UPSC Geography Agriculture NCERT Extracts - Land Resources and Agriculture

 

Land Use Categories

 

• Land-use records are maintained by land revenue department. The land use categories add up to reporting area, which is somewhat different from the geographical area.
• The Survey of India is responsible for measuring geographical area of administrative units in India.
• The difference between the two concepts are mat while the former changes somewhat depending on the estimates of the land revenue records, the latter does not change and stays fixed as per Survey of India measurements.
• The land-use categories as maintained in the Land Revenue Records are as follows:
• Forests: It is important to note that area under actual forest cover is different from area classified as forest. The latter is the area which the Government has identified and demarcated for forest growth.
• The land revenue records are consistent with the latter definition. Thus, there may be an increase in this category without any increase in the actual forest cover.
• Land put to Non-agricultural Uses: Land under settlements (rural and urban), infrastructure (roads, canals, etc.), industries, shops, etc. are included in this category. An expansion in the secondary and tertiary activities would lead to an increase in this category of land-use.
• Barren and Wastelands: The land which may be classified as a wasteland such as barren hilly terrains, desert lands, ravines, etc. normally cannot be brought under cultivation with the available technology.
• Area under Permanent Pastures and Grazing Lands: Most of this type land is owned by the village 'Panchayat' or the Government. Only a small proportion of this land is privately owned. The land owned by the village panchayat comes under 'Common Property Resources'.
• Area under Miscellaneous Tree Crops and Groves (Not included is Net sown Area): The land under orchards and fruit trees are included in this category. Much of this land is privately owned.
• Culturable Waste-Land: Any land which is left fallow (uncultivated) for more than five years is included in this category. It can be brought under cultivation after improving it through reclamation practices.
• Current Fallow: This is the land which is left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year. Fallowing is a cultural practice adopted for giving the land rest. The land recoups the lost fertility through natural processes.
• Fallow other than Current Fallow: This is also a cultivable land which is left uncultivated for more than a year but less than five years. If the land is left uncultivated for more than five years, it would be categorized as culturable wasteland.
• Net Area Sown: The physical extent of land on which crops are sown and harvested is known as net sown area.

 

Land-use Changes in India

 

• Land-use in a region, to a large extent, is influenced by the nature of economic activities carried out in that region.                                
• However, while economic activities change over time, land, like many other natural resources, is fixed in terms of its area.                                
• At this stage, one needs toappreciate three types of changes that an economy undergoes, which affect land-use.
• The size of the economy (measured in terms of value for all the goods and services produced in the economy) grows over time as a result of increasing population, change in income levels, available technology and associated factors. As a result, the pressure on land will increase with time and marginal lands would come under use.
• Secondly, the composition of the economy would undergo a change over time. In other words, the secondary and the tertiary sectors usually grow much faster than the primary sector, specifically the agricultural sector.
• This type of change is common in developing countries like India. This process would result in a gradual shift of land from agricultural uses to non-agricultural uses. You would observe that such changes are sharp around large urban areas. The agricultural land is being used for building purposes.                                
• Thirdly, though the contribution of the agricultural activities reduces over time, the pressure on land for agricultural activities does not decline.
• The reasons for continued pressure on agricultural land are:
• In developing countries, the share of population dependent on agriculture usually declines much more slowly compared to the decline in the sector's share in GDP-
• The number of people that the agricultural sector has to feed is increasing day by day.

 

Cropping Seasons in India

 

• There are three distinct crop seasons in the northern and interior parts of country, namely kharif, rabi and zaid.
• The kharif season largely coincides with Southwest Monsoon under which the cultivation of tropical crops such as rice, cotton, jute, jowar, bajra and tur is possible.
• The rabi season begins with the onset of winter in October-November and ends in March-April. The low temperature conditions during this season facilitate the cultivation of temperate and subtropical crops such as wheat, gram and mustard.
• Zaid is a short duration summer cropping season beginning after harvesting of rabi crops.
• The cultivation of watermelons, cucumbers, vegetables and fodder crops during this season is done on irrigated lands.
• However, this type of distinction in the cropping season does not exist in southern parts of the country.
• Here, the temperature is high enough to grow tropical crops during any period in the year provided the soil moisture is available. Therefore, in this region same crops can be grown thrice in an agricultural year provided there is sufficient soil moisture.

