Determinants of Agriculture

Physical factors: Terrain, topography, climate, and soil. Institutional

Factors: Land tenure, land tenancy, size of the landholdings, size of fields, and land
reforms. Infrastructural factors: Irrigation, electricity, roads, credit and marketing,
storage, facilities, crop insurance, and research. Technological Factors: High-
yielding varieties (new seeds) introduced in Green Revolution, chemical fertilizers,
insecticides, pesticides, and farm machinery.

Physical factors
Terrain, Topography, and Altitude
 The agricultural patterns are strictly dependent on the geo-ecological
conditions such as terrain, topography, slope and altitude.
 For example, while paddy cultivation requires levelled fields in order to have
standing water, the tea plantations perform well in the undulating topography
in which water does not remain standing, standing water damages tea
plantations. Orchards of coconut, are found at low altitudes, preferably closer
to sea level. While the apple orchards in the tropical and sub-tropical
conditions perform well at an altitude above 1500 metres above sea level.
 However, cultivation of crops is rarely done 3500 m above sea level in the
tropical and subtropical latitudes. Reason for this is the highly rarefied air, low
pressure, low temperature, and shortage of oxygen at high altitudes which are
serious impediments not only in the cultivation of crops but also in keeping
dairy cattle.
 The soils of high mountainous tracts are generally immature. The soils at such
altitude are not well developed due to the slope which induces erosion of the
soil making it thin and non-conducive for agriculture.
 The nature of the surface also affects agricultural activities. The gullied land is
the least conductive for cropping. The gullied lands are highly eroded and are
deficient in key nutrient resources required for agriculture.

Climate
 Areas deficient in heat are deficient in agriculture. For that is one element of
climate that man has not been able to create at economic costs on a large
scale.
 In lower latitudes where the winters are never too cold to arrest the growth of
vegetation, practically the whole year is the growing period, and the
agricultural operations are timed according to the supply of rainfall.
 In higher latitudes, however, the shortness of summer is compensated by the
longer duration of the day. The total amount of heat received is enough for the
ripening of crops.

i. Temperature
  The agricultural scientists have proved that each crop has a specific zero
temperature below which it cannot be grown. There is also an optimal
temperature in which the crop is at its greatest vigour. For example, wheat
can be grown in Punjab in the month of November-December due to cool
climatic conditions, it cannot be grown in Kerala at the same time, and
similarly, apples can be grown in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir
but not in Chennai.
 The upper limit of temperature for plant growth is 60 degrees C. Under high-
temperature conditions, i.e. at above 60 degrees C, crops dry up if the
moisture supply is inadequate. In contrast to this, the chilling and freezing
temperatures have a great adverse effect on the germination, growth, and
ripening of crops.
 Crop like winter- wheat and barley perform well when the mean daily
temperature ranges between 15 degrees C and 25 degrees C. Contrary to
this, tropical crops like cocoa, coffee, spices, squash, rubber, and tobacco
require over 18 degrees C temperature even in the coldest months, while
crops like wheat, gram, peas, lentil, potato, mustard, and rapeseed require a
temperature of about 20 degrees C during the growth and development stage
and relatively higher (over 25 degrees C) during the sowing and harvesting
periods.

ii. Moisture

 All crops need moisture. They take water and moisture from the soil. This
moisture may be available from the rains or from the irrigation system.
 The excess of water in the soil, therefore, leads to stunted growth of plants.
 Heavy rainfall may directly damage plants or interfere with flowering and
pollination. Cereal crops are often lodged by rain and this makes harvest
difficult and promotes spoilage and diseases. Heavy rainfall at the maturity of
wheat, gram, millets, oilseeds, and mustards causes loss of grain and fodder.

iii. Drought

 Drought damages the crops when plants are inadequately supplied with
moisture from the soil.
 The drought-prone areas of India lie in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Bundelkhand (U.P.), Uttarakhand, J&K,
southwest Punjab, and Haryana.
 In the areas where the average annual rainfall is less than 75 cm, agriculture
is considered a gamble on monsoon.

iv. Snow

 The occurrence of snow reduces the ground temperature which hinders the
germination and growth of crops.
 Land under snow cannot be prepared for sowing because of permafrost.
 Melting of snow may cause hazardous floods in the summer season, affecting
the crops, livestock, and land property adversely.
v. Winds

 Winds have both, direct and indirect effects on crops. Direct winds result in
the breaking of plant structure, dislodging of cereals, fodder, and cash crops,
and sheltering of seed- heads. Fruit and nut crops may be stripped from the
trees in high winds.
 The indirect effect of winds is in the form of transport of moisture and heat in
the air.

Soils
 The fertility of the soil, its texture, structure, and humus contents have a direct
bearing on crops and their productivity. In general, the alluvial soils which are
found in the river valleys are considered to be good for wheat, barley, gram,
oilseeds, pulses, and sugarcane; while the clayey loam soil with fine grains
found in the Ganga Brahmaputra deltaic regions gives a good harvest of rice
and Jute.
 Black soil is known for cotton in Maharashtra, and sandy soil for guar, pulses
(green gram, black-gram, red-gram, etc) in Rajasthan.

Institutional factors
Land Holdings
 The average size of landholding has been continuously decreasing on
account of an increasing number of landholders From an average of 2.28
hectares in 1970-71, it went down to 1.15 hectares in 2010-11.

 In India, More than 82 percent of the farmers belong to the small and
marginal farmers category and these farmers have less than 2 hectares of
land (GOI, 2011).
 Thus, this high fragmentation of land restricted and hindered the
dissemination of modern technology in agriculture.

Agricultural Credit
 Credit is the backbone of each sector of the economy. Credit is one of
the vital prerequisites of the farmers, which facilitate them to meet the
investment as well as working capital requirements.
 Like other sectors, the availability of credit for the agriculture sector must
be easy, adequate, and timely. Despite a large network of Rural Financial
Institutions (RFIs), a large portion of the rural population is continuously
neglected by the formal banking sector in India.