Indian Geography

Economic geography
Agriculture

Mines and minerals

Importance of Agriculture in India
• Agriculture (+ fisheries +
livestock + forest)
contribute 13.9% to
India’s GDP (2013-14)

• India’s ~ 51% population

depended on agri + allied
activities
 Features of Indian agriculture
Subsistence agriculture – rain-fed agriculture
Mixed agriculture (agro+ livestock/ fishery/
poultry)
Non-mechanized
Low per/person productivity
Division of land throughout generations – land
fragmentation
Food crop cultivation dominant
 Features of Indian agriculture
Low agro-investment –
Poor forward and backward linkages
Under-developed food-processing industry
Poor agro-infrastructure: Cold-storages,
refrigerated vans etc.
 India’s targets

Make Agri. profitable

Improve Productivity

Sustainable Agriculture
 Agriculture Efficiency
Agriculture efficiency = agri output / agri input
But India’s agriculture is subsistence, output not
monetized
Input not monetized – family members as
labourers
 Agriculture Productivity
Agriculture Productivity = weight/area or Qt/ ha
or Called yield
India – half or 1/3th of highest productivity in
the world (except sugarcane and wheat)
 Pattern in India’s productivity
1) High productivity areas:
High investment in input- machinery, HYV,
irrigation
PN-HN, Kaveri basin, Kashmir
2) Good potential areas:
Fertile land, good rainfall, cheap labour
Lower Gangetic plains, eastern coast
 Pattern in India’s productivity
3) Low productivity areas:
Bad soil, low rainfall, frequent droughts,
difficult terrain (mountains/ plateaus) or deserts
High crop failure, agrarian poverty
Techniques: Dryland agriculture, watershed
management
 To increase Productivity

Improve CI

seeds Nutrition irrigation Fin.

 Nutrition

Soil
conservation

Chemical Organic
 Water-use
efficiency

Non-
conventional
conventional

Canal, Tube Watershed,

well rainwater harv.
 Forward Links

Marketing

Food-Proc.
Cold storages Transportation
Indu.
 3 things to consider: productivity
3 things to consider while improving
productivity
1) Conservation of natural resources
Judicious use of Chemical inputs
Fertilizers, pesticides, artificial hormones
 3 things to consider: productivity
2) Character of Indian agriculture must not be
destroyed (labour intensive) – unemployment
- Modernization should not be at pre-harvest side
(sowing, weeding etc)
- Modernization needed at post-harvest side. I.e.
storage, food-processing, marketing,
transportation, agro-research
 3 things to consider: productivity
3) No blind race to achieve high productivity
Target to achieve optimum and sustainable
target of productivity
Not to achieve highest productivity – it will
exhaust our natural resources
 Crop

