Temporal Variation of Land Use Pattern in Karnataka state: A Geographical Analysis

Abstract: In this paper an attempt has been made to analyse the temporal variation of land use pattern in Karnataka state: A Geographical analysis. This study is based on secondary data collected from Karnataka at a glance. Land use is clearly constrained by environmental factors such as soil characteristics, climate, topography, vegetation. But it also reflects the importance of land as a key and finite resource for most human activities including agriculture, industry, Forestry, energy production, settlement, recreation, and water catchments and storage. For measuring the temporal changes of land use pattern simple statistical equation have been employed. The study covers 30 districts of Karnataka which come under the variation in spatial variation of land use pattern examined for the periods 2003-2004 and 2017-2018.


Introduction
Land use is the surface utilization of all developed and vacant land on a specific point at a given time and space.For agriculture and its quality and extent largely determine the variety and magnitude of agricultural production.Land use studies are important as they are aimed to explain the occurrence of different uses in different areas.Some land is better than other for specific use depending on physical economic and cultural characteristics of land, to which its suitability for a particular use is related.Therefore, in agricultural geography it is essential to understand the variations in the land use as a human reaction towards the satisfaction of human wants.The demand for new uses of land may be inspired by a technological change or by a change in the size, composition and requirements of a community; some changes are short lived whereas others represent a more constant.The growth of population may change the forest and pasture land into cropped including residential and industrial land utilization.

Objectives
The aims of the present study to investigate the temporal variations in Land Use Pattern of Karnataka.

Study Area
The Indian State of Karnataka is located 1130 ′ North and 18 30 ′ North latitudes and 74East and 7830 ′ East longitude.In the western part of the Deccan Peninsular region of India.The State is bounded by Maharashtra and Goa States in the north and northwest; by the Arabian Sea in the west; by Kerala and Tamil Nadu States in the South and by the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the East.Karnataka extends to about 750 km from north to south and about 400 km from east to west.It can be further divided into Four Physiographic regions-the Northern Karnataka plateau, Central Karnataka Plateau, Southern Karnataka Plateau and the Coastal Karnataka plateau.There are Chains of mountains, the highest being the Mullayanagiri (1929 m).There are varied types of soils in Karnataka.Black soils are found in northern Karnataka whereas red and red loamy soils are prominent in southern Karnataka.Laterite soils are found in main land and coastal areas of the state.The forest ecosystem of Karnataka is unique and highly diverse.Vegetation types include tropical evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, thorny scrubs, shoals and coastal mangroves.There are many rivers flowing through the state.The most famous among them are the Krishna, Cauvery, Godavari, Pennar and Palar.

Changes in Land Use Pattern
Land is a finite resource and its demand for diverse purposes is increasing day by day.There are large areas of utilizable but wasteland resources.Moreover, the pressure of commercialization is increasingly forcing out productive land resources for nonagricultural uses.Considering the importance of land use and policy, the Government of Karnataka brought out a document on land use policy recently (GoK, 2003).
The Table 2 and Figure 2 shows the Changes of Land use pattern in 2003-04 and 2017-18 in the state of Karnataka.Forest is a piece of land with many trees.These are very important and grow in many places around the world.They are an ecosystem which includes many plants and animals.Temperature and rainfall are the two most important things of forests.
The Table 3 and Figure 3    Non-agricultural land means land upon which no agricultural activities are conducted and from which no agricultural products are derived.These lands is never eligible to receive an agricultural assessment.

Non-agricultural Land
The Table 4 and Figure 4    Barren land is defined as those ecosystems in which less than one third of the area has vegetation or other cover.In general, Barren land has thin soil, sand, or rocks.Barren lands include deserts, dry salt flats, beaches, sand dunes, exposed rocks, strip mines, quarries, and gravel pits.

Barren Land
The Table 5 and Figure 5

Cultivable Waste
Cultivable waste land includes all land available for cultivation or taken up for cultivation once, but not cultivated during the current year and the preceding five years or more in succession.The Table 6 and Figure 6

Permanent Pasture
Permanent pasture means non rotational land used for grass production (sown or natural) on a permanent basis (five years or longer).
The Table 7 and   Grove is a group of trees that grow close together, generally without many bushes or other plants underneath.

