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KARNATAKA

Geographical position and climate

Karnataka state is located between 11º30' and 18º13' N latitude and 74º15’ and 78º30’ E
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longitudes and covers an area of 1,91,790 km , which accounts for 5.8% ofthe total geographic
area (TGA) of the country. It has 300 km long coastline, which forms the western boundary.
The state is bounded by Goa in the northwest, Maharashtra in the north, Andhra Pradesh in the
east, Tamil Nadu in the south and Kerala in the southwest. The state has now 30 districts
comprising of 227 taluks. Bangalore is the state capital.The climate of Karnataka basically
tropical and determined largely by the physiographic andgeographic location with respect to the
sea and monsoon. The state enjoys the benefit after monsoons and hence can well be called the
land of two monsoons, because both southwest and northeast monsoon account for major part
of the rainfall. A small quantity of rainfall is received during cold and hot weather seasons. The
state receives an average annual rainfall of 1354.7 mm with a minimum of 552.8 mm and
maximum of 3932.4 mm. The lowest temperature varies from 7 to 13ºC, whereas maximum
temperature varies from 27 to 43 ºC.The average relative humidity is highest in the state during
July-August and lowest in March-April. Droughtis aserious problem in Karnataka than floods.
About two-thirds area of the state receiving 750 mm or less annual rainfall.

Soils

Red soils occur quite extensively, covering about 71.0 lakh ha and it accounts 37.3% of
the TGAof the state.Lateritic and laterite soilscover an area of 11.64 lakh ha (6.16% of total
TGA).Black sails occupy an area of 52.93 lakh ha(27.77% of TGA).Coastal soils occur in the
west coast of Karnataka between Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea.They occupy nearly of
7.42 lakh ha (3.9% of TGA). Whereas, in coastal alluvial soils, the soil material is transported
from western ghats and is deposited in the valleys and lowlands of the coastal area.They
occupy an area of 1.80 lakh ha (0.94% of TGA).Salt affected soil occupies an area of 0.150 M
ha (0.06 % of TGA). Brown forest soilsoccur mainly in western ghats under forest in sub
humid to humid climate, covering an area of 11.4 lakh ha (6 % of TGA). In Karnataka, around
19.5% of soils are found to be acidic and 11.2% of soils are alkaline in nature. Around 41.1,
26.3 and 28.4% soils of the state found to be deficient in N, P and S, respectively. Whereas,
only 7.96% of soils are deficient in potassium. Zinc is found be deficient in around 52.2% of
soils whereas iron and boron are found to be deficient in 24.7% and 35.3% of soils,
respectively. However, manganese is deficient in 6.23% and copper is deficient in 2.24% of
soils in Karnataka.

Crops and cropping systems

Cereals and millets account for 50.5% of the total area under crops. Among cereals,rice,
sorghum and ragiare the major crops, while pigeonpea, bengalgram, horse gram and green
gram are the important pulse crops. Groundnut, sunflower and safflower are the important
oilseeds crops. Out of the total cropped area, 23.3% is irrigated, while 76.7% is rainfed. Among
the irrigated crops, rice occupies 36.8% of the irrigated area. Other important irrigated crops
are sugarcane, maize, groundnut, sunflower, sorghum and cotton. Among the plantation crops,
coffee, tea, pepper, coconut, rubber, cardamom are predominantly grown in hilly and coastal
zones.