Agriculture

Agriculture| Geography

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· Agriculture is the primary activity of Indian economy. About

70% of the total population of the country is dependent on

agriculture for their livelihood.

· Agriculture provides raw materials for many industries besides

foodgrains.

· Various types of farming in India ®

A. Primitive Subsistence Farming

(i) It is practised on small patches of land with the help of

primitive tools like hoe, digging sticks, dao and family

labours.

(ii) It is a splash and burn agriculture.

(iii) Productivity of land is low.

(iv) It has different names in different areas like –

(a) Thumming – North eastern states of India.

(b) Milpa – Mexico and Central America

(c) Ray – Vietnam

(d) Masole – Central Africa

(e) Conuco – Venezuela

(f) Ladang – Indonesia

B. Intensive Subsistence Farming

(i) This type of farming is practised in areas of high

population and high dose of biochemical inputs are used

to increase production.

(ii) In this type of practice, immense pressure is exerted on

agricultural land to get maximum output.

C. Commercial Farming

(i) Higher dose of modern inputs.

(ii) Degree of commercialisation of agriculture varies from

one region to another.

(iii) Rice is a commercial crop in Haryana and Punjab and it is

a subsistence crop in Orissa.

D. Plantation Farming

(i) It is a type of commercial farming.

(ii) Single crop is grown on a large area.

(iii) This type of practices are done on large area with the

help of capital inputs and migrant labourers.

(iv) In India, Tea in Assam, Coffee in Karnataka, Bamboo in

North-east and Banana in Southern part of India are major

plantation crops.

(v) Plantation area, capital, processing industries and market

play vital role in this type of farming.

· Cropping Season ®

There are mainly three types of cropping seasons –

(i) Rabi –

(A) Rabi Crops are sown in winter and harvested in the month

of April to June.

(B) Wheat, barley, peas and mustard are the examples of Rabi

crops.

(ii) Kharif –

(A) The crops which are sown in the rainy season and

harvested at the end of monsoon season.

(B) Paddy, Maize, Soyabean, Groundnut and Cotton are the

major Kharif crops.

(iii) Zaid Crops –

(A) It is grown between Rabi and Kharif crops.

(B) Watermelon, muskmelon and cucumber are main zaid

crops.

· Major crops ®

Rice–

· India is the second largest producer of rice in the world.

· It is a kharif crop.

· It requires temperature between 20° and 35° and well

distributed rainfall about 100 cm for growing.

· The major rice producing states are U.P., West Bengal,

Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Wheat–

· Wheat is the main crop in north and north western parts

of the country.

· It is a Rabi crop.

· Wheat requires moderate rainfall.

· Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are the major wheat

producing states.

Maize–

· It is a Kharif crop.

· It grows in alluvial soil

· It requires temperature between 21° to 27°C.

· Maize is grown as a foodgrain and livestock feed.

Millets–

· Millets refer to ragi, jowar and bajra.

· It is grown in tropical region.

· Despite being named as coarse gain, it contains nutrients.

· In India, millets are grown in Rajasthan, Maharashtra,

Gujarat, U.P. and Haryana.

Pulses–

· India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses in

the world.

· It requires less moisture.

· It is basically a dry crop which survives even in dry climate.

· They are grown in Punjab, U.P., M.P., Rajasthan,

Maharashtra and Karnataka.

· Tur, Urad, Moong, Masur, Peas and grains are the varieties

of pulses.

· Food crop other than Grains –

Sugarcane–

· It is a tropical as well as a subtropical crop.

· India is considered the original homeland of sugarcane

after Brazil.

C-152 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) — GEOGRAPHY

· It is main source of sugar, gur, khandsari and molasses.

· U.P., Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra

Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana are the sugarcane

producing states of India.

Oilseeds–

· Oilseeds comprise seeds of plants which produce oil.

· Groundnuts, Mustard, Sunflower, Soyabean, Olive and

coconut are the major oilseeds.

· Sesamum is a Kharif crop in north and rabi crop in south.