 

Types of Farming

 

• On the basis of main source of moisture for crops, the farming can be classified as irrigated and rainfed (barani).
• There is difference in the nature of irrigated farming as well based on objective of irrigation, i.e. protective or productive.
• The objective of protective irrigation is to protect the crops from adverse effects of soil moisture deficiency which often means that irrigation acts as a supplementary source of water over and above the rainfall.
• The strategy of this kind of irrigation is to provide soil moisture to maximum possible area. Productive irrigation is meant to provide sufficient soil moisture in the cropping season to achieve high productivity. In such irrigation the water input per unit area of cultivated land is higher than protective irrigation.
• Rainfed farming is further classified on the basis of adequacy of soil moisture during cropping season into dryland and wetland farming.
• In India, the dryland farming is largely confined to the regions having annual rainfall less than 75 cm.
• These regions grow hardy and drought resistant crops such as ragi, bajra, moong, gram and guar (fodder crops) and practise various measures of soil moisture conservation and rain water harvesting.
• In wetland farming, the rainfall is in excess of soil moisture requirement of plants during rainy season. Such regions may face flood and soil erosion hazards.
• These areas grow various water intensive crops such as rice, jute and sugarcane and practise aquaculture in the fresh water bodies.

 

Cereals

 

• The cereals occupy about 54 per cent of total cropped area in India. The country produces about 11 per cent cereals of the world and ranks third in production after China and U.S.A.
• India produces a variety of cereals, which are classified as fine grains (rice, wheat) and coarse grains (jowar, bajra, maize, ragi), etc.
• Account of important cereals has been given in the following paragraphs:

 

Rice

• Rice is a staple food for the overwhelming majority of population in India. Though, it is considered to be a crop of tropical humid areas, it has about 3,000 varieties which are grown in different agro-climatic regions.
• These are successfully grown from sea level to about 2,000 m altitude and from humid areas in eastern India to dry but irrigated areas of Punjab, Haryana, western U.P. and northern Rajasthan.
• In southern states and West Bengal the climatic conditions allow the cultivation of two or three crops of rice in an agricultural year.
• In West Bengal farmers grow three crops of rice called 'aus', 'aman' and 'boro'. But in Himalayas and northwestern parts of the country, it is grown as a kharif crop during southwest Monsoon season.
• India contributes 21.6 per cent of rice production in the world and ranked second after China in 2008 - 09. About one-fourth of the total cropped area in the country is under rice cultivation.
• West Bengal, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh were the leading rice producing states in the country in 2009-10.
• The yield level of rice is high in Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal and Kerala. In the fast four of these states almost the entire land under rice, cultivation is irrigated.
• Punjab and Haryana are not traditional rice growing areas. Rice cultivation in the irrigated areas of Punjab and Haryana was introduced in 1970s following the Green Revolution.
• Genetically improved varieties of seed, relatively high usage of fertilisers and pesticides and lower levels of susceptibility of the crop to pests due to dry climatic conditions are responsible for higher yield of rice in this region.
• The yield of this crop is very low in rainfed areas of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

 

Wheat

• Wheat is the second most important cereal crop in India after rice.
• India produces about 12 per cent of total wheat production of world. It is primarily a crop of temperate zone.
• Hence, its cultivation in India is done during winter i.e. rabi season.
• About 85 per cent of total area under this crop is concentrated in north and central regions of the country i.e. mdo-Gangetic Plain, Malwa Plateau and Himalayas up to, 2,700, m altitude.
• Being a rabi crop,, it is mostly grown under irrigated conditions. But it is a rainfed crop in Himalayan highlands and parts of Malwa plateau in Madhya Pradesh.
• About 14 per cent of the total cropped area in the country is under wheat cultivation.

 

Jowar

• It is main food crop in semi-arid areas of central and southern India.
• Maharashtra alone produces more than hall of the total jowar production of the country.
• It is sown in both kharif and rabi seasons in southern states. But it is a kharif crop in northern India where it is mostly grown as a fodder crop.
• South ofVindhyachal it is a rainfed crop and its yield level is very low in this region.
• Jowar is the third most important food crop with respect to area and production. It is a rain-fed crop mostly grown in the moist areas which hardly needs irrigation;
• Major Jowar producing States were Maharashtra, Kamataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in 2011-12.