Mkt SOIL

Agri
Fin. Water

M/C Nutri.
Agriculture-season in India
• 3 main seasons of
cultivation in India
1) Kharif
2) Rabi
3) Zaid
 Major crops
Kharif crops Rabi crops Zaid crops
Monsoon Winter season Dry summer
season season
All crops except Wheat, gram, Vegetables and
Rabi crops linseed, pea fruits
and Mustard
Rice, sugarcane,
Bajra, Jawar
etc.
Rice
• Major staple food
• India- largest area under
rice in the world
• temp =21-25 deg, warm
conditions
• Water intensive crop
• Grown in wetter parts
• Productivity is low
compared to wheat
Techniques to cultivate Rice
• Japanese transplantation
technique
• Peninsular India – less
water intensive dry-
upland rice
• New SRI technique
Rice
• 60-70% from late
summer rice – Aman,
Sali, Afghani
• Peninsular plateau –
autumn rice – “Ours”
• East India – summer
rice – “Boro” and
“Palua”
Wheat
• Rabi crop
• Temp: 17-20 deg
• Not water intensive crop
• Sub-tropical crop
• Productivity highest in
India- after green
revolution
Wheat producing areas
• Western disturbances
help wheat ripening
• Wheat is grown in winter
in India
• North and north-western
part
Pulses
• Lentils and grams
• Major source of
vegetable protein
crop Area of cultivation
Moong Eastern Indian coast
(max area)
Arahar (Tuar) North India and MP
Urad (Black gram) South India
Gram (Chana) PN (Rabi crop)
 Problems: pulse cultivation
After Green revolution, cultivation of rice and
wheat promoted
High MSP on grains
Pulsed pushed to marginal lands
Pulse production declined / stagnant
High pulse import
 Govt. schemes for pulse cultivation
Introduction of Dryland agriculture program to
encourage pulse cultivation
RKVY – 60k pulse village prog.
National Food security Mission include pulses
Target: 4 mT pulse production
Millets
Need less rainfall (dry
crops)
• Entirely grown under
subsistence farming
• Grown for fodder crops
• Very nutritious and
affordable
• Important for Nutrition
security
• But least preferred
Jawar (Sorghum)
• Jawar – 3th most imp
crop after rice and wheat
• Kharif + Rabi Crop
• Suitable for rainfed areas
• Require around 30 cm
rainfall – dry situation
• MH, MP, KN, AP
Bajra
• Kharif crop
• 40-50 cm rainfall + warm
climate
• Bright sunlight after light
shower
• MH, GJ, UP = Bajara
Ragi
• Drier part – rainfed crop
• 20-30 deg temp
• KN largest producer
(more than 50%)
Cotton
• Dry crop – not much rain
needed
• But adequate and timely
supply of water to roots
• Black soil- highly water
retentive- keep roots
moist
• Dry regions of black soil
Cotton: producing areas
• Traditional cotton areas
• Western India
• But high profitability
shift to PN and Kaveri
basin regions
• Over-irrigation in dry
seasons – soil salinity
 Textile industries in India
One of the most important industry in India
Labour intensive
Backward linkages with agriculture
During British era, Bombay developed 1st center
for textile industries
Mumbai, Amaravati, Vardha-pune, Satara-
Nagpur
 MH region
Black soil – cotton producing regions
Mumbai port (import of machinery and coal +
export of textile)
Cheap labour from surrounding regions
Finance from rich Parsis and Gujarati merchants
Mumbai- agglomeration – inertia more
development
 Shift to Gujarat
Mumbai- congestion, strong labour union
Ahmedabad – located at heart of cotton growing
regions
Ahmedabad – emerging market, cheap labour
supply
More impetus After development of Kandla
Ahmedabad, Bharuch, Vadodara, Surat
 Shift to Tamil Nadu
Earlier Inadequate amount of raw materials
After development of railway, supply of raw
material
Lack of coal – power. Development of HEP
Coimbatore, Salem, Tuticorin, Pondicherry
 Question
Q. Tamil Nadu is a leading producer of
mill-made cotton yarn in the country.
What could be the reason? UPSC
1. Black cotton soil is the predominant
type of the soil in the state Prelims
2. Rich pool of skilled labour is 2010
available
Which of the above is/are correct?
 Question
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
UPSC
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2
Prelims
2010
Ans. B)
Dominant soil type in TN is red soil
Soil in TN
 Question
Q. A state in India has following
characteristics:
1. Northern part is arid, semi-arid UPSC
2. Its central part produces cotton
3. Cultivation of cash crops is Prelims
predominant over food crops 2011

Which one of the following states has

all of the above characteristics?
 Question
a) Andhra Pradesh
b) Gujarat
UPSC
c) Karnataka
d) Tamil Nadu
Prelims
2011
Ans. b)
Predominant crops in GJ: cotton,
tobacco, ground nut, castor seed
 Question
Q. Analyse the factors for highly
centralised cotton textile industry in
India. (5) UPSC
Factors:
1) Raw material Mains
2) Energy source 2013
3) Cheap labour
4) Finance
5) Market
Sugarcane
• Water intensive cash-crop
• Reliable cash crop than
cotton
Sugar cane areas
• Traditional sugarcane
areas- Northern plains
• North India- sub-tropical
variety – low sugar
content-
• Sugar factories shut in
winter season
Sugar cane areas
• From northern Plains,
Shift to
1) south India
2) PN-HN
3) Western India
 Sugar cane areas: South India

Tropical variety – coastal areas; humidity

High sugar content, high yield
Sugar factories open year around
Skilled disciplined labour
Sugarcane –need effective post-harvest management
Better work in cooperative sector
South India organized cooperative sector
 Question
Q. Do you agree that there is a growing
trend of opening new sugar mills in
southern states of India? Discuss with UPSC
justification. (5)
Mains
2013
Oil-seeds
• Ground nut, sun-flower,
mustard, palm-oil, soya-
oil
• Low productivity issue
similar to pulses and
millets
Oil-seed Oil content Producing states
Ground nut 40-50% oil GJ, AP, TN
Sesame 45-50% oil GJ (India is the
largest)

