AGRICULTURE

agriculture 

            Importance of agriculture:

            India is an agriculturally important country. In 2010-11 about 52 per cent of the total work

            force was employed by the farm sector which makes more than half of the Indian Population

            dependent on agriculture for sustenance.

            Provide food security

            some agricultural products like tea, coffee, spices, etc. are also exported.

            Raw material for industries

            TYPES OF FARMING

Primitive Subsistence Farming

            Features

1.  It is a ‘slash and burn’ agriculture ( Shifting agriculture)

Process:

Using axes, farmers cut down most of the tall trees, which normally help bring down the

smaller tress.  Next the farmers burn the debris under carefully controlled conditions.

Whenever it rains, the rain comes and washes the fresh ashes into the soil, providing the

needed nutrients. The cleared area, is known as a swidden.  The cleared land can support crops

only up to three years or less. After those three years, the soil nutrients are rapidly depleted

and the land becomes too infertile to nourish crops. When the swidden is no longer fertile, the

villagers and farmers find a new site to begin clearing out. They leave the old site uncropped for

many years, allowing it to go back to its normal vegetation state, this could take up to twenty

years. 

2.  practised on small patches of land with the help of primitive tools like hoe, dao and digging

3.  sticks, and family/community labour.

4.  depends upon monsoon, natural fertility of the soil

            Local names of Shifting cultivation in world:

            (1)‘Milpa’ in Mexico  and Central America

            (2) ‘Conuco’ in Venzuela

            (3) ‘Roca’ in Brazil

             (4) ‘Masole’ in Central Africa

            (5) ‘Ladang’ in Indonesia

            (6) ‘Ray’ in Vietnam

            Local names of Shifting cultivation in India:

            (1) ‘Bewar’ or ‘Dahiya’ in Madhya Pradesh

            (2) ‘Podu’ or ‘Penda’ in Andhra Pradesh

            (3) ‘Pama Dabi’ or ‘Koman’ or Bringa’ in Odisha

            (4) ‘Kumari’ in Western Ghats

            (5)  ‘Valre’ or ‘Waltre’ in South-eastern Rajasthan

            (6) ‘Khil’ in the Himalayan belt

            (7)  ‘Kuruwa’ in Jharkhand

            (8) ‘Jhumming’ in the North-eastern region

Intensive Subsistence Farming

This type of farming is practised in areas of high population pressure on land.

It is labor-intensive farming, where high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation are used for obtaining higher production.

Multiple cropping done

Land holding small

            Commercial Farming

            The main characteristic of this type of farming is the use of higher doses of modern inputs,

            e.g. high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides in order

            to obtain higher productivity to sale in market.

             The degree of commercialisation of agriculture varies from one region to another. For example, rice is a commercial crop in Haryana and Punjab, but in Odisha, it is a subsistence crop.

(a) Plantation

It  is also a type of commercial farming. In this type of farming, a single crop is grown on a large

area. The plantation has an interface (connection) of agriculture and industry.

Plantations cover large tracts of land, using capital intensive inputs, with the help of migrant

labourers. All the produce is used as raw material in respective industries.

            In India, tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, banana, etc.. are important plantation crops.

       Tea in Assam and North Bengal coffee in Karnataka are some of the important plantation

            crops grown in these states.

Since the production is mainly for market, a welldeveloped network of transport and

communication connecting the plantation areas, processing industries and markets plays

            an important role in the development of plantations.

            CROPPING PATTERN

             India has three cropping seasons — rabi, kharif and zaid.

           

Season	Sown	Harvest	Crops
Rabi	October to December (Availability of precipitation during winter months due to the western temperate cyclones)	in summer from April to June.	wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard.
Kharif	onset of monsoon	in September-October.	paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean.
Zaid	short season during the summer		watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops.

            Note:

In states like Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of paddy are grown in a year. These

are Aus, Aman and Boro.

Sugarcane takes almost a year to grow.