 

Bajra

• Bajra is sown in hot and dry climatic conditions in northwestern and western parts of the country. Bajra grows well on sandy soils and shallow black soil.
• It is a hardy crop which resists frequent dry spells and drought in this region.
• It is cultivated alone as well as part of mixed cropping. Being a rainfed crop, the yield level of this crop is low in Rajasthan and fluctuates a lot from year to year.
• Yield of this crop has increased during recent years in Haryana and Gujarat due to introduction of drought resistant varieties and expansion of irrigation under it.

 

Maize

• Maize is a food as well as fodder crop grown under semi-arid climatic conditions and over inferior soils.
• Maize cultivation is not concentrated in any specific region. It is sown all over India except eastern and north-eastern regions.
• Yield level of maize is higher than other coarse cereals. It is high in southern states and declines towards central parts.

 

Pulser

• Pulses are a very important ingredient of vegetarian food as these are rich sources of proteins.                               
• India is the largest producer as well as the consumer of pulses in the world.
• These are the major source of protein in a vegetarian diet. Major pulses that are grown in India are tur (arhar), urad, moong, masur, peas and gram.
• Being leguminous crops, all these crops except arhar help in restoring soil fertility by fixing nitrogen from the air.
• India is a leading producer of pulses and accounts for about one-fifth of the total production of pulses in the world.
• The cultivation of pulses in the country is largely concentrated in the drylands of Deccan and central plateaus and northwestern parts of the country.
• Pulses occupy about 11 per cent of the total cropped area in the country.
• Being the rainfed crops of drylands, the yields of pulses are low and fluctuate from year to year.

 

Oilseeds

• The oilseeds are produced for extracting edible oils. Groundnut, rapeseed and mustard, soyabean and sunflower are the main oilseed crops grown in India.

 

Groundnut

• India produces about 18.8 per cent of the total groundnut production in the world (2008-09). It is largely a rainfed kharif crop of drylands.
• But in southern India, it is cultivated during rabi season as well.
• Yield of groundnut is comparatively high in Tamil Nadu where it is partly irrigated.
• But its yield is low in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kamataka.

 

Rapeseed and Mustard                                

• Rapeseed and mustard comprise several oilseeds as rai, sarson, toria and taramira.
• These are frost sensitive crops and their yields fluctuate from year to year.
• But with the expansion of irrigation and improvement in seed technology, their yields have improved and stabilised to some extent. About two-third of the cultivated area under these crops is irrigated.

 

Other Oilseeds

• Soyabean and sunflower are other important oilseeds grown in India.
• Soyabean is mostly grown in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
• These two states together produce about 90 per cent of total output of soyabean in the country.

 

Fibre Crops

 

• These crops provide us fibre for preparing cloth, bags, sacks and a number of other items. Cotton and jute are two main fibre crops grown in India.

 

Cotton

• Cotton is a tropical crop grown in kharif season in semi-arid areas of the country. India lost a large proportion of cotton growing area to Pakistan during partition.
• However, its acreage has increased considerably during the last 50 years.
• India .grows both short staple (Indian) cotton as well as long staple (American) cotton called 'narma' in north-western parts of the country. Cotton requires clear sky during flowering stage.
• India is believed to be the original home of the cotton plant.
• Cotton grows well in drier parts of the black cotton soil of the Deccan plateau.
• It requires high temperature, light rainfall or irrigation, 210 frost-free days and bright sun-shine for its growth. It is a kharif crop and requires 6 to 8 months to mature.

 

Jute

• Jute is used for making coarse cloth, bags, sacks and decorative items.
• It is a cash crop in West Bengal and adjoining eastern parts of the country.
• India lost large jute growing areas to East Pakistan (Bangladesh) during partition.
• At present, India produces about three-fifth of jute production of me world.
• West Bengal accounts for about three-fourth of the production in the country. Bihar and Assam are other jute growing areas.
• Being concentrated only in a few states, this crop accounts for only about 0.5 per cent of total cropped area in the country.
• It is known as the golden fibre. Jute grows well on well-drained fertile soils in me flood plains where sous are renewed every year. High temperature is required during me time of growth.
• It is used in making gunny bags, mats, ropes, yam, carpets and other artefacts.

 

Sugarcane

• Sugarcane is a crop of tropical areas. Under rainfed conditions, it is cultivated in sub- humid and humid climates.
• But it is largely an irrigated crop in India, m Indo-Gangetic plain, its cultivation is largely concentrated in Uttar Pradesh.
• Sugarcane growing area in western India is spread over Maharashtra and Gujarat.
• Uttar Pradesh produces about two-fifth of sugarcane of the country. Its yield is low in northern India.

