Patan district falls under North Gujarat Agro-climatic Zone IV and North West Gujarat Agro-climatic Zone V & it is lies between 23 0 55’ to 24 0 41’ N latitude & 71 0 31’ to 72 0 20’ E longitude. The climate of the district is sub-tropical monsoon type and falls in an arid and semi-arid climate with three distinguished seasons i.e. Kharif (June to September), Rabi (October to February) and summer (March to June). The average rainfall during 1985-2014 has been in the range of 536 mm and during 2015-16, the average rainfall received was 659 mm. The majority of the Patan district soil is the alluvial type. The soil of Patan district, in general, possesses neutral to alkaline properties (Soil pH - 7.25 to 8.50). The district has 9 talukas with 518 villages with a total population of 13.43 lakh. The total cultivators in the district is 154385 with total area of 387101.53 ha, of which Marginal Farmers constitute 31% (48260) covering an area of 25358.61 ha, Small Farmers constitute 27% (41299) with an area of 60148.51 ha and Other Farmers 42% (64826) with an area of 301594.41 ha. (Source: District Agriculture Department).

The gross cropped area of the district is 566772 ha. The net sown area is 415295 ha. Net irrigated area in the district is 1.33 lakh ha or about 36.73% of the net area sown (total irrigated area 1.45 lakh ha). The area cultivated more than once is 167402 ha.

Source : C-DAP, Patan

Climatology of the district

• The normal onset of a monsoon-4th week of July.
• Normal cessation – 2nd week of September
• Training of extension personnel.
• Average rainy days-25 Days

Landholding pattern - Average size of land holding in the district is 2.51 ha. The size of land holding in respect of 64826 cultivators (41.99%) is more than 2 ha or 77.91% of the total area. Remaining 89559 cultivators (58.04%) belong to small and marginal farmers.

The main Kharif crops in the district are bajra, jowar, cotton, castor, pulses and during rabi season mustard, wheat, fennel, cumin crops were grown. Owing to the availability of water from Sardar Sarovar Narmada canal and Sujlam Suflam, the district is slowly going towards summer crop cultivation mainly Summer Bajra and Guar. As per 2013-14 out of grass cropped area 33.50% area under irrigated & 66.50 % area under rainfed.

Horticulture sector that includes a wide range of crops such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, plantation crops, medicinal and aromatic plants contributes significantly to the economy of the country. Growing plantation & horticulture crops is an ideal option to improve livelihood security, enhance employment generation, attain food & nutritional security and increase income through value addition. The demand for horticultural produce from domestic and international markets has provided a big opportunity for the farmers for fetching higher income through high-value horticultural crops. The sector also provides excellent opportunities to farmers in rainfed areas, where a significant shift towards horticulture is evident. Diversification through horticulture is a technique for sustainable growth in the farm income. Micro Irrigation concept i.e drip irrigation not only save the water but also maintains soil sustainability. A wide variety of fruits like ber, aonla, citrus etc., all major vegetables including carrot, cauliflower, cabbage and high value spice crop like cumin, dillseed, chilly and flowers like gerbera, chrysanthemum, rose can be grown in the district for which technical and financial help is available from both NHB and State Government.

Dairy farming is the very important and predominant economic activity bringing a sea change in the economy of Patan district. The milk and milk products meet the nutritional requirement of rural as well as the urban people. It serves as a rural family livelihood which can provide supplementary but sustainable income thereby increasing the ability to face crop failures during droughts and floods. Patan has valuable genetic resources of Cattle (Gir & Kankrej), Buffalo (Mehsani Jafarabadi, Surti, and Banni).

Sheep and goats serve as a source of subsidiary income to a large number of people living in rural areas. The income comes from the sale of wool, meat, manure, and skin of the dead animals. Sheep and Goat rearing activities are viable activities but on a modest scale, in view of the agro-climatic conditions and availability of grazing land in the district. Sheep is an important component of the economy of migratory communities of Gujarat. Sheep keepers are fetching a remunerative price of wool.

There are 269 exotic sheep, 37447 indigenous sheep, 80331 goats and 131 pigs in the district. Apart from crossbreed Sheep, other breeds include Dooma, Marwadi, and Patanwadi. Among the goats, the district has breeds like Gohil, Kachchi, Surti, Zalawadi. The wool production in the district is estimated for 2014-15 is 62.80 MT and the district stood at 9th position in the State (Source: Livestock Census 2012 & Bulletin of AH & Dairy Statistics 2014-15).

The poultry Production can be classified into two segments viz. Egg production and Broiler Production. The Poultry Production Programme can be classified in the district, at present, as (1) Backyard unorganized self-reliant units where the farmers keep few birds with minimum inputs (2) Middle-level farms where the units having started as subsidiary occupation and are unorganized and hence require physical and financial support from the Government and (3) Organised units having 5000 birds to 50,000 birds are generally located at various poultry pockets spread all over the state.

Patan is a landlocked district having no perennial river. Droughts are a regular phenomenon in the district. Scarce rainfall restricts the availability of surface water and adversely affects the fisheries development activity. Thus, there is little scope for development of freshwater fisheries. The only scope for inland fisheries is in the ponds of Chanasma, Sami and Santalpur blocks. Due to the food habits of the people in the region, the demand for fish is very limited as also not many ponds are available for undertaking fishing activity due to religious sentiments.