District Profile

As per classification by Govt. of Jharkhand, Koderma is a part of Central and North Eastern Plateau.  As per Classification of Govt. of India, it lies under Agro-climatic Zone VII (Eastern Plateau & Hills) sub-Zone 3. The soil of district is mainly coarse textured with crust formation on the surface of the soil, have low water retention capacity. Erratic and uneven distribution of rainfall, lack of safe disposal of runoff and drying of tanks are other major edaphic and climatic constraints.

The Koderma district of Jharkhand state was created on 10 th April 1994, after being carved out of the original Hazaribagh district. Koderma district has one Sub-division namely Koderma and Six Blocks viz., Koderma, Jainagar, Markachoo, Domacchanch, Chandwara, and Satwagan. The district headquarters are at Koderma town. According to the  2011 census ,  Koderma district has a  population  of 717,169. Kodarma has a  sex ratio  of 949  females  for every 1000 males, and a  literacy rate  of 68.35%.(state average 66.4%); with male literacy of 82% and female literacy of 64%. 14.14% of the population is under 6 years of age. The total area of Koderma district is 1655.61 Sq. Km, out of which 487.93 Sq. Km is forest area. The district is bordered by  Nawada  district of Bihar on the north, the  Gaya  district of  Bihar  on the west, the  Giridih  district of Jharkhand on the east, and the Hazaribag district of Jharkhand on the south.

The climate is generally dry with average rainfall 1344 mm. The temperature varies between 18 to 33 °C. Many times, the temperature goes high up to 40°C-44°C. The fertile land comprises of red and yellow soil with some amount of sand. But most of the terrains are rocky covered with pebbles. This acts as a check on fertility of the soil. Koderma district is fortunate in terms of development in both industry and agriculture sector. On an average, about 58 percent of the total population belongs to the agricultural population while the non-agricultural sector accounts for the remaining 42 percent. On an average, this district has 119% cropping intensity. Koderma District is well endowed with forest in an area of 487.93 Sq. Km, which is 28.25% of total area. 3.86% of the total geographical area and 14.5% of the next cropped area is being irrigated. 75% of the agricultural land holding belongs to small and marginal farmers who have contributed to the poor level of mechanized farm operations. The total area is 137602 ha in which net cultivated area of the district is 20667.32 ha. There are 6 blocks in the district covering 713 villages. Rice is the most important crop of the district. Paddy covers the maximum of the gross cropped area.  Among commercial crops, Cabbage, cauliflower, and potato are major vegetable crops mostly in domchancha block. Major cropping patterns include paddy-fellow, maize – potato, paddy – vegetable, sweet potato-vegetable. Markachoo and Chandwara have maximum cropping intensity up to 260%.