Banaskantha district

Banaskantha district is one of the thirty-three districts of the Gujarat state of India. The administrative headquarters of the district is at Palanpur which is also its largest city. The district is located in the Northeast of Gujarat and is presumably named after the West Banas River which runs through the valley between Mount Abu and Aravalli Range, flowing to the plains of Gujarat in this region and towards the Rann of Kutch. The district is famous for the Ambaji temple which draws many tourists. It covers an area of 12703 km2 and is the second largest district in the state. Banaskantha shares its borders with Rajasthan state in the North, Sabarkantha district in East, Kutch district in West and Patan district and Mehsana district in the South. The economy of the district is based on agro & food Processing, tourism, textile, and mineral based industries (ceramics). The food processing industry in the district has attracted 57% of the total investment in the district over the last two decades. The district ranks first in the Country in milk production, the Asia's Largest Dairy Cooperative under the Brandname of AMUL is Banaskantha District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Palanpur known as Banas Dairy procuring almost 59,58,134 Lit. Milk on 15.01.2018 as Peak receipt. The Banaskantha is also first District having highest Cold Supply Chain of Milk by installing 1280 bulk milk chilling units procuring almost >90% milk as raw chilled milk & rest 10% in cans. Banaskantha District has 1,060 village dairy cooperatives. Societies certified as per ISO 9001 : QMS Standard. The district ranks first in the state in the production of vegetables contributing nearly 17.67% to the total vegetable production of Gujarat. It is the largest producer of potatoes in the state. Bajri, Maize, Tobacco, Castor oil, Jowar, Psyllium are the other major crops of the district. It is also one of the leading producers of Isabgul (Psyllium husk) in the country. It is also the 3rd largest producer of oil seeds in the state after Junagadh district and Jamnagar district.