Lesson 4

AGRICULTURE
INTRODUCTION
 India is an agriculturally important country.
 Two-thirds of its population is engaged in

agricultural activities.
 Agriculture is a primary activity, which

produces most of the food that we consume.

 Besides food grains, it also produces raw

material for various industries

TYPES OF FARMING
 Agriculture is an age-old economic activity in
our country.
 Over these years, cultivation methods have
changed significantly depending upon the
characteristics of physical environment,
technological know-how and socio-cultural
practices.
 Farming varies from subsistence to commercial
type. At present, in different parts of India, the
following farming systems are practiced
Primitive Subsistence Farming
 This type of farming is still practised in few pockets of India.
 Primitive subsistence agriculture is practised on small patches of land
with the help of primitive tools like hoe, dao and digging sticks, and
family/community labour.
 This type of farming depends upon monsoon, natural fertility of the soil
and suitability of other environmental conditions to the crops grown. It
is a ‘slash and burn’ agriculture.
 Farmers clear a patch of land and produce cereals and other food crops
to sustain their family.
 When the soil fertility decreases, the farmers shift and clear a fresh patch
of land for cultivation.
 This type of shifting allows Nature to replenish the fertility of the soil
through natural processes;
 land productivity in this type of agriculture is low as the farmer does not
use fertilisers or other modern inputs.
 It is known by different names in different parts of the country.
 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 Nicobar Islands

Various names of shifting cultivation
 The ‘slash and burn’ 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,
 ‘Valre’ or ‘Waltre’ in South-eastern Rajasthan,
 ‘Khil’ in the Himalayan belt,
 ‘Kuruwa’ in Jharkhand,
 ‘Jhumming’ in the North-eastern region
Intensive Subsistence Farming
 This type of farming is practised in areas of high
population pressure on land.
 It is labour intensive farming, where high doses of
biochemical inputs and irrigation are used for
obtaining higher production
 Though the ‘right of inheritance’ leading to the
division of land among successive generations has
rendered land-holding size uneconomical, the farmers
continue to take maximum output from the limited
land in the absence of alternative source of livelihood.
 Thus, there is enormous pressure on agricultural land.
Commercial Farming
 The main characteristic of this type of farming
is the use of higher doses of modern inputs,
e.g. high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical
fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides in order
to obtain higher productivity.
 The degree of commercialisation of agriculture
varies from one region to another.
 For example, rice is a commercial crop in
Haryana and Punjab, but in Odisha, it is a
subsistence crop.
plantation
 Plantation is also a type of commercial farming. In
this type of farming, a single crop is grown on a
large area.
 The plantation has an interface of agriculture and
industry.
 Plantations cover large tracts of land, using capital
intensive inputs, with the help of migrant
labourers.
 All the produce is used as raw material in
respective industries.
 In India, tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, banana,
etc.. are important plantation crops. Tea in Assam
and North Bengal coffee in Karnataka are some of
the important plantation crops grown in these
 Since the production is mainly for market, a
well developed network of transport and
communication connecting the plantation
areas, processing industries and markets
plays an important role in the development of
plantations.
CROPPING PATTERN
You have studied the physical diversities and
plurality of cultures in India.
 These are also reflected in agricultural

practices and cropping patterns in the

country.
 Various types of food and fibre crops,

vegetables and fruits, spices and condiments,

etc. constitute some of the important crops
grown in the country
 India has three cropping seasons —

RABI, KHARIF AND ZAID.
Rabi crop
 Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and
harvested in summer from April to June.
 Rabi crops are wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard.
 crops are grown in large parts of India, states from the north
and northwestern parts such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh
are important for the production of wheat and other abi crops.
 Availability of precipitation during winter months due to the
western temperate cyclones helps in the success of these
crops.
 the success of the green revolution in Punjab, Haryana,
western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan has also been an
important factor in the growth of the abovementioned rabi
crop
Kharif crop
 Kharif crops are grown with the onset of monsoon in different
parts of the country and these are harvested in September-
October.
 paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, cotton,
jute, groundnut and soyabean.
 Some of the most important rice-growing regions are Assam,
West Bengal, coastal regions of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, particularly
the (Konkan coast) along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
 Recently, paddy has also become an important crop of Punjab
and Haryana.
 In states like Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of
paddy are grown in a year.
 these are Aus, Aman and Boro.
zaid
 In between the rabi and the kharif seasons,
there is a short season during the summer
months known as the Zaid season.
 Some of the crops produced during ‘zaid’ are

watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber

vegetables and fodder crops.
 Sugarcane takes almost a year to grow.
 A variety of food and non food crops are
grown in different parts of the country
depending upon the variations in soil, climate
and cultivation practices. Major crops grown
in India are rice, wheat, millets, pulses, tea,
coffee, sugarcane, oil seeds, cotton and jute,
etc.
Rice
 It is the staple food crop of a majority of the
people in India.
 Our country is the second largest producer of rice

in the world after China.

