Soil Moisture Conditions in Northern Karnataka and

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Soil Moisture Conditions in Northern Karnataka and

Crop Cover in Southern Karnataka as on 18thApril 2016

During the first meeting of Karnataka – Geographic Information System (K-GIS)

Empowered Committee, the Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka has instructed KSRSAC to

provide information on soil moisture stress in northern districts of Karnataka and area under

crops in southern districts of Karnataka for the month of April 2016.

In view of the instructions, for the third report using the satellite image AWiFS (56m) dated

18th April 2016, KSRSAC has carried out the following;

Assessment of soil moisture stress conditions in 12 northern districts (Bidar,

Ballari, Belagavi, Bagalakot, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Kalaburgi, Koppal,

Vijayapura, Raichur and Yadgir) of Karnataka.

Estimation of area under crop in 10 southern districts (Bengaluru Urban,

Bangaluru Rural, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Mandya,

Mysore, Ramanagra and Tumakuru) of Karnataka.

State-wide Soil Moisture Stress Conditions

State-wide assessment of soil moisture stress conditions as on as on 18th April2016 is given in

fig-1 and table-1. It is seen that 97.2% of the Karnataka State is under moderate and severe

soil moisture stress conditions, an increase of 6.4% as compared to 30th March 2016.

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Fig-1: Soil moisture stress in Karnataka (red and brown colors indicate severe and moderate

soil moisture stress, respectively as on 18th

April 2016).

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Table-1: Soil moisture stress conditions in Karnataka as on 30th

March and 18th April 2016.

30th

March 2016 18th

April 2016

Sl No Class Area (ha) % Area (ha) % Remarks

1 Severe 7760471 40.4 9940461.4 51.8 No crops

2 Moderate 9685849 50.4 8709079.7 45.4 No crops

3 Mild 1371216 7.1 455033.6 2.4 Sparse crop

cover

4 Normal Moisture

Conditions

371741 1.9 85424.6 0.4 Mostly forest

19189278.1 100 19189999.4 100

Soil Moisture Stress Conditions in Districts of Northern Karnataka

Ninety five percent area in Northern Karnataka experience moderate and severe soil moisture

stress conditions as on 18th

April 2016, an increase of 12.4% as compared to 30th March 2016.

Among Northern Karnataka districts (Table-2) Haveri has highest area 99.9%, under

moderate and severe soil moisture stress conditions followed by Ballari (99.6%), Raichur

(97.9%), Koppal (97.1%), Dharwad (91.3%) and Gadag (89%). Sixty six out of 69 taluks

suffered moderate and severe soil moisture stress conditions (Fig-2 and Table-3).

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Fig-2: Soil moisture stress in Northern Districts of Karnataka (red and brown colors indicate

severe and moderate soil moisture stress, respectively) as on 18th

April 2016.

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Table-2: District-wise area under soil moisture stress conditions in North Karnataka as on

18th

April 2016.

Sl No District

Name

Normal

Moisture % Mild % Moderate % Severe %

1 Bagalakote 9539.7 1.5 30140.7 4.6 457390.9 69.6 159962.7 24.3

2 Belagavi 1515.3 0.1 16822.8 1.3 866508.2 64.6 456451.7 34.0

3 Bellary 1704.1 0.2 1741.7 0.2 149434.5 17.7 692732.7 81.9

4 Bidar 390.7 0.1 9025.7 1.7 529205.0 97.1 6400.9 1.2

5 Vijayapura 3572.5 0.3 7172.0 0.7 974321.0 92.8 64461.1 6.1

6 Dharawada 5345.3 1.3 31374.4 7.4 95050.6 22.3 293826.9 69.0

7 Gadag 13054.2 2.8 38135.0 8.2 121278.5 26.1 292785.4 62.9

8 Kalaburagi 12745.6 1.2 120904.7 11.0 955110.5 87.1 7351.1 0.7

9 Haveri 0.0 0.0 328.3 0.1 41724.8 8.7 440185.6 91.2

10 Koppal 5035.5 0.9 11207.4 2.0 82323.1 14.8 458994.7 82.3

11 Raichur 1723.2 0.2 16512.0 2.0 297188.1 35.2 529122.5 62.7

12 Yadgir 18583.9 3.5 120044.8 22.8 277125.8 52.5 111778.0 21.2

Total 73210.2 0.8 403409.7 4.6 4846661.0 54.8 3514053.3 39.8

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Table-3: List of Taluks under different soil moisture stress conditions in Northern Karnataka

as on 18th

April 2016.

