Natural Resources
Natural Resources play an important role in industrial development. Gujarat is endowed with important resources like minerals, marine, agriculture; as also animal wealth and human resources. The state government has taken several measures to explore and exploit these resources for further processing and value addition.
Information on important natural resources useful for industrial processing in the state is as under: |
Mineral Resources
The important mineral resources in Gujarat include limestone, lignite, bauxite, bentonite, chalk, china clay, dolomite, marble and granite; besides oil and natural gas. Information on reserves and location of the important minerals is as under:
Mineral Reserves of Gujarat
| Mineral |
Main Locations (District) |
Reserve in Miln. Metric Tonnes |
| Base metal |
Banaskantha |
8.50 |
| Bauxite |
Kachchh, Jamnagar |
105.00 |
| Bentonite |
Kachchh, Bhavnagar, Sabarkantha |
105.00 |
| Calcite |
Sabarkantha |
0. 90 |
| Chalk |
Porbandar, Rajkot |
83.79 |
| China clay |
Kachchh, Mahesana, Sabarkantha |
162.83 |
| Dolomite |
Bhavnagar, Vadodara |
720.55 |
| Fluorite |
Vadodara |
11.60 |
| Fireclay |
Surendranagar, Sabarkantha, Rajkot |
160.15 |
| Gypsum |
Kachchh, Jamnagar |
3.37 |
| Lignite |
Bharuch, Kachchh, Bhavnagar, Surat |
2165.35 |
| Limestone |
Amreli, Kachchh, Kheda, Jamnagar,
Junagadh, Panchmahal, Banaskantha,
Bhavnagar, Sabarkantha, Porbandar |
11897.14 |
| Quartz |
Panchmahal, Vadodara |
11.47 |
| Siderite |
Kachchh, Bhavnagar |
4.60 |
| Marble |
Panchmahal, Banaskantha, Vadodara |
259.60 |
| Coal |
Mahesana |
4.10 |
| Graphite |
Panchmahal, Vadodara |
2.135 |
| Manganese Ore |
Panchmahal, Vadodara |
2.50 |
| Nepheline Syenite |
Junagadh, Vadodara |
19.03 |
| Wollestonite |
Banaskantha |
2.14 |
| Granite |
Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Vadodara,
Panchmahal, Mehsana |
2005.00 |
|
| |
Marine Resources
Gujarat is blessed with the longest coastline of 1600 km. in India, offering important resources such as salt and marine products for industry.
Gujarat is the largest producer of salt in the country contributing as much as 80% of total production in India. Apart from using salt for edible purposes, it is substantially used for production of inorganic chemicals.
Fish processing is also developed as an important industry. Gujarat is the second largest producer and exporter of processed fish in the country. Veraval, Porbandar and Mangrol have been developed as important fish processing centres. Gujarat accounts for 3.75 lakh hectares of brackish water area, out of an estimated 11.91 lakh hectares in India. |
Agricultural Resources
Agriculture is an important natural resource used for industrial processing. Gujarat is known for the production of cash crops. Though the state constitutes just 5% of the geographical area of the country, it accounts for 30% of groundnut production, 18% of cotton production and 57% of tobacco production in India. The other important agricultural crops used as industrial raw materials include sugarcane, maize, rice, wheat, pulses, vegetables and fruits like banana and mango.
The important agricultural produces in Gujarat used as raw material in industry are as under:
| Crop |
Area (in '000 hectare) |
Production (in '000 tonnes) |
| Rice |
759 |
1474 |
| Wheat |
1274 |
3838 |
| Cotton |
2422 |
8276 * |
| Groundnut |
1857 |
3299 |
| Oil seeds (Total) |
2852 |
4699 |
| *In bales |
|
| Animal wealth
Animal wealth is also an important resource contributing to the process of industrial development, especially dairy industry, leather processing and cattle feed industry.
As per the provisional figures of the Census carried out in 2007, Gujarat accounts for 235.24 lakh of total live stock population and 133.73 lakh of poultry population.
Gujarat is known for dairy development. Almost all the districts of the state are having projects for milk production and dairy products. This development has been in the cooperative sector. The total daily milk production on an average is estimated at 2168 lakh litres, in the state. AMUL has emerged as an international brand in milk and milk products.
There has also been development of leather processing industry. There are a good number of leather collection centres in the state. The state offers good scope for manufacturing leather-based products. |
|