AGRICULTURE CROPS

S. no	Name of Crop	Season	Soil	Temp.	Rainfall	Area	Others
1	Rice, Paddy  ( rice before threshing)	Kharif	Silt and loam ( soil With equal proportion of sand, silt and clay )	Above 250C	Above 100 cm annual	Plains of North, North-east India, Coastal & deltaic regions	India 2ndlargest producer after China, staple crop of majority of Indians. In Odisha,West Bengal and Assam three crops of paddy grown in a year i.e Aus, Aman and Boro
2	Wheat	Rabi	Alluvial & Black Soil	Above 200C bright sunshine at ripening and bright sunshine during harvest	50cm -75cm	Ganga-Satluj plains and black soil region of Deccan	2nd important cereal crop
3	Millets - Jower or Sorghum	Kharif	Regur soil, Alluvial soil	Above 250C	Less than 100 cm.	Maharashtra, Karnataka, A.P., M.P.	3rd Important food crop, Maharashtra- largest producer in  India (2011)
4	Millets (Bajra)	Kharif	Sandy soils  & Shallow Black Soil	Above 250C	35 cm to 50 cm.	Rajasthan, U.P., Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana	Rajasthan- largest producer India
5	Millets (Ragi)	Kharif	Red, black sandy, loamy & shallow black soil	200C - 300C	35 cm to 50 cm.	Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, H.P., Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Arunanchal Pradesh	Karnataka- largest producer India - Rich in iron, calcium, other micro-nutrients and roughage
6	Maize	Kharif	Old Alluvial Soil	210C - 270C	Annual 60 cm.	Karnataka, U.P., Bihar, Andhra Pradesh & M.P.	In Bihar- grown in Rabi Season also, used as food and fodder
7	Pulses	Rabi- peas, gram Kharif- tur (arhar), Moong, Urad		Need less moisture		M.P., U.P., Rajasthan, Maharashtra & Karnataka	India largest production & consumption. - leguminous (except arhar) & restore soil fertility by fixing nitrogen
8	Sugarcane	Almost a year to grow	Variety of soils	210C - 270C	100 cm, hot & humid climate	U.P., Maharashtra, Karnataka, TamilNadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab & Haryana	- 2nd largest producer after Brazil. - used to make sugar,  Jaggry (gur), khandsari ( raw sugar unrefined brown in color ) & molasses ( a thick dark syrup Produced by boiling sugarcane juice)
9	Groundnut	Kharif				Andhra Pradesh , Tamil Nadu,Karnataka,  Gujarat &    Maharashtra	Groundnut – Second largest after China  Gujarat was the largest producer of groundnut followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu in 2015-16.
10	Other oil seeds	Both Kharif & Rabi	-	-	-	-	- oil seeds cover 12% of total cropped area of India. -Sesamum ( Til ) is Kharif crop in north and Rabi crop in south. -Castor seeds is grown both as Rabi and Kharif. -Mustard (sarso) is a Rabi crop -Soyabean -Coconut -Linseed is Rabi crop  -In Rape seed India is Third largest producer after Canada and China ( 2014 ).
11	Tea	Lengthy growing season	Deep & fertile well drained soil, rich in humus and organic matter	Warm & frost  free climate	Frequent showers throughout year	Assam, Darjeeling & Jalpaiguri of W.Bengal,Tamilnadu, Kerala, H.P., Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, ripura	- Labour intensive  India third largest producer after China and Turkey (2008).
12	Coffee	Plantation crop	-Different soil types -Well drained soil	160C - 270C	125 cm. 200 cm.	Baba Budan Hills, Nilgiri in Karnataka, Kerala & Tamil Nadu	- 3.5 % of world coffee production in (2014). - Arabica variety brought from Yemen - known for its good quality.  Direct sunrays are injurious to the plant; it is often grown in the shades of other trees.
13	Rubber	Plantation crop	-	Equatorial crops, need moist and humid climate, temp. above 250C	Above 200 cm	Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, A& N Islands, Garo hills of Meghalaya	- 4th among world's natural rubber production (2012-13). - 62 % rubber is used in Auto tyres and tubes.
14	Cotton	Kharif	Black soil of Deccan Plateau	High temperature, 210 frost free days, bright sunshine	Light rainfall	Maharashtra, Gujarat, M.P.,   Karnataka,  Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,  Punjab , Haryana & U.P.	- India original home of cotton. - main raw material for textile industry. - 2rd largest producer after China (2014). - requires 6 to 8 months to mature
15	Jute	Kharif	Flood plains i.e. well drained khadar	High temperature	-	W. Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa and Meghalaya	- known as golden  fibre - used in making gunny bags, mats, ropes, yarn, carpets etc. Nylon main competitor for jute.

