Agriculture VIDEO LINK
Revision Notes
Agriculture
Agriculture is a primary activity which produces most of the food that we consume besides food grain it also produces raw material for various industries.
Some agriculture product like tea, coffee, spice, etc...
Types of farming:
Cultivation method has changed significantly depending upon the characteristics of physical environmental, technological know – how and socio – culture practices. Farming various from subsistence to commercial type. At present in different parts of India.
Primitive Subsistence Farming:
This type of farming is still practiced in few pockets of India
1. The help of primitive tools like hoe dao and digging sticks, and family /community labour.
2. This type of farming depends upon monsoon, natural fertility of the soil and suitability of other environmental conditions to the crops grown.
3. It is ‘salsh and burn’ agriculture.
4. The soil fertility decreases.
5. The farmers shift and clear a fresh patch of land for cultivation.
Intensive Subsistence Farming:
1. This type of farming is practiced is areas of high population pressure on land .
2. It is labour intensive farming.
3. The biological inputs and irrigation are used for obtaining higher production.
4. There is enormous pressure on agriculture land.
Commercial Farming:
1. This type of farming is the use of higher doses of modern inputs.
2. The degree of commercialization of agriculture various from one region to another.
3. A single crop s grown on a large area.
4. The help of migrant labourers.
5. The produces is used as raw material in respective industries.
Cropping Pattern:
1. These are also reflected in agricultural practices and cropping pattern in the country.
2. India has three cropping seasons – rabi, kharif and zaid.
3. Rajasthan has also been an important factor in the growth of the above-mentioned rabi crops.
4. The crops produced during ‘zaid’ are watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops.
Major crops:
Major crops grown in India are rice, wheat, millets, pulses, tea, coffee, sugarcane, oil seeds. Cotton and jute, etc.,
Non – Food Crops:
Rubber:
1. It is an equatorial crop, but under special conditions.
2. It requires moist nd humid climate with rainfall of more than 200cm. and temperature above 25℃
Fibre Crops:
1. Cotton, jute, hemp and natural silk are the four major fibre crops grown in India.
2. Rearing of silkworms for the production of silk fibre is known as sericulture.
Cotton:
1. India is belived to be the original home of the cotton plant.
2. In 2008 India wass second largest producer of cotton after china.
Jute:
1. It is known as the golden fibre.
2. It is losing market to synthetic fibres and packing materials, particularly the nylon.
Technological and Institutional Reforms:
1. The pace of agricultural development.
2. Agriculture which provides a livelihood for more than 60 per cent.
3. The government of India embarked upon introducing agricultural in the 1960s and 1970s
4. The government also announces minimum support prices remunerative and procurement prices for important crops.
5. Consolidation of holdings, cooperation and abolition of zamindari, etc. were given priority to bring about institutional reforms in the country after independence.
6. The green revolution based on the use of package technology and the white revolution (operation flood) were some of the strategies initiated to improve a lot of Indian agriculture.
7. Land reform was the main focus of our first five-year plan.
8. Development in few selected areas. In the 1980s and 1990s, a comprehensive land development programme was initiated, which includes both institutional and technological reforms.
9. Provision for crop insurance against drought, flood, cyclone, fire and disease.
10. Establishment of Grameen Banks, cooperative societies and banks for providing loan facilities to the farmers at lower rates of interest.
11. Kissan credit cards and personal accident insurance schemes introduced.
12. Special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes for farmers were introduced on radio and T.V.
13. The government also announces minimum support price.
14. Remunerative and procurement prices for important crops to check the exploitation of farmers by speculators and middleman.
Contribution of agriculture to the national economy, employment and output:
1. Gross Domestic Product has registered a declining trend from 1951 onwards.
2. The population continues to be as high as 63 per cent in 2001.
3. The government of India made concerted efforts to modernize agriculture in India.
4. India made concerted efforts to modernize agriculture Establishment of Indian Council of Agriculture.
5. The growth rate in agriculture is decelerating which is an alarming situation.
6. Agriculture backbone of Indian Economy.
7. Share in the gross domestic product.
8. Providing employment.
9. Livelihood to the population.
10. The government of India made concerted efforts to modernize agriculture.
11. Establishment of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, agricultural universities.
12. Veterinary services and animal breeding centers.
13. Horticulture development.
14. Research and development in the field of meteorology and weather forecast.
Food Security:
1. The number of people who do not have food security is disproportionately large in some region of our country particularly in economically less developed states with the higher incidence of poverty.
2. The focus of the policy is on fixing the support price for procurement of wheat and rice to maintain their stocks. Food Corporation of India.
3. The FCI procures food grains from the farmers at the government announced minimum support price.
4. The competition for land between non – agriculture uses such as housing etc.,
5. The farmers are badly affected by the uncertainties of production and market.
6. The higher the supply the lower is the demand.
Impact of Globalisation on Agriculture:
1. Globalisation is not a new phenomenon.It was there at the time of colonisation.
2. Till today it is one of the important items of export from India.
3. Cotton textile industry in Manchester and Liverpool flourished due to the availability of good quality cotton from India.
4. The Champaran movement which started in 1917 in Bihar.
5. Under globalisation, particularly after 1990, the farmer in India have been exposed to new challenges.
NCERT Solutions
Agriculture
Question 1. Multiple choice questions.