Rape seed and 25-45% oil UP, RJ, PN (India

Mustard (Rabi) is the largest)

Linseed (Rabi) 35-45% oil MP, UP and Bihar

Castor seed 50% GJ (2/3th), AP
 Problems: oil-seeds
Traditionally low productivity in oil-seed
production
Input intensive + price volatility
Farmers aversion to cultivate oil-seeds
Important for vegetable fat
Import from SE Asian countries
Highest import bill in food-basket
 Govt. promotion : oil-seeds
Mission on Oil-seed and oil-palm
Increase oil-seed production 4.5% per year
But yet not matched with edible oil demand
Govt. introduced ‘Yellow Revolution’ to
promote oil-seed cultivation
Tea
• Need high rainfall
>200cm
• Tea- roots cannot tolerate
water-logging Grown on
slopes –
1) Himalayan slopes
2) Nilgiri
India largest producer –
70% domestically
consumed
Tea: plantation
• Introduction by British
• India- largest producer
• Labour intensive sector
• Important for women
employment
 Question
Q. Whereas British planters has
developed tea gardens all along
shiwaliks and lesser Himalayas from UPSC
Assam to Himachal Pradesh, in effect
they did not succeed beyond Darjeeling
Mains
area. Explain. (10)
2014
 Question
1) Disappearance of lesser him in east
2) Steep-slope – absence of soil/fertile
soil UPSC
3) Heights – low temp (frost)
4) Low population density Mains
5) Difficult terrain – transportation 2014
issues
6) Far away from ports (Kolkata or
Chittagong)
Jute
• Grown in high rainfall
and humid areas
• Water-intensive crop
• Traditional area
• Hugli basin
• Shifted to Godavari basin
Retting of Jute
 Jute
Once it was called ‘golden fiber’ – highest
FOREX earner crop in India
Germany- synthetic fiber – demand declined
Today not so important
Need more research and innovation to promote
jute
Ecological than synthetic fiber
Spices
• India was known for its
spices since ancient times
• Slopes of western Ghats
(largest- KR)
• Assam (Cardamom)
• RJ (chili)
• AP (turmeric)
 Spices in KR
Largest producer of Pepper, Cardamom, Ginger,
areca-nut
Hot, Humid climate (200-250 cm rainfall)
1000-1200m height of Western Ghats
loamy lateritic soils
KN, TN are other important spice producer
states
 Question
Q. Following are the characteristics of
an area in India
1. Hot and Humid climate UPSC
2. Annual rainfall 200 cm
3. Hill slopes up to an altitude of Prelims
1100m 2010
4. Annual range of temperature 15 deg
to 30 deg
 Question
Which one of the following crops are
you most likely to find in the area
described above? UPSC
a) Mustard
b) Cotton Prelims
c) Pepper 2010
d) Virginia tobacco

Ans. C)
 Question
Q. The lower Gangetic plains is
characterized by humid climate with
high temperature throughout the year. UPSC
Which one the following pairs of crops
is most suitable for this region?
Prelims
a) Paddy and cotton 2011
b) Wheat and Jute
c) Paddy and Jute
d) Wheat and cotton
 Question
Ans. C)
Paddy and Jute
UPSC

Prelims
2011
 Seed Mission
Seed Mission (12th Plan) by Min. of agri
For major 45 crops
To increase production of certified quality seeds
To enhance the seed replacement rate (SRR).
To upgrade quality of farm saved seeds
 To establish a seed reserve at regional levels to
meet requirement during natural calamities
Up-gradation of public sector seed producing
agencies.
 Seed Bill, 2004
To Replace seed act, 1966
To regulate production, distribution and sale of
seeds
All varieties of seeds for sale have to be
registered.
The seeds are required to meet certain
prescribed minimum standards. 
 Seed Bill, 2004
Transgenic varieties of seeds can be registered
only after clearance under the Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986.
If a registered variety of seed fails to perform,
the farmer can claim compensation from the
producer or dealer. 
Setting up a compensation committee that shall
hear and decide these cases.