 It is a kharif crop which requires high temperature,

(above 25°C) and high humidity with annual rainfall

above 100 cm.
 In the areas of less rainfall, it grows with the help

of irrigation.
 Rice is grown in the plains of north and north-

eastern India, coastal areas and the deltaic regions.

 Development of dense networkof canal
irrigation and tubewells have made it possible
to grow rice in areas of less rainfall such as
Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh
and parts of Rajasthan
 wheat
 This is the second most important cereal crop.
 It is the main food crop, in north and north-western part

of the country.
 This rabi crop requires a cool growing season and a bright

sunshine at the time of ripening.

 It requires 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall evenly distributed

over the growing season.

 There are two important wheat-growing zones in the

country –
 the Ganga-Satluj plains in the northwest and
 black soil region of the Deccan. The major wheat-

producing states are Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,

Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh.
 Millets: Jowar, bajra and ragi are the important millets
grown in India.
 Though, these are known as coarse grains, they have
very high nutritional value.
 For example, ragi is very rich in iron, calcium, other
micro nutrients and roughage.
 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,
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh i
 Bajra grows well on sandy soils and shallow
black soil.
 Major Bajra producing States were: Rajasthan,

Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and

Haryana in 2011-12.
 Ragi is a crop of dry regions and grows well
on red, black, sandy, loamy and shallow black
soils.

 Major ragi producing states are: Karnataka,

Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand,
Sikkim, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh
 MAIZE
 Maize: It is a crop which is used both as food and
fodder.
 It is a kharif crop which requires temperature between
21°C to 27°C and grows well in old alluvial soil.
 In some states like Bihar Maize Cultivation maize is
grown in rabi season also.
 Use of modern inputs such as HYV seeds, fertilisers
and irrigation have contributed to the increasing
production of maize.
 Major maize-producing states are Karnataka, Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and
Madhya Pradesh.
PULSES
 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. Pulses need less moisture
and survive even in dry conditions.
 Being leguminous crops, all these crops except arhar help in
restoring soil fertility by fixing nitrogen from the air.
 Therefore, these are mostly grown in rotation with other
crops.
 Major pulse producing states in India are Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka
SUGARCANE
 It is a tropical as well as a subtropical crop. It grows well in
hot and humid climate with a temperature of 21°C to 27°C
and an annual rainfall between 75cm. and 100cm.
 Irrigation is required in the regions of low rainfall.
 It can be grown on a variety of soils and needs manual

labour from sowing to harvesting.

 India is the second largest producer of sugarcane only

after Brazil.
 It is the main source of sugar, gur (jaggary), khandsari and

molasses.
 The major sugarcane-producingstates are Uttar Pradesh,

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,

Telangana, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana
Horticulture Crops
 In 2008 India was the second largest producer of fruits
and vegetables in the world after China. India is a producer
of tropical as well as temperate fruits.
 Mangoes of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,

Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, oranges of Nagpur and

Cherrapunjee (Meghalaya),
 bananas of Kerala, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu,
 lichi and guava of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,
 pineapples of Meghalaya,
 grapes of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra,
 apples, pears, apricots and walnuts of Jammu and Kashmir

