I. TOTAL AREA

The Total geographical area of the district is 6351.61 sq. km. Cheyyar and Tiruvannamalai are the two revenue Divisions in the District. The district is divided into 6 taluks namely, Tiruvannamalai, Chengam, Polur, Arani, Vandavasi and Cheyyar. There are 18 Panchayat Unions covering with 875 Panchayats with 1067 Revenue Villages.

II. FOREST AND HILLS

The area under Reserve Forest is 1,06,653 hectares and it is concentrated in Chengam and Polur Taluks. The important forest produces are Sandalwood, Eucalyptus, Bamboo, Tamarind, etc. The important hills in the district are Javadhu hills (2500 feet above MSL), Kailasigiri (2743 feet above MSL) and Tiruvannamalai (2668 feet above MSL).

III. SOIL

The predominant soil types are Red loam and Red sand loam spread over in all Taluks. Black loam is found in Tank and Riverbed areas of Vandavasi and Cheyyar Taluks accounting for about 15% of the total area.

IV. CLIMATE

The climate is tropical. The period from April to June is generally hot. The average rainfall of the district is 1074.70 mm. Nearly 45 percent of the rainfall is received during the North East monsoon period (October to December).

V LAND USE PATTERN

The Land use pattern of the District is as follows

S.No
Item
Area in Ha
1 Total Geographical Area
631205
2 Forest
153318
3 Barren and Uncultivable land
21039
4 Land put to non agricultural use
90724
5 Cultivable waste
11553
6 Permanent Pastures and other Grazing lands
3818
7 Land under Misc. tree crops
8722
8 Current fallows
74853
9 Other fallows
18750
10 Net area sown
248428
11 Area sown more than once
72313
12 Total cropped area
352787

Number of land holding above 3 ha is 20249 in the District. There are nearly 3.14 lakhs of small land holdings of less than of 1.00 ha. The no of holdings between 1 and 2 Ha is 66837 and land holdings between 2 and 3 Ha size is 20654.

VI. IRRIGATION

Tanks and Dug Wells are the chief source of irrigation in this district, followed by canals. There are two major tanks namely Dusi Mamandir, and Vakkdai-Mukkur besides 1913 minor irrigation tanks in this district. Sathanur Dam in Chengam Taluk has a capacity of 7321 million cubic feet (Full level 119 feet). An area of 7183 Ha of Land is benefited by the left bank canal and 905 Ha of land is benefited by the right bank canal in Thandrampet and Tiruvannamalai blocks.

Net area Irrigated 1,27,273 Ha
Net area Sown 2,48,273 Ha
Gross Area Irrigated 1,74,069 Ha
Gross Area Sown 3,37,963 Ha


VII. CROPPING PATTERN

The normal cultivable  under all crops in this district is 3.60 lakh Hec.  In which the major area of 1.3000 lakh Hec. is under paddy and 1.600 lakh Hec. under Groundnut. The other major crops cultivated in this district are Cumbu, Ragi Minor Millets, Pulses, Sugarcane, Gingelly and Cotton.



S.No
Crop
Area in Ha
1 Paddy
  Sornawari
10000
  Samba
85000
  Navarai
18000
  Total
113000
2 Sorghum
3000
3 Cumbu
7500
4 Ragi
3000
5 Maize
500
6 Minor Millets
2000
7 Total Millets
16000
8 Total Pulses
53000
9 Sugarcane
19000
10 Groundnut
109000
11 Gingelly
2500
12 Sunflower
500
13 Cotton
2000
  Total
112000

TAMIL NADU WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE (TANWA)

Introduction

The Tamil Nadu Women in Agriculture (TANWA) Project aided by DANIDA has been in operation under TANWA phase II from 01.07.1997 in the taluks of Tiruvannamalai, Cheyyar and Polur.

Objectives

Updating the technology level in small and marginal farm women and motivate them to adopt the improved techniques in their lands and share their newly acquired knowledge with other farm women in the area is the main objective of the TANWA project.

Impact of TANWA

a) 15000 farm women were trained by TANWA

b) 20 Nos. of self Help farm women groups are formed and running successfully under TANWA. Another 40 farm women groups are formed and not concretised so far

c) 22 Models farms have been established under TANWA