 

Tea

• Tea is a plantation crop used as beverage. Black tea leaves are fermented whereas green tea leaves are unfennented.
• Tea leaves have rich content of caffeine and tannin.
• It is an indigenous crop of hills in northern China. It is grown over undulating topography of hilly areas and well-drained soils in humid and sub-humid tropics and sub-tropics.
• In India, tea plantation started in 1840s in Brahmaputra valley of Assam which still is a major tea growing area in the country.
• Later on, its plantation was introduced in the sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal (Darjiling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Bihar districts).
• Tea is also cultivated on the lower slopes of Nilgiri and Cardamom hills in Western Ghats.
• India is a leading producer of tea and accounts for about 28 per cent of total production in the world.
• India's share in me international market of tea has declined substantially. At present, it ranks third among tea exporting countries in the worid after Sri Lanka and China.
• Assam accounts for about 532 per cent of me total cropped area and contributes more man half of total production of tea in me country-
• The tea plant grows well tropical and sub-tropical climates endowed with deep and fertile 'well-drained soil, rich in humus and organic matter. Tea is a labourintensive industry.

 

Coffee

• Coffee is a tropical plantation crop. There are three varieties of coffee i.e. arabica, robusta and Uberica.
• India mostly grows superior quality coffee, wabka, which is in great demand in International maikeL But India produces only about 32 per cent coffee of the worid and ranks seventh after Brazil.
• Coffee is cultivated in Ae highlands of Western Ghats in Kamataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Kamataka alone accounts for more man two-third of total production of coffee in Ae country.
• Indian coffee is known mttieworid for its good quality. The Aralnnvuiety initially brought fiom Yemen is produced in the country.
• This variety is in great demand all over the world. Intially its cultivation was introduced I on the Baba Budan Hills and even today its cultivation is confined to the Nilgiri in Kamataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

 

Rubber

• It is an equatorial crop, but under special conditions, it is also grown in tropical and sub-tropical areas. It requires moist and humid climate with rainfall of more than 200 cm and temperature above 25°C.
• It is mainly grown in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Kamataka and Andaman and Nicobar islands and Garo hills of Meghalaya.

 

Agricultural Development in India

 

• Agriculture continues to be an important sector of Indian economy.
• The importance of agricultural sector in India can be gauged from the fact that about Percent of its land is devoted to crop cultivation, whereas, in the world, the corresponding share is only about 12 per cent.
• In spite of this, mere is tremendous pressure on agricultural land in India, which is reflected from fh& fact that the land-human ratio in the country is only 0.31 ha which is almost half of that of the world as a whole (0.59 ha).
• Despite various constraints, Indian agriculture has marched a long way since Independence.

 

Strategy of Development

• During partition about one-third of the irrigated land in undivided India went to Paieusitan.
• This reduced the proportion of irrigated area in Independent India.
• After Independence, the immediate goal of the Government was to increase foodgrains ' production by:
• switching over from cash crops to food crops;
• intensification of cropping over already cultivated land; and
• increasing cultivated area by bringing cultivable and fallow land under plough.
• Initially, this strategy helped in increasing foodgrains production. But agricultural production stagnated during late 1950s. To overcome this problem. Intensive Agricultural District Programme (IADP) and Intensive Agricultural Area Programme (IAAP) were launched.
• But two consecutive droughts during mid-1960s resulted in food crisis in the country. Consequently, the foodgrains were imported'from other countries.
• New seed varieties of wheat (Mexico) and rice (Philippines) known as high yielding varieties (HYVs) were available for cultivation by mid-1960s.
• India took advantage of this and introduced package technology comprising HYVs, along with chemical fertilizers in irrigated areas of Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
• Assured supply of soil moisture through irrigation was a basic pre-requisite for the success of this new agricultural technology.
• This strategy of agricultural development paid dividends instantly and increased the foodgrains productioirat very fast rate.
• This spurt of agricultural growth came to be known as 'Green Revolution'.
• This strategy of agricultural development made the country self-reliant in foodgrain production.
• But green revolution was initially confined to irrigated areas only.
• This led to regional disparities in agricultural development in the country till the seventies, after which the technology spread to the Eastern and Central parts of the country.
• The Planning Commission of India focused its attention on the problems of agriculture in rainfed areas in 1980s.
• It initiated agro-climatic planning in 1988 to induce regionally balanced agricultural development in the country.
• It also emphasised the need for diversification of agriculture and harnessing of resources for development of dairy fanning, poultry, horticulture, livestock rearing and aquaculture.
• Initiation of the policy of liberalisation and free market economy in 1990s is likely to influence the course of development of Indian agriculture.