Note :   In 2014, India was the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world afterChina.

Rearing of silkworms is known as sericulture.

 India produces about 13 per cent of the world’s vegetables

Problems

→The ‘right of inheritance’ leading to the division of land among successive generations has rendered land-holding size uneconomical. A few economists think that Indian farmershave a bleak future if they continue growing food grains on the holdings that grow smaller

and smaller as the population rises.

→In large parts of the country still depend upon monsoon and natural fertility in order to carry on their agriculture.

→Agricultural share in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has registered a declining trend from 1951 onwards.

→Agricultural sector is not generating sufficient employment opportunities in the country.

→Lack of public investment in agriculture sector particularly in irrigation, power, rural roads, market and mechanisation.

→Subsidy on fertilizers is decreased leading to increase in the cost of production.

→Reduction in import duties on agricultural products have proved detrimental i.e causing harm to agriculture in the country.

→Farmers are withdrawing their investment from agriculture causing a downfall in the

employment in agriculture.

→Unsustainable pumping has reduced water storage in aquifers.Consequently, many wells and tubewells have run dry.

→Despite being an important producer of rice, cotton, rubber, tea, coffee, jute and spices our agricultural products are not able to compete with the developed countries because of the highly subsidised agriculture in those countries.

Steps to improve condition of agriculture

Institutional Reforms

→ ‘Land reform’ was the main focus of our First Five Year Plan.

→Consolidation of holdings: The right of inheritance had already lead to fragmentation of land holdings necessitating consolidation of holdings.

→Abolition of zamindari

→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

→Kissan Credit Card (KCC) and Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS) for farmer.

→The government also announces minimum support price, remunerative and procurement prices for important crops to check the exploitation of farmers by speculators and middlemen.

→Establishment of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), agricultural universities,

veterinary services and animal breeding centres, horticulture development,

Technological Reforms

→The Green Revolution based on the use of package technology and the White Revolution (Operation Flood) to improve agriculture.

→Special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes for farmers were introduced on the radio and television.

→Improving the rural infrastructure.

→Use of modern technique

Bhoodan – Gramdan

Mahatma Gandhi declared Vinoba Bhave as his spiritual heir. Vinoba believed in the Gandhi’s concept of gram swarajya. After Gandhiji’s martyrdom, Vinoba Bhave undertook padyatra to spread Gandhiji’s message covered almost the entire country. Once, when he was delivering a lecture at Pochampalli in Andhra Pradesh, some poor landless villagers demanded some land for their economic well-being. Vinoba Bhave could not promise it to them immediately but assured them to talk to the Government of India regarding provision of land for them if they undertook cooperative farming. Suddenly, Shri Ram Chandra Reddy stood up and offered 80 acres of land to be

distributed among 80 land-less villagers. This act was known as ‘Bhoodan’. Later he travelled and introduced his ideas widely all over India. Some zamindars, owners of many villages offered to distribute some villages among the landless. It was known as Gramdan. However, many land-owners chose to provide some part of their land to the poor farmers due to the fear of land

ceiling act. This Bhoodan-Gramdan movement initiated by Vinoba Bhave is also known as the Blood-less Revolution.

The Champaran movement

The Champaran movement started in 1917 in Bihar by Gandhi. This was started because

farmers of that region were forced to grow indigo on their land because it was necessary

for the textile industries which were located in Britain. They were unable to grow foodgrains

to sustain their families.