District Profile

Banda district situated in Bundelkhand region of arid eco-system (Zone - VI) of U.P located in the Chitrakoot Dham Division and lies between Lat. 24º 53' and 25º 55' N and Long. 80º 07' and 81º 34' E. It is famous for its Shajar stone which is used for making jewellery, and the historically and architecturally significant. It is bounded in the north by Fatehpur in the east by Chitrakoot in the west by Hamirpur and Mahoba districts of UP and in the south by Satna, Panna, and Chhatarapur districts of adjoining Madhya Pradesh . Banda district consist of 5 tehsil, 8 development blocks, 71 Nyay panchayat, 437 gram panchayat and 761 revanue villages.

 Total geographical area of district is 438575 ha and agricultural land is 348259 ha. The district largely consists of irregular uplands with outcrops of rocks intermingling with lowlands, which are frequently under water during the rainy season. The Baghein River traverses the district from south-west to north-east. Other important rivers are the Ken River in the east and the Yamuna to the north. Total population of the district is 17, 99,410 out of which 359881 are farmers. The no. of marginal (< 1ha>2ha) are 211790 (58.85%), 72912 (20.26%) and 75179 (20.89%), respectively. The dominant communities of this area are of Kshatriyas, Patels, Chandrauls, Chandelas, Bundelas etc.

There are two main crop season: Kharif and Rabi. The old records in the imperial gazetteer or the district gazetteer mentions cotton as one of the major crops here. But that has vanished now. The main crops grown presently are as follows:

Kharif  : Paddy, jowar, bajra, til, moong, urd, and arhar are the main crops taken these days. Paddy is normally taken as mono crop while others are mixed sown.

Rabi : Wheat, barley along with gram, linseed, mustard, masoor and peas are the major crops. There is a tendency for mixed cropping and regional variation in choices of the crops depending upon the geographical situation and the availability of irrigation.

Zaid : The third crops are usually taken in the river beds; that includes Kakri. Tarbooj (water melon), Kharbooja (Muskmellon) and some  vegetables.

Horticulture : The very few small and marginal farmers are growing vegetable like cucurbits, Brinjal and Onion. Guava, Mango. Aonla and Ber are main fruit crops of the area but occupies very little acreage.

Cropping intensity of district is 122 %. In Banda most of the farmers raise crops, vegetables and upkeep livestock together since long back. As such there are various other integrated farming systems practiced by farmers. However, due to insufficient integration, the productivity and profitability of these farms are far from satisfaction. The integration is based on traditional knowhow only without farming system technologies, which include modern farm management skills that enables farmers to improve the efficiency, increase cropping intensity and to diversify into higher values commodities in tuned with market trends.

Major farming systems/enterprises

• Paddy-Wheat (irrigated) 
• Fallow-Gram+Linseed/ Mustard
• Fallow- Fieldpea/Mustard
• Sesamum/Pigeon pea/ Black Gram/Green Gram- Lentil/Fieldpea/Mustard/Linseed /Gram
• Sesamum/ Pigeon pea/ Black Gram-Fallow

Soil Types

The soils of the district Banda are:

•  Fine clayey Black soil (Mar): Fine textured and have property of shrinking and swelling on drying and wetting, (78600 ha.)
•  Coarse grained gray to grayish brown soil (Paruwa): Mildely alkaline, very deep soil  with free CaCo₃ accumulation at lower depth (142480 ha.)
• Coarse grain-Reddish Brown soil (Rakar): Soil are acidic, coarsed grain, shallow and  excessively permeable soils occupying higher elevations(46670 ha.)
•  Clay Loam Black Soil(Kabar ): Deep soil confined to low lying areas. (62509 ha)

Structure is also variable, being loose, open and free draining in case of sandy soils and compact imperious in case of the loamy soils. In general the whole area is an undulated plain with poor water holding capacity. Significant area of district is water logged during kharif also. Hence,  the coverage, Intensity and patterns of crops and farming systems are different from one area to another area.

Irrigation source

Area, Production and Productivity of major crops cultivated in the district (2021-22)  

Production and productivity of livestock, Poultry, Fisheries etc. in the district