 

Problems of Indian Agriculture

 

Dependence on Erratic Monsoon

• Irrigation covers only about 33 per cent of the cultivated area in India. The crop production in rest of the cultivated land directly depends on rainfall.

 

Low productivity                             

• The yield of the crops in the country is low in comparison to the international level
• Per hectare output of most of the crops such as rice, wheat, cotton and oilseeds ii India is much lower than that of U.S.A., Russia and Japan;

 

Constraints of Financial Resources and Indebtedness

• The inputs of modem agriculture are very expensive. This resource intensive approach has become unmanageable for marginal and small farmers as they have very meagre or no saving to invest in agriculture.

 

Lack of Land Reforms

• Indian peasantry had been exploited for a long time as there had been unequs distribution of land.
• After independence, land reforms were accorded priority, but these reforms were not implemented effectively due to lack of strong political will.

 

Small Farm Size and Fragmentation of Landholdings

• There are a large number of marginal and small farmers in the country.
• More than 60 per cent of the ownership holdings have a size smaller than one (ha
• Furthermore, about 40 per cent of the farmers have operational holding size smaller than 0.5 hectare (ha).
• The average size of land holding is shrinking further under increasing population pressure.
• Furthermore, in India, the land holdings are mostly fragmented. There are some states where consolidation of holding has not been earned out even once.
• Even the states where it has been carried out once, second consolidation is required as land holdings have fragmented again in me process of division of land among the owners of next generations. The small size fragmented landholdings arc uneconomic.

 

Lack of Commercialisation

• A large number of fanners produce crops for self-consumption. These fanners do not have enough land resources to produce more man their requirement
• Most of me small and marginal farmers grow foodgrains, which are meant for their own family consumption.
• Modernisation and commercialisation of agriculture have however, taken place in me irrigated areas.

 

Vast Under-employment

• There is a massive under-employment in me agricultural sector in India, particularly in the un-irrigated tracts.
• In these areas, there is a seasonal unemployment ranging from 4 to 8 months.
• People engaged in agriculture do not have the opportunity to work round me year

 

Degradation of Cultivable Land

• One of the serious problems mat arises out of faulty strategy of irrigation and agricultural development is degradation of land resources.
• This is serious because it may lead to depletion of soil fertility.
• The situation is particularly alarming in irrigated areas. A large tract of agricultural land has lost its fertility due to alkalisation and salinisation of soils and waterlogging.
• Alkalinity and salinity have already affected about 8 million ha land.
• Another 7 million ha land in the country has lost its fertility due to waterlogging.
• Excessive use of chemicals such as insecticides and pesticides has led to their concentration in toxic amounts in the soil profile.
• Leguminous crops have been displaced from the cropping pattern in me irrigated areas and duration of fallow has substantially reduced owing to multiple cropping.
• This has obliterated the process of natural fertilization such as nitrogen fixation.
• Rainfed areas in humid and semi-arid tropics also experience degradation of several types like soil erosion by water and wind erosion which are often induced by human activities.

 

Jhumming

 

• It is jhumming in north-eastern states like Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland; Pamlou in Manipur, Dipa in Bastar district of Chhattishgarh and in Andaman and Nioobar Islands.
• The 'slash and bum' agriculture is known as 'Milpa’ in Mexico and Central America, "Conuco' in Venzuela, 'Roca’ in Brazil, 'Masole' in Central Africa, 'Ladang' in Indonesia, 'Ray’ in Vietnam.
• In India, this primitive form of cultivation is called Bewar’ or 'Dahiya’ in Madhya Pradesh, 'Podu' or 'Penda' in Andhra Pradesh, 'Pama Dabi' or 'Koman' or Bringa' in Odisha, 'Kumari' in Western Ghats, 'Vaire' or 'Waltre' in South-eastern Rajasthan, 'Khil' in me Himalayan belt, 'Kuruwa' m Jharkhand, and '.mumming' m me North-eastern region.

