AGRICULTURE

Types of Farming
The cultivation methods depend upon the characteristics of the physical environment, technological
knowledge and socio-cultural practices. Farming varies from subsistence to commercial type. In different
parts of India, the following farming systems are practised.
Primitive Subsistence Farming
It is a ‘slash and burn’ agriculture. Farmers clear a patch of land and produce cereals and other food crops.
When the soil fertility decreases, the farmers shift and clear a fresh patch of land for cultivation. It is known
by different names in different parts of the country. It is known as jhumming in the north-eastern states.
 Land productivity is low in this type of agriculture.
 This type of farming depends on monsoon.
 This farming is practised in a few parts of India.
Intensive Subsistence Farming
 This type of farming is practised in areas of high population pressure on land.
 It is labour-intensive farming, where high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation are used for
higher production. Farmers cultivate on small plots of land with simple tools but more labours.
Commercial Farming
This type of farming uses higher doses of modern inputs such as high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical
fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides to obtain higher productivity.
Plantation is a type of commercial farming in which a single crop is grown in a large area. Plantations cover
large tracts of land, using capital-intensive inputs with the help of migrant labourers. All the produce is
used as a raw material in industries.
E.g., Tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, banana.
Cropping Pattern
India has three cropping seasons:
1. Rabi
2. Kharif
3. Zaid
Major Crops in India
A variety of food and non-food crops are grown in different parts of India, depending upon the variations in
soil, climate and cultivation practices. Major crops grown in India are:
1. Rice
2. Wheat
 3. Millets
4. Pulses
5. Tea
6. Coffee
7. Sugarcane
8. oil seeds
9. Cotton
10. Jute
We will discuss all of these one by one in detail.
Rice
1. It is a Kharif crop.
2. It requires high temperature and high humidity with annual rainfall above 100 cm.
3. India is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China.
4. It is grown in the plains of north and north-eastern India, coastal areas and the deltaic regions.
Wheat
 1. This is a Rabi crop.
2. It requires a cool growing season and bright sunshine at the time of ripening.
3. It requires 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall evenly distributed over the growing season.
4. The Ganga-Satluj plains in the northwest and the black soil region of the Deccan are two main wheat-
growing zones in India.
5. It is the second most important cereal crop and main food crop in the north and north-western part
of India.
Millets
1. Jowar, Bajra and Ragi are the important millets grown in India.
2. These are known as coarse grains and have very high nutritional value.
Jowar Bajra Ragi
3rd most important Grows well on sandy It is a crop of dry regions.
food crop with respect soils and shallow black
to area and soil.
production.
It is a rain-fed crop Grows well on red, black,
mostly grown in moist sandy, loamy and shallow
areas. black soils.
Mainly produced in Major producing states Major producing states are
Maharashtra, are Rajasthan, Uttar Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh,
Pradesh and Madhya Gujarat and Haryana. Uttarakhand, Sikkim,
Pradesh. Jharkhand and Arunachal
Pradesh.
Maize
1. It is a Kharif crop.
2. It requires temperature between 21°C to 27°C and grows well in old alluvial soil.
3. It is used both as food and fodder.
4. Major maize-producing states are Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh
and Telangana.
Pulses
1. India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses in the world.
2. Pulses are the major source of protein in a vegetarian diet.
3. Major pulses grown in India are Tur (Arhar), Urad, Moong, Masur, Peas and Gram.
 4. Pulses are mostly grown in rotation with other crops so that the soil restores fertility.
5. Major pulse-producing states are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and
Karnataka.
Food Crops other than Grains
Sugarcane
1. It is a tropical as well as a subtropical crop.
2. It grows well in hot and humid climates with a temperature of 21°C to 27°C and annual rainfall
between 75cm to 100cm.
