efficiency categories: very high (,45.0), high (35.1 - 45), moderate (25.1 - 35), low (15.1 - 25) and very low (515.0). These are recognized on the LAND USE POLICY July 1985
Changes in agricultural Table 1. Pattern of agricultural
land use efficiency in Andhra Pradesh, 1963-64
Range of mean Category of agricultural standard coefficients land use efficiency 1963-64
45.0 35.1 to 45 25.1 to 3.5 15.1 to 25 15.0
Very high 7 High 12 Moderate 20 Low 102 Very low 54
land use efficiency in Andhra
Number of tahks
1966-69
1973-74
1976-79
8 7 24 97 59
13 10 35 119 18
15 14 66
a7 13
Pradesh
to 1976-79.
Variation between 1963-64 and 1976-79
ShiR from successively lower to higher land categories
8 2 46 15 -41
8 10 56 41
basis of the mean standard coefficient values calculated for each tafuk for 1963-64, 196869, 1973-74 and 197&79. The results of the study are summarized in Table 1 and in Figures 1 and 2. Table 1 reveals that the agricultural land use efficiency in the state has improved considerably during the U-year period between 1963-64 and 1978-79. The number of taluks under the three categories - very high, high and with moderate efficiency - have more than doubled. The most striking change is in the category of moderate agricultural land use efficiency where there has been an increase from 20 to 66 tafuks. The spectacular spatial spread of the moderate, high and very high agricultural land use efficiency categories from 39 to 95 taluks, and the significant spatial decrease of the low and very low agricultural land use efficiency categories from 156 to 100 taluks was brought about by the increased efficiency that is patently visible among the various agricultural land use efficiency categories. Growth in efficiency for the successive categories has been greater at the lower level than at the higher level. As many as 41 taluks moved from the very low to low efficiency category, 56 taluks from the low to moderate category, 10 tafuks from the moderate to high category and 8 taluks from high to very high efficiency category. The study has further revealed that agricultural land use efficiency is spreading throughout the state, indicating increasing agricultural prosperity. Spatial pattern of agricultural land use efficiency in 1963-64 In 1963-64,
there were 19 taluks with high and very high efficiency,
20
N
P
Figure 1. Land Andhra Pradesh.
use
efficiency
LAND USE POLICY July 1985
in
213
Changes in agricultural land USF efficiency in Andhru Pradesh
Figure 2. Volume of change in land use efficiency in Andhra Pradesh.
taluks with
efficiency and 1.56 taluks with low and very low taluks in the Kirshna and Godavari deltas, two in Kurnool district and one in Visakhapatnam district had high and very high agricultural land use efficiency. The taluks with moderate efficiency were scattered in various districts in the state with some clusters in the Pennar delta of Nellore district, Vamsadhara project area of Srikakulam district, the upland taluks under the Nagarjunasagar project area. The overwhelmingly large part of the state was under low and very low efficiency category. Gudivada taluks in the Krishna delta with a mean standard coefficient of 60.1 and Rampachodavaram taluk in the upland Agency area of East Godavari district with a mean standard coefficient of 3.4 have presented a contrasting picture.
efficiency.
moderate
Sixteen
Spatial pattern of agricultural lard use efficiency in 1978-79 In 1978-79, about 29 taluks had high and very high agricultural land use efficiency, 66 taluks had moderate efficiency and 100 taluks had low and very low efficiency. High and very high efficiency is observed in the Krishna and Godavari deltas. Outside this region a few raluks come under this category but they are scattered throughout the state. A large number of taluks come under moderate efficiency. Yet, about 50% of the area of the state still has a low and very low efficiency. It is interesting to note that most of the very low efficiency taluks in 1963364 were upgraded to low efficiency areas by 1978-79. This is a positive trend which tends to reduce regional imbalance. Bhimavaram taluk in the Godavari delta with a mean standard
214
LAND USE POLICY July 1985
Changes in agricultural land use efficiency in Andhra Pradesh
coefficient of 72.2 and Rampachodavaram taluk with a mean standard coefficient of 9.4 present extreme degrees of agricultural land use efficiency. Much of the improvement in the agricultural land use efficiency has taken place in the upland areas of the state because of an increase in the development of irrigation (by both canals and wells), improvement of socioeconomic conditions, modernization of agriculture, and the introduction of better soil and water conservation, and management methods. Very high agricultural land use efficiency 1978-79 Very high agricultural land use efficiency was found in 15 taluks distributed throughout the Krishna and Godavari deltas. The reasons for this are obvious. This deltaic plain is fertile and intensively irrigated by the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater. The region has a stable agricultural economy and has experienced agricultural modernization and improvement in socioeconomic conditions. A high proportion of farmland is under high-intensity canal irrigation, double cropping and is high yielding. The region has a much lower percentage of non-cultivable land and fallow land. Agriculturally it is the most productive region in the state and will probably continue to maintain its pre-eminence. The taluks under this category of agricultural land use efficiency have increased from seven in 1963-64 to 15 in 1978-79, but this increase is confined to the Krishna and Godavari deltas. High agricultural land use efficiency 1978-79 The high agricultural land use efficiency category is observed in 14 taluks. These are spatially not contiguous in their distribution although some, especially in the Krishna and Godavari deltas, have formed clusters. Others have scattered and isolated location in different irrigated areas, for example in the Pennar delta and Nagarjunasagar area. Moderate agricultural land use efficiency 1978-79 This category was established in 66 taluks distributed to a lesser extent in some parts of the coastal plain and to a larger extent in the upland areas. These areas have some protective irrigation facilities which are not adequate for double cropping. The region has a potential for further improvement, provided irrigation facilities are augmented, better water and soil management is practised and socioeconomic conditions improved. Low agricultural land use efficiency 1978-79 This category was found in 87 taluks located in the coastal plain and the interior plateau (in Telangana and Rayalaseema) where irrigation is inadequate, forest and fallow lands poor, and the rainfall and relief conditions not very favourable. A large part of the state is under this category. However, the conditions could be considerably ameliorated by proper use of ground and surface water, better land and water management and improvement in socioeconomic conditions. The application of dry farming techniques would greatly help to develop agriculture in this region.
LAND USE POLICY July 1985
215
Changes in agricultural land use efficiency in Andhra Pradesh
Very low agricultural land use efficiency 1978-79 Thirteen taluks in the Agency area of East Godavari and Khammam districts and parts of Anantapur, Guddapah, Kurnool, Hyderabad, Adilabad and Nellore districts fell into this category. Very little could be done to improve the conditions in this region as it suffers from many natural constraints. Volume of change from 196364
to 1978-79
A hundred and fifty taluks improved their efficiency during the period. In terms of standard coefficient values, higher increases of efficiency of over 10 are observed in 44 taluks distributed in the central and southern coastal plain and parts of Warangal, Karimnagar, Adilabad and Nalgonda districts in Telangana. In the remaining 106 taluks, the increase in efficiency has been low to moderate. In contrast, decreases in agricultural land use efficiency were registered in 38 taluks. These are mostly in parts of Rayalaseema, Agency areas, Srikakulam and Mahabubnagar districts where drought, lack of irrigation and rugged terrain conditions prevail. Higher decreases of efficiency of over 10 standard coefficients are observed in four taluks - Adoni and Alur of Kurnool district, Sidhout taluk of Cuddapah district and Bhadrachalam tafuk of Khammam district. However, in the remaining 34 taluks the decrease in efficiency was mostly marginal.
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LAND USE POLICY July 1985