Land Use and Agri-Production Analysis: A Case Study in Western Uttar Pradesh

The study pertains to the characterization of Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur district of western Uttar Pradesh in terms of soil, climate and land use. Based on soil and climate, homogeneous agro-ecological units were developed for these regions and the agri-technical possibilities of improving the productivity of major crops were studied. For land use, IIRS-1D LISS III and IRS P6 LISS III of both rabi and kharif season of 1998 and 2008 were used and the homogenous units were developed by using ArcGIS. Seventy eight agro-ecological units were identified. Satellite data shows an overall 5.31% decrease in double cropped area with increase in permanent fallow by 2.57% . Shift of land from agricultural to non-agricultural uses were 4.41% in which conversion of agricultural land to built-up areas has been estimated as 2.89 per cent. The yield gaps (potential-current) of rice, wheat, maize and sugarcane for each agro-ecological units (AAU) were calculated. Water and NPK fertilizer requirement for bridging these gaps were estimated.