 

Bhoodan - Gramdan

 

• Mahatma Gandhi declared Vmoba Bhave as his spiritual heir. He also participated in Satyagraha as one of the foremost satyagrahis.
• He was one of the votaries of Gandhi's concept of gram swarajya. After Gandhiji's martyrdom, Vinoba Bhave undertook padyatra to spread Gandhiji's message covered almost me 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.
• Vnoba Bhave could not promise it to them immediately but assured mem to talk to the Government of India regarding provision of land for them if they undertook cooperative farming.
• Suddenly, Shri Ram ChandraReddy 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 me landless. It was known as Gramdan.
• However, many land-owners chose to provide some part of their land to me poor farmers due to me fear of land ceiling act This Bhoodan-Gramdan movement initiated by Vnoba Bhave is also known as the Blood-less Revolution.

 

Types of Fanning

 

Subsistence Fanning

• This type of fanning is practised to meet nie needs of die farmer's family. Traditionally, low levels of technology and household labour are used to produce on small output. Subsistence farming can be further classified as intensive subsistence and primitive subsistence fanning.
• In intensive subsistence agriculture me fanner cultivates a small plot of land using simple tools and more labour. Climate with large number of days with sunshine and fertile soils permit growing of more than one crop annually on me same plot Rice is me main crop.
• Other crops include wheat, maize, pulses and oilseeds. Intensive subsistence agriculture is prevalent m the thickly populated areas of the monsoon regions of south, southeast and east Asia.
• Primitive subsistence agriculture shifting cultivation and nomadic herding.
• Shifting cultivation is practised m me thickly forested areas of Amazon basin, tropical Africa, parts of southeast Asia and Northeast India.
• These are me areas of heavy rainfall and quick regeneration of vegetation.
• A plot of land is cleared by telling the trees and burning them. The ashes are then mixed with the soil and crops like maize, yam, potatoes and cassava are grown.
• After the soil loses its fertility, the land is abandoned and the cultivator moves to a new plot. Shifting cultivation is also known as 'slash and bum' agriculture.
• Nomadic herding is practised in the semi-arid and arid regions of Sahara, Central Asia and some parts of India, like Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.
• In this type of farming, herdsmen move from place to place with their animals for fodder and water, along defined routes.                                
• This type of movement arises in response to climatic constraints and terrain. Sheep, camel, yak and goats are most commonly reared.
• They provide milk, meat, wool, hides and other products to the herders and their families.                           

 

Commercial Farming                                

• In commercial farming crops are grown and animals are reared for sale in market The area cultivated and me amount of capital used is large.
• Most of the work is done by machines. Commercial farming includes Commercial grain framing, mixed farming and plantation agriculture.
• In commercial grain farming crops are grown for commercial purpose. Wheat and maize are common commercially grown grains.                               
• Major areas where commercial grain farming is pracised are temperate grasslands of North America, Europe and Asia.                                
• These areas are sparsely populated with large farms spreading over hundreds of hectares.                                
• Severe winters restrict the growing season and only a single crop can be grown.
• In mixed farming the land is used for growing food and fodder crops and rearing livestock.
• Plantations are a type of commercial farming where single crop of tea, coffee, sugarcane, cashew, rubber, banana or cotton are grown. Large amount of labour and capital are required.

 

Food Security

 

• Our national food security system It consists of two components buffer stock and public distribution system (PDS).
• The focus of the policy is on growth in agriculture production and on fixing the support price for procurement of wheat and rice, to maintain their stocks.-
• Food Corporation of India (FCI) is responsible for procuring and stocking food grains, whereas distribution is ensured by public distribution system (PDS).
• The government used to provide subsidies on agriculture inputs such as fertilizers, power and water. These subsidies have now reached unsustainable levels and have also led to large scale inefficiencies in the use of these scarce inputs.
• Excessive and imprudent use of fertilizers and water has led to waterlogging, salinity and depletion of essential micronutrients in the soil.
• The high MSP, subsidies in input and committed FCI purchases have distorted the cropping pattern.
• Wheat and paddy crops are being grown more for the MSP they get. Punjab and Haryana are foremost examples. This has also created a serious imbalance in inter-crop parities.
• There has been a gradual shift from cultivation of food crops to cultivation of fruits, vegetables, oil-seeds and industrial crops. This has led to the reduction in net sown area under cereals and pulses.
• The productivity of land has started showing a declining trend. Fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides, which once showed dramatic results, are now being held responsible for degrading the soils.
• Periodic scarcity of water has led to reduction in area under irrigation. Inefficient water management has led to water logging and salinity.
• One important reason is land degradation. Free power to a section of farmers has encouraged them to pump groundwater to grow water-intensive crops in low-rainfall areas (rice in Punjab, sugarcane in Maharashtra).
• This unsustainable pumping has reduced water storage in aquifers. Consequently, many wells and tube wells have run dry. This has pushed the marginal and small farmers out of cultivation.
• Inadequate storage and marketing facilities also act as a disincentive to the farmer. Thus, the farmers are badly affected by the uncertainties of production and market.
• They suffer from a double disadvantage as they pay high prices for inputs such as HYV seeds, fertilisers etc. but lack the bargaining power to fix prices in their favour.
• All the production reaches the market simultaneously. The higher the supply the lower is the demand. This causes distress sale also. Therefore, there can be no food security without the security of the small farmers.