Sl.No. Name of

Districts

Severe Moderate Mild

1 Bagalakot Badami Bilagi, Bagalkot,

Jamkhandi, Mudhol and

Hungund

-

2 Belagavi Belagavi, Bailhongal

andKhanapur

Chikodi, Raybag,

Athani , Gokak,Hukeri,

Ramdurg and Saundatti

-

3 Ballari Hadagali,

HagariBommanahalli,

Kudligi,Sandur, Hospet,

Ballari and Siruguppa

-

-

4 Bidar

-

Basavakalyan,

Humnabad,Bidar,

Aurad and Bhalki

5 Vijayapura Muddebihal

Sindigi, Vijayapura,

Indi and

Basavanabagevadi

-

6 Dharwad Dharwad,

KundagolKalaghatigi and

Hubli,

Navalgund

-

7 Raichur Lingasugur,

Devadurga,Raichur,

Sindhnur and Manvi

-

-

8 Gadag Shirahati, Mundargi and

Gadag

Rona Naragund

9 Kalaburagi

-

Chincholi,

ChitapurAland,

Kalaburagi, Jevarge and

Afzalpura

Sedam

10 Haveri Haveri, Hangal, Byadagi,

Savanur, Shiggaon,

Ranibennur andHirekerur

-

-

11 Koppal Yelaburga, Kustagi,

Gangavathi and Koppal

- -

12 Yadgir Shorapur

Shahpur Yadgir

Total (69) 36 30 3

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State-wide assessment of Crop Area

State-wide map showing area under crops and other land use types as on 18th April 2016 is

shown in fig-3 and statistics is given in table-4. About 10.3% of the state is under various

crops as on 18th April 2016, a decrease of 3.4% as compared to 30

th March 2016.

Fig-3: Area under crops with other land uses in Karnataka as on 18thApril 2016

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Table-4: Area (ha) under crops with other land uses in Karnataka as on 18th April 2016

30th

March 2016 18th

April 2016

Sl No. Land Use Classes Area % Area %

1 Crop Area (Land with

standing crop)

2640231 13.7 1980552 10.3

2 Fallow Land 7850393 40.9 8848745 46.2

3 Forest 1405039.0 7.3 1405039 7.3

4 Plantation 1613462.6 8.4 1613462 8.4

5 Others (Waterbody, etc) 439900.2 2.3 439900.2 2.3

6 Area not available for

cultivation (Waste

lands, Scrub lands,

Builtup, etc,)

5241405

27.3 4902734

25.5

Total 19190431.2 100 19190431.2 100

District-wise Assessment of crop area in Southern Karnataka

District-wise crop area estimates for Southern districts of Karnataka are shown in fig-4 and

statistics in table-5. It is observed that the crop area in southern districts has come down from

12.8% to 9.8% in the period from 30th March to 18

thApril 2016, a decrease of 3% area.

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Fig-4. Area under crops with other land uses in Southern Karnataka as on 18th

April 2016

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Table-5: Area under crops with other land uses in Southern Karnataka as on 18th April 2016

SlN

o District Name

Geographical

Area (ha)

30th

March 2016 18th

April 2016

Crop

Area (ha)

Crop Area

(%)

Crop Area

(ha)

Crop Area

(%)

1 Bengaluru Rural 229519 40023.8 17.4 20957.6 9.0

2 Bengaluru Urban 217410 22697.4 10.4 18176.6 8.4

3 Chamaraja Nagar 569901 62929.5 11.0 40558.5 7.0

4 Chickaballapur 404501 49787.8 12.3 15781.3 3.8

5 Hassan 662602 115899.7 17.5 82276.4 12.4

6 Kolar 374966 49787.8 13.3 52286.5 13.8

7 Mandya 498244 99144.6 19.9 103220.8 20.7

8 Mysuru 676382 70210.0 10.4 61642.2 9.0

9 Ramanagara 355912 34363.7 9.7 34606.4 9.6

10 Tumakuru 1064755 103398.6 9.7 66673.6 6.3

Total 5054192 648242.9 12.8 496179.8 9.8

Conclusions

In the districts of Northern Karnataka the area under moderate and severe soil

moisture stress as on 18th

April 2016 was 95% compared to 82% as on 30th March

2016.

Out of 69 taluks in Northern districts of Karnataka, 66 were affected by moderate and

severe soil moisture stress as on 18th

April 2016 compared to 63taluks as on 30th

March 2016.

Crop area in the districts of Southern Karnataka has come down from 12.8% to 9.8%

in the period from 30th

March to 18th

April2016.