Sewage irrigated farming in peri-urban villages of Hubli-Dharwad, Karnataka, South India

Hubli-Dharwad, a twin city, is a conurbation comprised of the urban areas of Hubli and Dharwad, the centres of which are 20 km apart. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Karnataka State. The twin city is located in a predominantly rural region where agriculture is the principal economic activity due to the productive nature of the soils, despite having a semi-arid climate. It has a population of around 800000 generating nearly 60 million litres of untreated waste water per day. The waste water in Hubli flows southwards whereas from Dharwad it flows in three different directions of which two are utilized by farmers along its route. These two join at a distance of three km from the centre of city. All farmers using sewage irrigation were individually interviewed to characterize cropping systems along the sewage route. The data were collected for the year 2002-03 for the monsoon (kharif), post monsoon (rabi) and summer seasons. In Hubli the water is utilised as far as 17 km from the centre by 279 farmers in 10 villages. In Dhanvad a total length of watercourse of 27 km is utilized by 325 farmers in 10 villages. The area under sewage irrigation in Hubli and Dharwad is 1978.5 and 1649.75 ac (2.5 ha = 1 acre) respectively. In Hubli, during kharif season ( monsoon season Jun-Sept) cereals, oilseeds and annual vegetables whereas in Dharwad annual vegetables, pulses, cereals and leafy vegetables dominated ( in order of decrease). During rabi season (post monsoon/winter Oct-Feb) oilseeds, cereals and annual vegetables in Hubli and cereals and pulses in Dharwad dominated. During summer only a small area was cultivated of which leafy vegetables and annual vegetables in Dharwad and groundnut (73%), annual vegetables and leafy vegetables in Hubli were grown. Fruit crops occupied 84% of 784 ac in Hubli. In Hubli 25% of the leafy vegetables were produced at 2 km from the city centre while in Dharwad it was 81%. The annual vegetables were distributed evenly over the distance of the water courses. 72% of fruit production took place between 7 9 km from Hubli due to availability of bore holes. The small farmers (owning up to 3 ac) produced leafy vegetables in 60% similar to 63% of the area whereas annual vegetables in 16 similar to 19% (during kharif and rabi) in Dharwad. In case of Hubli small farmers grew 41% of the area under leafy vegetables during kharif and summer and 29% in rabi. Annual vegetables accounted for 29%, 19% and 11% in kharif rabi and summer respectively. Farmers owning more than 10 ac cultivated 44% of the area under fruit trees whereas small farmers accounted for 15%. Other categories of farmers (more than 4 ac) concentrated more on commercial crop production and also on annual vegetables rather than leafy vegetables.