Bijapur District - General Information

Bijapur is one of the largest districts in Karnataka and has an area of 10541 sq Km. Consisting 5.49% of the area of the state. It is nearly 580 Kms from the state capital Bangalore. It lies between 15x50 and 17x28 North Latitude and 74x54 and 76x28 East Longitude. The district is bounded by Solapur district on the north and Sangli on the north–west (both of Maharastra state), by the district of Belgaum on the west, Bagalkote on the south, Gulburga on the East and by Raichur on the south–east. Thus, it is a land–locked district on the northern boundary of Karnataka.

Bijapur district is accessible by both highways and rail. The National highway 13 passes through the district in the eastern and central parts. Via Muddebihal and Bijapur. The taluka towns are well connected by state highways and district roads. The railway line connecting Solapur in Maharastra and Hubli passes through the center of the district, via Indi and Basavan Bagewadi.

Bijapur district consists of 5 Taluks viz Bijapur, Basavana-Bagewadi, Indi, Muddebihal and Sindgi.

The district’s population (18.10 lakhs) constitutes 3.42% of the total population of the state. The population growth during 1981-91 was less than state average of 2.10% per annum. About 80% (14.48 lakh) of the population live in rural area as against the state average of 69% Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes account for 20.1% (3.1 lakh) of the population. The density of population at 172 per Sq K.M. far less than the state average of 44.6 Workers as a percentage to total population are 39.81% which is comparable to the state figure of 44.1% The literacy rate at 56% stood marginally above the state figure of 55.The literacy rate among male is 57.95% whereas among female it is only 39.14%.

Geographically, the district lies in the tract of the Deccan Plateaus. The lands of the district can be broadly divided into three zones: the northern belt consisting of the northern parts of Bijapur Taluks of Indi and Sindagi; the central belt consisting of Bijapur city; the southern belt consisting of the rich alluvial plains of the Krishna Rivers parted from the central belt by a stretch of barren Trap. The northern belt is a succession of low rolling uplands without much vegetation, gently rounded and falling into intermediate narrow valleys. The upland soil being shallow, the villagers are generally confined to the banks of the streams and are far away from one another. The Don Volley has plains and consists of rich tracts of deep black soil stretching from west to east. Across the Krishna River is a rich plain crossed from west to east by two lines of sandstone hills. Further south towards Badami and South-West to east by two lines of sandstone hills. Further south towards Badami and South West of Hunagund, the hills increase the number and the black soil gives way to the red.

The District, criss-crossed by several streams and rivers, is drained mainly by the Krishna river which is one of the two great rivers of South India. Bhima, Don.

There are 34 rain gauge stations in Bijapur District. The average annual rainfall for the district is 552.8 mm with 37.2 rainy days. The monsoon generally breaks in the district during June and lasts till October. The highest mean monthly rainfall is 149.2 mm in the month of September and lowest is 3.4 mm in February. The annual rainfall variation in the district is marginal from place to place.

Bijapur District can be categorized as a low to moderately yielding area (1000lph to 8000lph) 72.2% of district falling in this category. From considerable part of the district (9%) poor yielding (less than 1000 lph sources) or non –feasible areas have been reported. The talukas having largest poor yielding area, are Muddebihal (19%) followed by Indi (15%), Bijapur and sindagi (13% each), Basavan Bagewadi (4%) . Low yielding areas ( 1000lph to 4000lph source) in the district constitute about 40% of the district, with the largest being Basavan Bagewadi (54%) and smallest in Indi taluka Moderate yields (4000lph to 8000lph source ) are reported from 36% of the district, highest being in Bijapur with 70% of the area, and lowest being in Sindagi with 19% of the taluka. High yielding areas (more than 8000lph sources) over 15% of the district. The smallest area under this category are in Sindagi Taluka (2% each) and largest is in muddebihal (29% each) where very lengthy contact zones occurs between traps and other formations.

On the basis of projections from this information, the main parameters affecting water quality in Bijapur can be expected to be Brackishness (Salinity) and Hardness. Salinity affects the district in high to low groundwater problem areas and occurs in areas all along the major and minor river courses and steam courses.

Of the total geographical area of 10.53 lakh ha . 7.76 lakh ha. Is available for cultivation which is 74% of the total area, while area under forest account for only 0.19% of the total area. Only 17.3% of the net cultivable area is irrigated and balance 82.7% of the area has to depend on monsoon.

The cropping pattern in the district reveals that food crops like jowar, maize, bajra and wheat among cereals, red gram, Bengal gram and green gram among pulses are major crops cultivated in the district. The major oilseed crops are sunflower, groundnut and safflower. Horticulture crops like grapes, pomegranate, ber, guave sapota, lime are also grown. Recent trend shows that there is a low shift towards fruit crops like Pomegranate and grapes of the total area of 8.61 lakh ha. Covered during 2002-03 cereals occupy about 55.2% by oilseeds 24.5% pulse 15.6% and other commercial crops like cotton and sugarcane about 4.8% There is slight shift towards commercial crops like cotton and sugarcane over last 2 years.

The land holding pattern in the district indicates that small and marginal farmers account for 4% of total land holdings and 0.6% of the total land, semi-medium for 27.5% with 10.1% of total land while 68% of the holdings are above 2ha. Accounting 89.3% of land.

The District is predominantly an agricultural belt. Besides this, dairy, poultry, seep/goat rearing, sericulture, Horticulture activities are being pursued by the population. The district has tremendous market potential for mass consumer goods, semi durables, durables industrial raw materials, intermediate products, capital goods, agricultural implements, etc. The undivided Bijapur District finds 12th place in terms of number of registered SSI units in the state as of March 1995. The District Rural Industries Project (DRIP) which is under implementation from 1999-2000 has shown good progress during first years.

Export of grapes, pomegranate, Banana. (Pre cooling packaging and processing unit) Juice, Jam, Jelly, Pickles making units Horticulture: - Tissue culture for grape, pomegranate seedlings.

The District is served by 81 branches of Commercial Banks (including one Hi-Tech. Agril, Finance Branch of Canara Bank) 41 Branches of Bijapur Grameen Bank, 23 Branches of Bijapur DCCB and 5 PCARDBs. Besides, the KSFC is also functioning in the district with its branch at Bijapur.