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Importance of Agriculture

• In India agricultural activities are of great importance. These activities provide employment to approximately two third of Indian population and help us to get food as well as raw material for Industries. Some agricultural products such as tea, coffee, spices are exported so as to get additional income to the country.
• In India Cultivation methods have changed based on physical environment, technological improvements, socio-cultural practices.

Types of Farming:

• In India mainly there are three farming types
• Primitive subsistence Farming
• Intensive Subsistence Farming
• Commercial Farming

Cropping Seasons in India

• Specific crops are grown in specific season. Basically there are three cropping seasons rabi, kharif and zaid.

Rabi Season:

• Duration:
• Rabi crops are grown in winter season i.e. from October to December and harvested in summer season i.e. from April to June. Rabi Crops are wheat, barley, peas, and mustard are some important rabi crops.

Kharif Season:

• Duration:
• Kharif crops are grown with rising monsoon and harvested from September or October. Kharif crops are rice, maize, cotton, urad.

Zaid Season:

• Duration:
• This season comes in Between Kharif and Rabi Seasons. i.e. from march to june. Zaid Crops are watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder.

Major Crops in India

Rice:

Rice is a routine food in India. India ranks second in the world for producing rice after China.

Climate:

• Temperature: Rice is grown in  humid conditions where normal temperature is more than 25 ℃
• Rainfall: Rice is a kharif crop that need more than 100 cm annual rainfall. It can also be grown if there is sufficient water for irrigation.

Regions:

• Mainly rice is grown in North and North-eastern India, Coastal areas and deltaic regions.
• Punjab, Haryana and some parts of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are growing rice crops by irrigating land through canals, tubewells etc.

 

Wheat:

Importance of wheat:

• Wheat is a rabi crop. It is a second most important crop in India. It is a routine food in north and north-western part of India.

Climate:

• Temperature: It need cool climate during growth and warm climate at the time of ripening.
• Rainfall: It need 50 – 75 cm annual rainfall.

Regions:

• It is grown in Ganga-Satluj plains, Deccan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.

Millets / Coarse Grains:

• Millets have high nutritional value. Main millets in India are ragi, jowar and bajra.
• Ragi:
• Ragi is rich in Iron, calcium, carbohydrates & other micronutrients  It grows well on red, black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soils. Mainly it is produced in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Jowar:
• Jowar is third most important crop in India. It can be grown in moist areas little rainfall.  Important Jowar producing states are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
• Bajra is one of the important crop in India sandy soil and shallow black soil are suitable for bajra. It is mainly produced in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana.

Sugarcane:

It is a main source of sugar, gur, Khandsari and Molasses.

Environmental conditions:

Sugarcane is a tropical as well as subtropical crop. Therefore it grows well in hot and humid climates with Temperature Range 21℃ to 27 ℃. It need Annual Rainfall between 75cm to 100cm. In case of no rainfall irrigation is needed. It need manual labour from sowing to harvesting.

Regions: It is grown in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana.

 

Oil Seeds:

These seeds gives oil which is used for cooking and Manufacturing of Soap, Cosmetics and Ointments. Various oil seeds are groundnut, mustard, coconut, sesamum, soyabean, castor seeds, cotton seeds, linseed, and sunflower. Groundnut is a kharif crop. Linseed and mustard are rabi crops.   

Tea:

Tea is a beverage crop. Tea Cropping is introduced in India by British. Now, India is third largest producer of Tea after China and Turkey.

Environmental Conditions:

It grows well in tropical and subtropical climates supplied with deep and fertile soil, rich in humus and organic matter. It need worm and frost-free climate. High rainfall throughout the year gives better growth. It need abundant and skilled labour.

Regions: Tea is grown in Assam, hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, west Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura.

jalpaigury

Coffee:

India produce 3.2 per cent of total world coffee production. Indian coffee is known for its good quality. India produce “Arabica” variety of coffee which came from Yemen. It has huge demand in world market. It is cultivated on Baba Budan Hills, Nilgiri in Karnataka, kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Horticulture Crops:

India is large producer of horticulture crops such as vegetables and fruits.

Vegetables: India produce 13 per cent of world’s vegetable production. Various vegetables are pea, Cauliflower, onion, cabbage, tomato, brinjal and potato.

Fruits: India produce both tropical as well as temperate fruits. Mangoes are grown in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Oranges are grown in Nagpur ( Maharashtra) and Cherrapunjee (Meghalaya).

Bananas are grown in Kerala, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Lichi and Guava is grown in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Pineapples are grown in Meghalaya.

Grapes are grown in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Apples, Pears, apricots and walnuts are grown in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Non-Food Crops

Rubber:

India is fourth largest producer of rubber in world. Rubber is used as raw material in industries.

Environmental Conditions:

Rubber is mainly an equatorial crop but under suitable conditions can be grown in tropical and subtropical regions. It need moist and humid climate with temperature more than 25℃, it need annual rainfall 200 cm.

Regions: In India, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andaman and Nicobar islands and Garo Hills of Meghalaya are important rubber producing regions.

Fibre Crops:

In India cotton, Jute, hemp and natural silk are major fibre crops. Cotton, jute and Hemp is obtained by growing these crops in soil. Natural silk is obtained from Cocoons of Silkworms found especially on Mulberry Tree.

Cultivating plants for production of silk is called as sericulture.

Cotton

• Cotton is a Kharif Crop which requires 6 to 8 months for its growth. Cotton is a main raw material for textile industries. India ranks second largest producer of cotton after China.
• Environmental Conditions : It need black soil rich in humus, bright sunshine, high temperature, light rainfall and dry climate.
• Regions:
• In India Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are important cotton growing states.

Jute:

• It is known as golden fibre. It is required to make Gunny bags, mats, ropes, carpets, and other artefacts. The use of Jute is declining because of cheaper alternatives such as synthetic fibres such as nylon.
• Environmental Conditions: It needs well-drained fertile soil mostly soil of floodplains and high temperature.
• Regions: In India, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and Meghalaya are major Jute producing regions.

Food Security

• Food which provides Minimum Nutritional Value is a basic need of every citizen of country. Minimum nutritional value signifies food which provide minimum amount of nutrient like Proteins Vitamins, Iron, Calcium etc. per day.  If government fails to provide food security in any part then that part suffers from Lack of Food Security.  In our country, regions which are economically less developed and regions which suffers from natural disasters where supplying of food is not possible uncertain food supply.

National Food Security System:

• The main objective of this system is to ensure food availability to all. It also focuses on increasing the agricultural production and fixing the procurement price. Procurement price i.e. the price with which government purchase the crop from farmers.
• It consists of two components
• Buffer Stock
• Public Distribution System (i.e. PDS)
• Buffer Stock: Food Corporation of India (FCI), buys foodgrains from farmers with the assured minimum support price. It then maintain their stock and use this stock in case of shortage of food.
• Public Distribution System(PDS):
• With this program stored food grains and essential commodities are distributed to poor families at an affordable prices.
• Based on income, families are divided into two categories Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL). Poverty line signifies minimum income needed to get necessities of life such as food, shelter and clothes. Prices for each category is different.
• The problem with this system is that the number of deserving poor peoples are excluded from BPL category and some of the rich peoples are placed in BPL category.