Agriculture Chapter-4, Geography Class-X ★ Agriculture is the science and art of cultivating plants and livestock. ★ India is an agricultu...
Agriculture
Chapter-4, Geography
Class-X
★ Agriculture is the science and art of cultivating plants and livestock.
★ India is an agricultural country because of the following reasons:
i) Two-third of its population is engaged in agricultural activities.
ii) Agriculture is a primary activity and produces most of the food and food grains.
iii) It produces raw materials for various industries, e.g., cotton textile, sugar industry. iv) Agricultural products, like tea, coffee, spices are exported and earn foreign exchange.
★ Three Types of farming:
1. Primitive Subsistence Farming:
• Primitive tools used(hoe dao and digging sticks,)
• done by family /community labour
• depends upon monsoon, natural fertility of the soil and suitability of other environmental conditions.
• Called Jhumming in north-east states.
• When soil fertility decreases ➡farmers shift and clear a fresh patch of land for cultivation.
2. Intensive Subsistence Farming:
• It is labour intensive farming.
• The biological inputs and irrigation are used for obtaining higher production.
• There is enormous pressure on agriculture land.
3. Commercial Farming:
• This type of farming uses higher doses of modern inputs.
• The degree of commercialization of agriculture varies from one region to another.(Ex-rice-commercial in punjab but not in orissa)
• A single crop is grown on a large area.
• The produces is used as raw material in respective industries.
➨ Plantation is a type of commercial farming in which a single crop is grown on a large area. In India, tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, etc
★ Three cropping seasons:
(1) Rabi crops (Winter crops):
• Important crops: wheat, barley, mustard, peas, gram, etc.
(2) Kharif crops (rainy season):
• Harvested September-October.
• Important crops: rice, maize, millets, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean.
(3) Zaid season:
• Main crops-watermelon, musk melon, cucumber etc.
★ Major crops:
✦ Grain crops (Food crop):
➨ Rice
Second position in production
→Cultivation-High temperature of 25°C and above and high humidity with annual rainfall of 100 cms.
→Four major regions of rice cultivation are -Plains of North Plains, Plains of North-Eastern India, Coastal areas; and Delta regions.
→Irrigated rice is produced in Punjab, Haryana, Western UP and Rajasthan
➨ Wheat
→ Cool and moist growing season.
→ Wheat growing zones - The Ganga-Sutlej plains in the North-West and Black soil region of the Deccan.
➨ Maize (Corn)
→grows well in old alluvial soils.
→ Maize producing states: Andhra pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bihar, UP, MP.
→ In some states like Bihar, maize is grown in rabi season also.
→ Maize production in India has increased due to factors like-use of modern inputs such as HYV seeds; use of fertilisers; and use of irrigation facilities.
➨ Millets - (coarse grains) - high nutritional value,
⇒Ragi
• Grow well on red, black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soil
⇒Jowar
• Rain fed crop mostly need moist area,
• Hardly needs irrigation
⇒Bajra:
• Grow well in sandy soil or shallow black soil
• Bajra producing states:- Rajasthan, UP, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana.
➨ Pulses - Tur(arhar), Urad, Masur, Moong, Gram, Peas
• Major source of protein, needs less moisture, survive in even dry conditions
• Being leguminous crop (except arhar) help in soil fertility by fixing Nitrogen.
✦ Food crops other than grains
➨ Sugarcane
० Geographical conditions:
• It is a tropical as well as subtropical crop.
• It grows well in hot and humid climate.
• Annual rainfall between 75 cm and 100 cms.
• Irrigation is required in the regions of low rainfall.
• It needs manual labour from sowing to harvesting.
• Major producing states:- Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana.
• Sugarcane is the main source of sugar, gur (jaggery), khandsari and molasses.
➨ Oilseeds:
• 12% of the total cropped area is under oilseed production.
• Groundnut, mustard, coconut, sesamum (til), soyabean, castor-seeds, linseed, sunflower and cotton-seeds.
• Most of these oilseeds are edible and are used as cooking mediums.
• Some are also used as raw material in the production of soap, cosmetics and ointments.
࿁ Linseed -Rabi-MP, UP
࿁ Mustard-Rabi-Rajasthan, Haryana
࿁ Sesamum-Kharif in North, Rabi in south-Gujarat, WB, Karnataka
࿁ Castor seed-both Rabi and Kharif- Gujarat and Andhra pradesh(AP)
➨ Tea (Beverage crop, Plantation crop)
• It grows well in tropical and subtropical climates, requires deep, fertile, well drained soil, rich in humus and organic matter.
• It requires warm and moist frost free climate round the year. Frequent showers evenly distributed through the year ensure continuous growth of tender leaves.
• Tea is a labour intensive industry.
Processed within the garden. It requires abundant, cheap and skilled labour.
• Tea producing area: Assam, hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaigudi(WB), TN, Karnataka.