3. It can be grown on a variety of soils.
4. Needs manual labour from sowing to harvesting.
5. India is the second largest producer of sugarcane only after Brazil.
6. Sugarcane is the main source of Sugar, Gur (Jaggery), Khansari and molasses.
7. The major sugarcane-producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana.
Oil Seeds
Different oil seeds are grown, covering approximately 12% of the total cropped area of India. The main oil-
seeds produced in India are:
 Groundnut: is a Kharif crop and accounts for half of the major oilseeds produced in India. Gujarat is
the largest producer of groundnuts.
 Mustard: is a rabi crop.
 Sesamum (til): is a Kharif crop in the north and rabi crop in south India.
 Castor seeds: It is grown as both Rabi and Kharif crop.
 Linseed: is a rabi crop.
 Coconut
 Soyabean
 Cotton seeds
 Sunflower
Tea
1. It is also an important beverage crop introduced by the British in India.
2. The tea plant grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates with deep and fertile well-drained soil,
rich in humus and organic matter.
 3. Tea bushes require a warm and moist frost-free climate all through the year.
4. Tea is a labour-intensive industry.
5. Major tea-producing states are Assam, hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, West Bengal, Tamil
Nadu and Kerala.
Coffee
Yemen coffee is produced in India, and this variety of coffee is in great demand all over the world. Its
cultivation was introduced on the Baba Budan Hills and is confined to the Nilgiri in Karnataka, Kerala and
Tamil Nadu.
Horticulture Crops
India is a producer of tropical as well as temperate fruits. Major crops produced are pea, cauliflower,
onion, cabbage, tomato, brinjal and potato. Some of the famous horticulture crops grown in India are:
 Mangoes of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal Oranges of
Nagpur and Cherrapunjee (Meghalaya), bananas of Kerala, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
 Lichi and Guava of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
 Pineapples of Meghalaya
 Grapes of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra
 Apples, pears, apricots and walnuts of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh
Non-Food Crops
Rubber Fibre Cotton Jute
It is an equatorial Cotton, Jute, It is a Kharif crop. It is known as the
crop. Hemp and golden fibre.
Natural Silk are
the four major
fibre crops.
It requires a moist Cotton, Jute and It requires high It grows well on
and humid climate Hemp are temperature, light well-drained fertile
with rainfall of grown in the rainfall, 210 frost- soils in the flood
more than 200cm soil. free days and bright plains. A high
and temperature temperature is
sunshine for its
above 25°C. required for its
growth.
growth.
It is an important Natural Silk is Cotton grows It is used in making
industrial raw obtained from gunny bags, mats,
well in the black
material cocoons of the ropes, yarn,
cotton soil of the
silkworms fed carpets and other
Deccan plateau.
on green leaves artefacts.
Mainly grown in Rearing of Major cotton- Major jute-
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, silkworms for producing states producing states
Karnataka and the production are Maharashtra, are West Bengal,
Andaman and of silk fibre is Gujarat, Madhya Bihar, Assam,
Nicobar islands and known as Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and
Garo hills of Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya.
Sericulture.
Meghalaya. Telangana, Tamil
Nadu, Punjab,
Haryana and
Uttar Pradesh.
Technological and Institutional Reforms
Agriculture provides a livelihood for more than 60% of its population, so this sector needs some serious
technical and institutional reforms. The Green Revolution and the White Revolution were some of the
reforms initiated by people to improve agriculture.
Some initiatives taken by the Government are:
 Schemes introduced by Government such as Kissan Credit Card (KCC), Personal Accident Insurance
Scheme (PAIS).
  Special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes for farmers on the radio and television were
introduced.
 The government also announces minimum support price, remunerative and procurement prices for
important crops to check the exploitation of farmers by speculators and middlemen.
Contribution of Agriculture to the National Economy, Employment and Output
 In 2010-11, about 52% of the total workforce was employed by the farm sector.
 The share of agriculture in the GDP is declining.
 Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), agricultural universities, veterinary services and animal
breeding centres, horticulture development, research and development in the field of meteorology
and weather forecast, etc. are a few of the initiatives introduced by the government to improve
Indian agriculture.