 

Impact of Globalisation on Agriculture

 

• Under globalisation, particularly after 1990, the farmers in India have been exposed to new challenges.
• 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.
• To make agriculture successful and profitable, proper thrust should be given to the improvement of the condition of marginal and small farmers.
• In fact organic farming is much in vogue today because it is practised without factory made chemicals such as fertilisers and pesticides. Hence, it does not affect environment in a negative manner.
• A few economists think that Indian farmers have a bleak future if they continue growing foodgrains on the holdings that grow smaller and smaller as the population rises.
• India's rural population is about 600 million which depends upon 250 million (approximate) hectares of agricultural land, an average of less than half a hectare per person.
• Indian farmers should diversify their cropping pattern from cereals to high-value crops.
• This will increase incomes and reduce environmental degradation simultaneously. India's diverse climate can be harnessed to grow a wide range of high-value crops.
• Change in cropping pattern for example from cereals (o high-value crops will mean that India will have to import food. During 1960's this would have been seen as a disaster.
• But if India imports cereals while exporting high-value commodities, it will be following successful economies like Italy, Israel and Chile. These countries exports farm products (fruits, olives, speciality seeds and wine) and import cereals.

 

Organic Farming

 

• In this type of fanning, organic manure and natural pesticides are used instead of chemicals. No genetic modification is done to increase the yield of me crop.
• This type of farming is practised in areas of high population pressure on land. It is labour- intensive fanning, where high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation are used for obtaining higher production.

 

Some Important Facts

 

• Primary activities include all those connected with extraction and production of natural resources-Agriculture, fishing and gathering are good examples.
• Secondary activities are concerned with me processing of these resources. Manufacturing of steel, baking of bread and weaving of cloth are examples of mis activity.
• Tertiary activities provide support to me primary and secondary sectors through services. Transport, trade, banking, insurance and advertising are examples of tertiary activities.
• Agriculture: The science and art of cultivation on me soil, raising crops and rearing livestock is also called fanning.
• Sericulture: Commercial rearing of silk worms. It may supplement me income of the fanner.
• Pisciculture: Breeding of fish in specially constructed tanks and ponds.
• Viticulture: Cultivation of grapes.
• Horticulture: (bowing vegetables, flowers and fruits for commercial use.
• Millets: Jowar, bajra and ragi are die important millets grown in India.
• Though, these are known as coarse grams, mey have very high nutritional value. For example, ragi is very rich in iron, calcium, other micro nutrients and roughage.
• Ragi is a crop of dry regions and grows well on red, black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soils.
• Groundnut is a kharif crop and accounts for about half of me major oilseeds produced in the country.
• Linseed and mustard are rabi crops. Sesamum is a kharif crop in norm and rabi crop in south India. Castor seed is grown born as rabi and kharif crop.
• India produces about 13 per cent of me world's vegetables.
• Cotton, jute, hemp and natural silk are four major fibre crops grown in India. The first three are derived from the crops grown in the soil, the latter is obtained from cocoons of me silkworms fed on green leaves specially mulberry.
• Rearing of silk worms for the production of silk fibre is known as sericulture.
• Sustained uses of land without compatible techno-institutional changes have hindered the pace of agricultural development.
• In spite of development of sources of irrigation most of the fanners 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 challenge.
• Thus, collectivisation, consolidation of holdings, cooperation and abolition of zamindari, etc. were given priority to bring about institutional reforms in the country after Independence. 'Land reform' was the main focus of our First Five Year Plan.
• The Government of India 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) were some of the strategies initiated to improve the lot of Indian agriculture. But, this too led to the concentration of development in few selected areas.
• Agriculture has been the backbone of the Indian economy though its share in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has registered a declining trend from 1951 onwards; 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.