Tea–

· India is the largest producer of tea after China.

· It is an example of plantation farming.

· It is grown mainly on hilly slopes and requires cheap and

skilled labour.

· Warm and moist climate, heavy rainfall and wide land

areas are required for the growth of tea.

· Assam, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu,

Kerala, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh are major tea

producing states.

Coffee–

· India produces 40% of the world’s coffee production.

· Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the major coffee

producing states.

Horticulture crops–

· India is the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the

world.

· India produces 13% of the world’s vegetables.

· Apple, mango, banana, grapes, oranges, apricot, walnuts are

world famous.

Non Food Crops –

Rubber–

· Rubber is an equatorial crop but also grown in tropical and

subtropical areas.

· It is an industrial raw material, tyres, footwear, belts, latex

foam, dipped goods and many other things are made up of

rubber.

· India ranks 5th among the world’s rubber producers.

Fibre crops–

· Cotton, jute, hemp and natural silk are major fibre crops.

(A) Cotton –

· Cotton is obtained from the plant.

· Cotton can be grown in drier areas with the help of irrigation.

· Black soil is suitable for growing cotton.

· The largest producers of cotton are Gujarat, Maharashtra,

Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Karnataka.

(B) Jute –

· It is called golden fibre.

· It grows on well drained fertile soil and areas with high

temperature.

· West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa and Meghalaya are the

chief jute producing states.

Technological and Institutional Reforms

· India is an agriculture based country.

· More than 60% of India’s population are dependent on it.

· Despite the introduction of modern techniques most of the

farmers still depend upon monsoon.

· Some reforms are necessary to increase the productivity.

· Land reforms were introduced after the independence.

Some of these are as follows–

(1) Collective farming

(2) Land holdings were consolidated.

(3) Zamindari systems were abolished.

(4) Green revolution and white revolution were introduced.

(5) Provisions like crop insurance against natural disasters,

Grameen banks are opend.

(6) Some schemes like Kissan Credit Card, Personal Accident

Insurance scheme are introduced.

(7) Special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes were

prepared.

(8) To put a curb on the exploitation of the farmers the government

announces minimum support price, remunerative and

procurement prices.

(9) Bhoodan – Gramdan

· Vinoba Bhave was the spiritual heir of Mahatma Gandhi.

· He started movement of Bhoodan-Gramdan which is also

known as blood-less revolution.

· This movement started from the Pochampalli district of Andhra

Pradesh.

· Shri Ram Chandra Reddy offered 80 acres of land to land less

villagers which was called as Bhoodan and later Zamindars,

offered villages to the farmers which was called as Gramdan.

(10) Government of India established Indian Council of Agricultural

Research (ICAR), Vaterinary services, Agricultural

Universities, Meteorology departments, Horticulture

development centres to improve productivity.

Important keywords–

1. Subsistence agriculture – This is a type of farming where the

farmer grows crops for their present and future consumption.

2. Shifting Agriculture – In this system, land is used for a few

years until fertility level drops then the farmer moves on to a

new plot of land.

3. Commercial farming – The key feature of this type of farming

is the use of modern input and HYV seeds.

4. Intensive subsistence agriculture – This type of farming is

practised in the tropical regions having high density of

population and output is high.

5. Plantation farming – A single crop is grown on a large area.

E.g. – tea, coffee, banana etc.

6. Paddy crops – Aus, Aman and Boro are paddy crops and

commonly cultivated in Assam, West Bengal and Orissa.

7. HYV – It is high yielding varieties of seeds.

8. Green Revolution – Crop production is excessively increased

due to the implementation of modern inputs.

9. White Revolution – It is the programme under which

production of milk increased.

10. Horticulture – Growing fruits, vegetables and flowers on a

small piece of land.

11. Genetic Engineering – It is a powerful technique to invent

new hybrid variety of seed. It is associated with ‘Gene

Revolution’.

12. Sericulture – Rearing of silk worms for the production of silk

fibre is sericulture.

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