(i) Which one of the following describes a system of agriculture where a single crop is grown on a large area?
- Shifting Agriculture
- Plantation Agriculture
- Horticulture
- Intensive Agriculture
Answer: (b) Plantation Agriculture
Explanation: Plantation agriculture is a form of commercial farming where crops are grown for profit. Large land areas are needed for this type of agriculture.
(ii) Which one of the following is a rabi crop?
(a) Rice (b) Gram (c) Millets (d) Cotton
Answer: (b) Gram
Explanation: Rabi crops or rabi harvest are agricultural crops that are sown in winter and harvested in the spring in South Asia.
(iii) Which one of the following is a leguminous crop?
(a) Pulses (b) Jawar (c) Millets (d) Sesamum
Answer: (a) Pulses
Explanation: Commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and economically important family of flowering plants. These plants are used in a crop rotation to replenish soil nitrogen.
(iv) Which one of the following is announced by the government in support of a crop?
- Maximum support price
- Minimum support price
- Moderate support price
- Influential support price
Answer: (b) Minimum support price
Explanation: Minimum Support Price is the price at which government purchases crops for the farmers, to safeguard the interests of the farmers.
Question 2. Answer the following questions in 30 words.
- Name one important beverage crop and specify the geographical conditions required for its growth.
- Name one staple crop of India and the regions where it is produced.
- Enlist the various institutional reform programmes introduced by the government in the interest of farmers.
- The land under cultivation has got reduced day by day. Can you imagine its consequences?
Answer:
- Tea is an important beverage crop. This plant grows well in tropical or subtropical climates,21°C to 29°C is ideal for the production of tea. The High temperature is required in summer. The lowest temperature for the growth of tea is 16°C, 150-250 cm of rainfall is required for tea cultivation.
Tea shrubs require fertile mountain soil mixed with lime and iron. The soil should be rich in humus.
Tea cultivation needs well drained land. Stagnation of water is not good for tea plants. Heavy rainfall but no stagnancy of water, such mountain slopes are good for tea cultivation.
Deep and fertile well-drained soil which is rich in humus and organic matter. Tea bushes require warm and moist frost free climate through the year. - Rice is a staple food crop in India. It grows in the Indo-Gangetic plain and north-east India, coastal areas and the deltaic regions. The major rice producing areas are northern plain and coastal and deltaic regions while minor rice producing areas are Punjab plain and part of deccan plateau. Development of a dense network of canal irrigation and tube wells have made it possible to grow rice in areas of less rainfall such as Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan.
- The various institutional reform programmes introduced by the government for the benefit of farmers are:
- Provision for crop insurance against drought, flood, cyclone, fire, disease etc.
- Establishment of Grameen banks, cooperative societies and bank for providing loan facilities to the farmers at a lower rate of interest. Government also announces Minimum Support Price.
- Subsidy on agricultural inputs and resources such as power and fertilisers.
- Facilities of Kissan Credit Card and Personal Accident Insurance Scheme.
- Special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes for farmers were introduced on radio and television.
- A declining area of land under cultivation coupled with increasing population has many consequences. These are:
- Food shortage for the rising population.
- Rise in price of food grains.
- Unemployment and loss of livelihood for farmers.
- Shortage of supply of raw material for agro-industries.
- Adverse effect on export trade as agricultural products comprise a major section of international trade.
Question 3. Answer the following questions in about 120 words.
- Suggest the initiative taken by the government to ensure the increase in agricultural production.
- Describe the impact of globalisation on Indian agriculture.
- Describe the geographical conditions required for the growth of rice.
Answer: (i) Various initiative taken by the government to ensure the increase in agricultural production are:
- 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 Green Revolution and the White Revolution were some of the strategies initiated to improve a lot of Indian agriculture.
- Minimum Support Price policy, provision for crop insurance, subsidy on agricultural inputs and resources such as power and fertilizers, Grameen Banks, Kissan Credit Card and Personal Accident Insurance Scheme are also some of the reforms bought by Indian Government.
(ii) The impact of globalisation on Indian agriculture has been felt since colonial times. Raw cotton and spices were important export items from India. In 1917, Indian farmers revolted in Champaran against being forced to grow indigo in place of foodgrains, in order to supply dye to Britain's flourishing textile industry. Thus, globalisation has had its boons and banes for Indian agriculture.
Post liberalisation, Indian farmers face new challenges in the form of competition from highly subsidised agriculture of developed nations. This prompts the need for making Indian agriculture successful and profitable by improving the conditions of small and marginal farmers, countering the negative effects of Green Revolution, developing and promoting organic farming, and diversifying cropping pattern from cereals to high-value crops.
(iii)The geographical conditions required for growth of rice are as follows :
- It is a Kharif crop and requires a hot and humid climate for cultivation. Temperature above 25°C and high humidity with annual rainfall above 100 cm are favourable for the growth of rice.
- Rich alluvial soils of the floodplains and deltaic areas which are renewed every year are ideal for rice cultivation.
- Rice requires abundant rainfall or good water supply through irrigation and flooded fields during the earlier part of its growing season in June-July.
- Plenty of cheap labour as most of the farming involves manual labour.