and Himachal Pradesh are in great demand the world over

 India produces about 13 per cent of the
world’s vegetables. It is an important
producer of pea, cauliflower, onion, cabbage,
tomato, brinjal and potato.
 OILSEEDS
 In 2008 India was the second largest producer of groundnut in the world after
china.
 In rape seed production India was third largest producer in the world after
Canada and China in 2008.
 Different oil seeds are grown covering approximately 12 per cent of the total
cropped area of the country.
 Main oil-seeds produced in India are groundnut, mustard, coconut, sesamum
(til), soyabean, castor seeds, cotton seeds, linseed and sunflower.
 Most of these are edible and used as cooking mediums. However, some of
these are also used as raw material in the production of soap, cosmetics and
ointments.
 Groundnut is a kharif crop and accounts for about half of the major oilseeds
produced in the country.
 Gujarat was the largest producer of groundnut followed by Andhra Pradesh
and Tamil Nadu in 2011-12.
 Linseed and mustard are rabi crops. Sesamum is a kharif crop in north and
rabi crop in south India. Castor seed is grown both as rabi and kharif crop
 TEA
 Tea cultivation is an example of plantation agriculture.
 It is also an important beverage crop introduced in India
initially by the British.
 Today, most of the tea plantations are owned by Indians.
 The tea plant grows well in tropical and sub-tropical
climates endowed with deep and fertile well-drained soil,
rich in humus and organic matter.
 Tea bushes require warm and moist frost-free climate all
through the year.
 Frequent showers evenly distributed over the year ensure
continuous growth of tender leaves.
 Tea is a labourintensive industry. It requires abundant,
 cheap and skilled labour.
 Tea is processed within the tea garden to restore
its freshness.
 Major teaproducing states are Assam, hills of
Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, West Bengal,
Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Apart from these,
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya,
Andhra Pradesh and Tripura are also tea-
producing states in the country.
 In 2008 India was the third largest producer of
tea after China and Turkey
COFFEE
 In 2008 India produced 3.2 per cent of the
world coffee production. Indian coffee is
known in the world for its good quality.
 The Arabica variety initially brought from

Yemen is produced in the country.

 This variety is in great demand all over the

world. Intially its cultivation was introduced

on the Baba Budan Hills and even today its
cultivation is confined to the Nilgiri in
Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Non-Food Crops 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.
 Rubber is an important industrial raw material.
 It is mainly grown in Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka and Andaman and Nicobar islands and
Garo hills of Meghalaya.
 In 2010-11 India ranked fourth among the
world’s natural rubber producers.
 Cotton
 India is believed to be the original home of
the cotton plant.
 Cotton is one of the main raw materials for

cotton textile industry.

 In 2008 India was second largest producer of

cotton after China.

 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.
 Major cotton-producing states are–

Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil
Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
 Jute
 : It is known as the golden fibre.
 Jute grows well on well-drained fertile soils in the
flood plains where soils are renewed every year.
 High temperature is required during the time of
growth. West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and
Meghalaya are the major jute producing states. It
is used in making gunny bags, mats, ropes, yarn,
carpets and other artefacts.
 Due to its high cost, it is losing market to
synthetic fibres and packing materials,
particularly the nylon.
 institutional reforms.
 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 right of inheritance had
already lead to fragmentation of land holdings
necessitating consolidation of holdings.
Technological and Institutional
Reforms
 It was mentioned in the previous pages that agriculture
has been practiced in India for thousands of years.
 Sustained uses of land without compatible techno-
institutional changes have hindered the pace of
agricultural development.
 Inspite of development of sources of irrigation most of
the farmers 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.
Agriculture which provides livelihood for more than 60
per cent of its population, needs some serious technical
and
 The laws of land reforms were enacted but
the laws of implementation was lacking or
lukewarm.
 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. Therefore, in the 1980s and 1990s, a
comprehensive land development programme was initiated, which
included both institutional and technical reforms.
 Provision for crop insurance against drought, flood, cyclone, fire
and disease, establishment of Grameen banks, cooperative
societies and banks for providing loan facilities to the farmers at
lower rates of interest were some important steps in this direction.
 Kissan Credit Card (KCC), Personal Accident Insurance Scheme
(PAIS) are some other schemes introduced by the Government of
India for the benefit of the farmers. Moreover, special weather
bulletins and agricultural
 programmes for farmers were introduced on
the radio and television.
 The government also announces minimum

support price, remunerative and procurement

prices for important crops to check the
exploitation of farmers by speculators and
middlemen
 Bhoodan – Gramdan
 Mahatma Gandhi declared Vinoba 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
the 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.
 Vinoba Bhave could not promise it to them immediately but assured them to talk
to the Government of India regarding provision of land for them if they
undertook cooperative farming.
 Suddenly, Shri Ram Chandra Reddy 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
the landless. It was known as Gramdan. However, many land-owners chose to
provide some part of their land to
 the poor farmers due to the fear of land
ceiling act.
 This Bhoodan-Gramdan movement initiated

by Vinoba Bhave is also known as the Blood-

less Revolution.
Contribution of agriculture to the national economy employment and
output

 Agriculture - the backbone of the Indian

economy though its share in the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) has registered a
declining trend from 1951 onwards;

 The declining share of agriculture in the GDP is

a matter of serious concern because
any decline and stagnation in agriculture will lead
to a decline in other spheres of the economy
The Government of India made concerted efforts to
modernise agriculture.
 Establishment of Indian Council of Agricultural Research

(ICAR),
 agricultural universities,
 veterinary services and animal breeding centres,

horticulture development,
 research and development in the field of meteorology and

weather forecast, etc. were given priority for improving

Indian agriculture.
 Apart from this, improving the rural infrastructure was

also considered essential for the same.

 it is clear that though the GDP growth rate is
increasing over the years,
 it is not generating sufficient employment
opportunities in the country.

