Land Use Pattern

Land use pattern has undergone  a tremendous transformation in the state  due to changes in agriculture cropping pattern, urbanization and industrialization. During the recent years, there has been an increase in the area put to non-agricultural uses, as expected, because as a result of increase in the development activities, more & more land is being used for industrial sites, housing, transport systems, recreational purposes, irrigation systems, etc. The Punjab comes in the category of states where the proportion of lands under non-agricultural uses is higher than the all-India average. The change in the land use pattern brings associated ecological changes in the state.  

Punjab is a small state with 50362 Sq. Km ( 5036200 ha.) geographical area. The land is shared by the following activities:-   

Agriculture:

The  85.5% of the total land is under agricultural activities and classified as net area sown. This percentage is about double of the average percentage of  the country  as  whole(43%). This is the highest percentage of the net area   sown in any state of the country. The highest and lowest percentage of net area sown was for the District  Mansa (93) and Roopnager (58) respectively. The semi hill districts like Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur , Nawanshehar and Roopnager have comparatively lower percentage of net area sown which is 58% to 83%. South- western districts Mansa, Bathinda, Faridkot, Muktsar and Firozpur have higher percentage of net area sown than average for Punjab. It's between 84% and 93%. The north central and central districts have high percentage of net area sown. It ranges between 82% and 90%. Kapurthala, because of sand dunes and sand bars cover has also a moderate (80%) area of net area sown.

Forests:

Forest area is very small in Punjab. It is 5.57% of the total area of the state. It is about one fourth of the average percentage for the country (20.7%). A large part of the forest area lies in the district Hoshiarpur(35.7%) and Roopnager (16.8%). Gurdaspur(12.1), Patiala(5.0%), Amritsar(4.8%) and Nawanshehar(7.7%) districts have each 5% to 12% of the forest area of the state. The others districts have very small area under the forests.

Source : Geography of Punjab by D S Manku (For large view please click on map)

 Land Not Available for Cultivation:

This class of land includes absolutely barren and uncultivable land like mountains, deserts, swamps, water bodies, etc.  It also includes land covered by buildings, roads, railways, and water or otherwise appropriated for non-agricultural purposes. Such land form 8% of the total area of the state. Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala districts have each more than 40, 000 ha. of land under this class.  Roopnager, Sangrur, Moga, Bathinda, and Kapurthala districts have each 6% to 10% area of the state in this class. The others districts have very small area under this class. 

Other uncultivated land

It is such a land which is available for cultivation but due to one or the other reason has not been taken up for cultivation or abandoned later on. It includes culturable waste, permanent pastures, other grazing land and land under miscellaneous tree crops and groves.  Under this category only very small area falls which is 0.6% of State's total geographical area.  The area under this class declined from 55 thousand hectares to only 14 thousand hectares in 1994-95 but increased to 31 thousand hectares in 2000-2001.

Fallow Land

          It is the cultivable land, which after abandonment remains uncultivated over long period called " old fallow" or kept uncultivated during the current year called "current fallow".  Fallow land of the State has been decreasing over the years due to extension of cultivated land.  It decreased from 3.13 lakh hectares in 1960-61 to metre 64 thousand hectares in 1995-96 and to 32 thousand hectares in 2000-2001.