➨ Coffee:
• Most important beverage crop of South India, India produces 4% of the world's coffee production.
• The Arabica variety was initially brought from yeman,cultivation introduced in Baba budan hills.
• Coffee producing area:- Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu (mainly in Nilgiri hills).
➨ Horticulture
• Intensive Cultivation of fruits and vegetables
• Largest producer of fruits and vegetables Produce 13% of world's vegetable
࿁ Mango- Maharashtra, AP, UP & WB
࿁ Orange-Nagpur(Maharashtra), Cherrapunjee
࿁ Guava and Lichi - Bihar and UP
࿁ Banana - Kerala, Mizoram, TN and Maharashtra
࿁ Pineapple- Meghalaya,
࿁ Grapes-Maharashtra, AP
࿁ Apple, pear, walnut and apricoat - J&K, HP
✦ Non food crops:
Fibre crops (Cotton, Jute, Hemp, Silk)
➨ Cotton:
• 3rd largest producer.
• Requirements:- high temperature; light rainfall or irrigation; 210 frost-free days; bright sunshine; black cotton soil; Kharif crop and requires 6-8 months to mature.
• Cotton producing states:- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
➨ Jute:
• Known as golden fibre.
• Jute is mainly grown in West Bengal, especially in the Hoogly Basin because there the geographical conditions favour its growth.
• High temperature required during the time of growth, Jute grows well on well-drained fertile soils in the flood plains where soils are renewed every year.
• Jute products are-gunny bags, ropes, mats, carpets, yams and other ornamental artifacts.
० Sericulture: Rearing of silk worms for the production of silk fibre.
• Silk-obtained from cocoon of silkworm.
➨ Rubber
• Produced in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobar islands and Garo hills of Meghalaya.
• 5th in world producing natural rubber.
• It requires hot and humid climate.
• Rainfall-200 cms. Temperature above 25° C. Maximum rubber is consumed in the manufacture of auto tyres and tubes and cycle tyres and tubes.
★ Technological and Institutional Reforms:
Sustained uses of land without compatible techno-institutional changes have hinder the pace of Agriculture development.
Although India is an agriculturally important country but it has not achieved agricultural development in required potential. Most of the farmers in large parts of the country still depend upon monsoon and natural fertility in order to carry on their agriculture.
For a growing population, this poses a serious challange.
★ Major institutional reforms:
• Consolidation of holdings
• Collectivisation
• Cooperation
• Abolition of zamindari etc...
• Land reform was the main focus of our First five year plan.
• Right of inheritance had already led to fragmentation of land holdings.
★ Major technical reforms:
The law of land reform were enacted but the laws of implementation was lacking or lukewarm.
The government embarked upon introducing agricultural reforms to improve Indian agriculture in the 1960s and 1970s. The green revolution based on the use of package technology and the White Revolution (operation flood) to increase milk production were initiated to improve Indian agriculture.
★ Land development programs:
Development in few selected areas. In the 1980s and 1990s, a comprehensive land development programme was initiated, which includes both institutional and technological reforms
• Provision for crop insurance against drought, flood, cyclone, fire and disease.
• Establishment of Grameen Banks, cooperative societies and banks for providing loan facilities to the farmers at lower rates of interest.
• Kisan credit cards(KCC) and personal accident insurance schemes (PAIS) introduced for benefit of farmers.
• Special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes for farmers were introduced on radio and T.V.
• The government also announces minimum support price(MSP).
• Remunerative and procurement prices for important crops to check the exploitation of farmers by speculators and middleman.
० Contribution of agriculture to the national economy, employment and output:
• Agriculture is the backbone of Indian Economy through its share in the gross domestic product(GDP).
• GDP has registered a declining trend from 1951 onwards
★ Efforts to modernize agriculture:
• Establishment of Indian Council of Agricultural Research(ICAR), agricultural universities.
• Veterinary services and animal breeding centers
• Research and development in the field of meteorology and weather forecast
• Improving rural infrastructure
• Horticulture development
० Food security
In order to ensure the availability of food to all sections of our society our government Carefully designed a national food security system.
• Buffer stock
• Public distribution system (PDS)
PDS is a programme which provides food grains and other essential commodities at subsidiesed prices.
⇒Objectives
• Ensure availability of food grains to common people at an affordable price.
• Focus of the policy is on growth in agricultural production and on fixing support price.
• Food corporation of India (FCI) is responsible for procuring and stocking foodgrains whereas distribution is ensured by PDS.
★ Impact of Globalisation on Agriculture:
• Globalisation is not a new phenomenon.It was there at the time of colonisation
• Cotton textile industry in Manchester and Liverpool flourished due to the availability of good quality cotton from India.
• Farmers of South India encouraged to grow spices
• Indian farmers should diversify their cropping pattern from cereals to high value products.
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