 Today, Indian farmers are facing a big challenge

from international competition and our
government is going ahead with reduction in the
public investment in agriculture sector
particularly in irrigation, power, rural roads,
market and MECHANISM
 Subsidy on fertilisers is decreased leading to
increase in the cost of production.
 Moreover, reduction in import duties on

agricultural products have proved detrimental

to agriculture in the country.
 Farmers are withdrawing their investment

from agriculture causing a downfall in the

employment in agriculture.
 FOOD SECURITY
 FOOD is a basic need and every citizen of the
country should have access to food which
provides minimum nutritional level.
 If any segment of our population does not have
this access, that segment suffers from lack of
food security.
 our government carefully designed a national
food security system.
 It consists of two components (a) buffer stock
and (b) public distribution system (PDS).
PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
 PDS is a programme which provides
food grains and other essential
commodities at subsidized prices in
rural and urban areas.

 It has enabled the poor to have access to

food.
FOOD COORPORATION OF INDIA
 Food Corporation of India (FCI) is responsible for
procuring and stocking foodgrains, and
distribution is done by public distribution
system (PDS).
 The FCI procures foodgrains from the farmers at
the government announced minimum support
price (MSP).
 The government used to provide subsidies on
agriculture inputs such as fertilizers, power and
water.
CHALLENGES TO FOOD SECURITY
 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.
 3. This has also created a serious imbalance in
inter-crop parities
Challenges to food security
 Consumers are divided into two categories :
 Below poverty line (BPL)
 Above poverty line (APL), with the issue price

being different for each category.

 However, this categorisation is not perfect and a

number of deserving poor have been excluded

from the BPL category.
 Moreover, some of the so called APL slip back to

BPL, because of the failure of even one crop and

it is administratively difficult to accommodate
such shifts.
1. 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.
2. With the growing population of India, the declining food
production puts a big question mark over the country’s
future food security.
3. The competition for land between non-agricultural uses
such as housing etc. and agriculture has resulted in
reduction in the net sown area.
4. 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.
 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).
 Consequently, many wells and tubewells have run dry.

This has pushed the marginal and small farmers out of

cultivation.
 The big farmers with deeper tubewells still have water, but

many others face a water crisis.

 Farmer also 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
Step taken to overcome food
insecurity
 Each district and block can be made self sufficient
in foodgrain production if government provides
proper agricultural infrastructure,
 credit linkages and also encourages the use of
latest techniques.
 Instead of concentrating only on rice or wheat,
the food crop with a better growth potential in
that particular area must be encouraged.
 Creation of necessary infrastructure like irrigation
facilities, availability of electricity etc. may also
attract private investments in agriculture
 free trade in grains will create massive
employment and reduce poverty in rural
areas.
Impact of Globalisation on Agriculture
 Globalisation is not a new phenomenon.
 It was there at the time of colonisation.
 In the nineteenth century when European traders
came to India, at that time too, Indian spices were
exported to different countries of the world and
farmers of south India were encouraged to grow
these crops.
 Till today it is one of the important items of export
from India. During the British period cotton belts of
India attracted the British and ultimately cotton was
exported to Britain as a raw material for their textile
industries.
 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 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. The green revolution
promised much.
 But today it’s under controversies. It is being

alleged that it has caused land degradation

due to overuse of chemicals, drying aquifers
and vanishing biodiversity.
 .
 The keyword today is “gene revolution”.
Which includes genetic engineering
 Geneticengineering is
recognised as a powerful
supplement in inventing new
hybrid varieties of seeds.
jatrofha
 organic farming is much in vogue today because it is
practised without factory made chemicals such as
fertilisers and pesticides.
 Indian farmers should diversify their cropping

pattern from cereals to high-value crops.

 This will increase incomes and reduce environmental

degradation simultaneously. Because fruits,

medicinal herbs, flowers, vegetables, bio-diesel
crops like jatropha and jojoba need much less
irrigation than rice or sugarcane.
 India’s diverse climate can be harnessed to grow a

wide range of high-value crops.