Nilam

Dahodદાહોદ

21.3 lakh people. Larger than Bahrain, Estonia, or Mauritius. Governed as one cell of one state.

Population
21,27,086 (21.3 lakh)
Area
3,642 km²
Headquarters
Dahod
ODOP: Corn ProductsODOP: Soyabean/Soya Based ProductsODOP: Kharif Maiz (Agro)
Maize BeltSoybeanCorn ProcessingTribal Forests

₹1,582 cr

of bankable business potential identified by the government in Dahod.

Source: NABARD PLP 2023-24

Opportunities

What you can build here

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Bhili craft producer co-op for D2C metro retail

Unverified

A producer cooperative organising Bhili tribal women artisans into a single brand with adapted designs and reliable fulfilment, capturing the heritage-craft premium for D2C and metro retail that scattered, unorganised makers cannot reach alone.

Capex
₹5–12 lakh
Payback
2.5 years payback
Risk
Moderate
DCHDAY-NRLM

NABARD's plan for Dahod · PLP 2023-24

₹1,582 crof bankable credit potential identified by the government

Crop production, maintenance & marketing

₹905 cr

Term loans for agriculture & allied activities

₹244 cr

Housing

₹169 cr

MSME

₹89 cr

Dahod's 2023-24 NABARD credit plan sees about Rs 1,582 crore of lendable opportunity, and it is overwhelmingly a farming district — agriculture and allied activities make up roughly Rs 1,244 crore (about 79%), while small business (MSME) is only about Rs 89 crore (around 6%).

The single biggest opportunity is everyday crop farming — maize, paddy, wheat and gram — worth Rs 905 crore, more than half the whole plan. Because there is no big river and rains are unreliable, the plan pushes irrigation hard: water projects like check-dam lift irrigation and drip/sprinkler systems are worth Rs 89 crore, and farm machinery another Rs 81 crore. Dairy is the standout allied trade at Rs 44 crore, with banks already funding milch animals in Garbada and Dhanpur blocks. NABARD's tribal 'Wadi' orchards (mango, guava, ber, amla, lime) cover 13 projects and 11,040 families, and 31 farmer producer companies (FPOs) are running seed, spice and nursery businesses.

Beyond the farm, housing loans (Rs 169 crore), food and agro-processing units, and cold storage/warehouse projects are all flagged. Dahod is an Aspirational District and a Smart City.

The plan is honest about the hurdles: farms keep shrinking (average 2.15 hectares), most growers are small or tribal with low literacy, there is little irrigation and patchy farm advice. It asks for stronger extension services, community farming through FPOs, and more investment credit to build lasting assets.

See the plan's recommendations

What the plan promotes

  • Crop production is the anchor at Rs 905.35 cr (57.22% of the plan), built on maize, paddy, wheat and gram; the PLP pushes high-tech precision farming for vegetables, sprinkler irrigation for pulses and RuPay KCC for 100% credit saturation.
  • Water resources (Rs 88.64 cr) and farm mechanisation (Rs 81.12 cr) are the biggest term-loan opportunities — the district has no perennial river, so drip, sprinkler and lift irrigation from check dams are priorities.
  • Dairy is the second-largest activity at Rs 43.86 cr; Baroda Gujarat Gramin Bank financed ~24 lakh under NABARD's Wadi/Watershed Special Refinance, and Panchmal DCCB sanctioned Rs 17 lakh to 31 beneficiaries for milch animals in TDF area of Garbada block.
  • NABARD's WADI tribal-development model has 13 wadi projects sanctioned covering 11,040 families (grant ~Rs 42.89 cr); plantation & horticulture (mango, guava, ber, amla, lime, aloe vera, patchouli) is assessed at Rs 15.12 cr.
  • 31 FPO projects have been formed in Dahod for seed production, spice making, input supply, crop aggregation, nursery and produce marketing, supported by GoI CSS on 10,000 FPOs, AIF and PACS-as-MSC.
  • SHG/Sakhi Mandal finance is a 2023-24 thrust with estimated credit flow of Rs 27 cr, driven by NABARD and the State Government's Sakhi Mandal Scheme.

Gaps the plan names

  • Continuously shrinking land-holding size (average just 2.15 Ha, ~62% small/marginal farmers) is squeezing farm incomes and viability.
  • No perennial river and a nascent canal/irrigation network leave agriculture dependent on an erratic monsoon with long dry spells and recurring drought, so drip/sprinkler/lift irrigation must be popularised.
  • Low literacy in the largely tribal (Bhil) population keeps farm mechanisation very low despite large numbers of small holdings; greater use of farm implements is needed.
  • Poor coordination among farmer groups, low risk-taking for new activities and weak exposure to new techniques hold back diversification; the plan urges a shift to community farming and community-based dairy units backed by FPOs.
  • Weak agriculture extension, weather-based advisories and market-information services need to be furnished to farmers.

Value-chain gaps

Money this district loses today

Raw output sold cheap, value added elsewhere — each gap below is an opening for a local business.

Maize: raw grain → starch, flakes & milled corn products

Unverified
Raw 85%Processed 15%

Dahod sits on a major maize belt but most of the crop leaves the district as raw grain sold at mandi rates to distant processors. Maize starch, corn flour, flakes, and gluten/feed by-products fetch several times the price of bulk grain and feed into food and industrial buyers. A local wet/dry milling cluster would capture that processing margin where the maize is actually grown.

Growth signal

India's corn-starch and corn-derivatives demand is growing with packaged food and industrial use.

Soybean: raw beans → oil, defatted meal & soy protein

Unverified
Raw 85%Processed 15%

Soybean from Dahod's tribal farming belt is largely sold as raw beans to crushers elsewhere. Solvent-extracted soy oil plus defatted meal, soy flour, and protein concentrate together earn far more per tonne than the unprocessed bean, with strong feed and food markets. A local crushing and value-add unit converts a low-margin raw crop into branded oil and high-protein meal.

Resources

What this district has

Tap a category to see the facts and figures underneath. Numbers marked unverified are AI-extracted and need a sourcing pass.

Agriculture & natural resources

2 facts

Industrial clusters

1 fact

About Dahod

Dahod district is a district of Gujarat state in western India. This largely tribal district is mostly covered by forests and hills.

Source: Wikipedia — Dahod district

Gujarat

Dahod

See Dahod elsewhere

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