LOSS OF PRIME AGRICULTURAL LAND TO URBAN EXPANSION IN KOLHAPUR: PATTERNS AND POLICY CONCERNS 2001-2022

Abstract

Kolhapur district has lost 29,136 hectares of net sown area and gained 33 257 hectares under non-agricultural uses between 2001-02 and 2021-22. The conversion has been heavily concentrated in the irrigated, double-cropped sugarcane belt of Karveer, Hatkanangale and Shirol talukas. Revenue records and planning documents show that housing layouts, highway widening, industrial estates and private farmhouses have together swallowed the richest black cotton soil of the Panchganga basin. Sugarcane area has declined by 18,200 hectares, cane supply to factories has fallen by more than 20 lakh tonnes, and groundwater levels in peri-urban villages have dropped sharply. Existing policies zoning in the Regional Plan, conversion premiums, Collector circulars have proved largely ineffective because amendments and permissions have been granted routinely. The paper argues that without binding zoning, much higher conversion charges, a district land bank of barren plots, and transferable development rights for farmers who retain farmland, Kolhapur will continue losing its prime agricultural base. Practical recommendations are offered that can still protect the remaining 4.5 lakh hectares under cultivation.