Trees and Groves
The Table 8 and Figure 8   Fallow land is all arable land either included in the crop rotation system or maintained in good agricultural and environmental condition, whether worked or not, but will not be harvested for the duration of a crop year.

Fallow Land
The Table 9 and Figure 9 shows Division wise Changes in Area under Fallow Land in 2003-04 and 2017-18 in the state of Karnataka.The state is categorized into 4 divisions-Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalburgi and Mysuru.The entire state covered a total geographical area of 2344041 hectares i.e.Net sown area is the total area sown with crops and orchards.It represents an area in which total crops are grown only once in a year.

Net Sown Area
The Table 10

Conclusion
In the study region the land use pattern was classified in to eight categories.i.e.Area under forest, non-agricultural land, barren land, cultivable waste, permanent, pasture, trees and groves, fallow land and net sown area.In the study region forest and net sown area is the most important type of land use except the other entire land use category.Proportion of such land is higher in both years.A noticeable decreased is indicated in other categories i.e. area under Fallow Land -0.5 percent.Increase is observed in the categories of Non Agricultural Land which is +0.8 percent to the area of the study region.

Fig. 3 .
Fig. 3. Divisions wise Changes in Area Under Forest 2003-2004 and 2017-2018 in Karnataka represent the Changes in area under Forest in 2003-04 and 2017-18 in the state of Karnataka.The state is categorized into 4 divisions-Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalburgi and Mysuru.The entire state covered a total geographical area of 3070330 hectares i.e. 16.1% in 2003-04 and it increased to 3073376 hectares in 2017-18.A positive change is seen in Kalburgi division i.e. 0.1% (increased from 1.3% in 2003-04 to 1.4% in 2017-18).A negative change is seen in Bengaluru division i.e. -0.1% (decreased from 3.4% in 2003-04 to 3.3% in 2017-18), because of urbanization.There are no changes in forest cover in Belagavi and Mysuru divisions i.e. 0.0%.

Fig. 6 .
Fig. 6.Divisions wise Changes in Area Under Cultivable Waste 2003-2004 and 2017-2018 in Karnataka shows Division Wise Changes in Area under Cultivable waste in 2003-04 and 2017-18 in the state of Karnataka.The state is categorized into 4 divisions-Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalburgi and Mysuru.The entire state covered a total geographical area of 421263 hectares i.e. 2.2% in 2003-04 which decreased to 399315 hectares i.e. 2.1% in 2017-18 accompanied by a total change of -0.1%.The graph shows a negative change in Mysuru divisions i.e. -0.1% (decreased from 1.0% in 2003-04 to 0.9% in 2017-18).There are no such changes in the areas under cultivable waste in Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalburgi divisions i.e. 0.0%.The reason behind this reduction is less agricultural activities which reduced the increment of cultivable waste in Mysuru divisions.

Fig. 8 .
Fig. 8. Divisions wise Changes in Area Under Trees and Groves 2003-2004 and 2017-2018 in Karnataka shows Division Wise Changes in Area under Trees and Groves in 2003-04 and 2017-18 in the state of Karnataka.The state is categorized into 4 divisions-Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalburgi and Mysuru.The entire state covered a total geographical area of 304718 hectares i.e. 1.6% which decreased to 271142 hectares i.e. 1.4% accompanied by a total change of -0.2%.There are negative changes seen in Bengaluru divisions i.e. -0.1% (decreased from 0.6% in 2003-04 to 0.5% in 2017-18) followed by Mysuru divisions i.e. -0.1% (decreased from 0.8% in 2003-04 to 0.7% in 2017-18).There are no changes seen in Trees and Groves in Belagavi and Kalburgi divisions i.e. 0.0%.The reason behind this change is urbanization, conversion of forest areas into settlements, rapid urban growth etc.

Table 8 .
Divisions wise Changes in Area Under Trees and Groves 2003-2004 and 2017-2018 in Karnataka

Table 9 .
Divisions wise Changes in Area Under Fallow Land 2003-2004 and 2017-2018 in Karnataka

Table 10 .
Divisions wise Changes in Area Under Net Sown Area 2003-2004 and 2017-2018 in Karnataka