Agriculture

1. Why agriculture matters in India

India is an agriculturally important country. Roughly two-thirds of its population is engaged in agricultural activities. Agriculture is a primary activity — it produces most of the food we eat. But it does more than feed us:

• It supplies raw materials to industries — cotton to the textile industry, sugarcane to the sugar industry, jute to the gunny-bag industry.
• Several products such as tea, coffee and spices are exported, earning foreign exchange.
• It provides livelihood to more than 60 per cent of India's population.

Over thousands of years, cultivation methods have changed depending on the physical environment, technological know-how and socio-cultural practices. Farming in India ranges from subsistence (growing just enough for the family) to commercial (growing for the market). Three systems are practised today, described below.

2. Primitive Subsistence Farming

Primitive Subsistence Farming is still practised in a few pockets of India. Its key features:

• Done on small patches of land with primitive tools — hoe, dao and digging sticks — and family / community labour.
• It depends on the monsoon, natural fertility of the soil, and suitability of the environment.
• It is a "slash and burn" agriculture: farmers clear a patch of land, grow cereals and food crops to feed the family, and when soil fertility falls they shift to a fresh patch. The old patch is left so that Nature can replenish its fertility naturally.
• Land productivity is low because the farmer uses no fertilisers or modern inputs.

In India, slash-and-burn farming is called jhumming in the north-eastern states — Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland; Pamlou in Manipur; Dipa in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh; and it is also seen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

3. Intensive Subsistence Farming

Intensive Subsistence Farming is practised in areas of high population pressure on land. Its features:

• It is labour-intensive — lots of human effort on a small piece of land.
• High doses of biochemical inputs (fertilisers) and irrigation are used for higher production.
• The "right of inheritance" divides land among successive generations, making land-holdings small and uneconomical. Yet, in the absence of alternative livelihoods, farmers keep taking maximum output from limited land — so there is enormous pressure on agricultural land.

4. Commercial Farming (and Plantations)

The main feature of Commercial Farming is the use of higher doses of modern inputs — high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides — to obtain higher productivity.

Plantation is also a type of commercial farming. Its features:

• A single crop is grown on a large area.
• It has an interface of agriculture and industry — the produce is the raw material for an industry.
• It uses capital-intensive inputs and the help of migrant labourers.
• Production is mainly for the market, so a well-developed transport and communication network connecting plantations to processing industries and markets is essential.

In India, important plantation crops are tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane and banana. Tea in Assam and North Bengal, and coffee in Karnataka, are important examples.

5. Cropping Pattern — the three seasons

India has three cropping seasons — rabi, kharif and zaid.

Rabi crops do well in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The western temperate cyclones bring winter rainfall that helps rabi crops, and the Green Revolution in Punjab, Haryana, western UP and parts of Rajasthan boosted rabi production. The most important rice-growing regions for kharif are Assam, West Bengal, coastal Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra (Konkan coast), UP and Bihar. In Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of paddy — Aus, Aman and Boro — are grown in a year.

6. Major Crops — food grains (rice, wheat, millets, pulses)

A variety of food and non-food crops are grown depending on soil, climate and cultivation practices. The major crops are rice, wheat, millets, pulses, tea, coffee, sugarcane, oil seeds, cotton and jute.

• Rice is the staple food of a majority of Indians. India is the second-largest producer of rice after China.
• Millets (jowar, bajra, ragi) are coarse grains but have very high nutritional value — ragi is rich in iron, calcium, micro-nutrients and roughage.
• Pulses — India is the largest producer AND consumer of pulses in the world. They are the major source of protein in a vegetarian diet. Major pulses: tur (arhar), urad, moong, masur, peas, gram.

7. Food crops other than grains — sugarcane, oilseeds, tea, coffee, horticulture

India in 2020 was the second-largest producer of tea after China, and the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables after China. Tea is processed within the tea garden to keep it fresh.

8. Non-food crops — rubber, fibre crops (cotton, jute)

The four major fibre crops are cotton, jute, hemp and natural silk. The first three are grown in the soil; silk comes from cocoons of silkworms fed on mulberry leaves — rearing silkworms for silk is called sericulture.

9. Technological and Institutional Reforms

Agriculture has been practised in India for thousands of years, but without compatible techno-institutional change its progress was slow. As agriculture supports more than 60 per cent of the population, serious reforms were needed. These came in two kinds:

Institutional reforms (after Independence):

• Collectivisation, consolidation of holdings, cooperation, and abolition of zamindari.
• "Land reform" was the main focus of the First Five Year Plan, because the right of inheritance had fragmented land holdings. (Laws were enacted but implementation was "lacking or lukewarm".)
• Crop insurance against drought, flood, cyclone, fire and disease.
• Grameen banks, cooperative societies and banks for cheaper loans.
• Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS).
• Special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes on radio/TV.
• Minimum Support Price (MSP), remunerative and procurement prices to protect farmers from speculators and middlemen.

Technological reforms (1960s–70s):

• The Green Revolution — based on package technology (HYV seeds, fertilisers, irrigation) to raise food-grain output.
• The White Revolution (Operation Flood) — to boost milk production.
• Because these benefits concentrated in a few areas, a comprehensive land development programme (institutional + technical) was launched in the 1980s and 1990s.

10. NCERT Exercise 1 — Multiple-choice questions (answered)

(i) Which describes a system where a single crop is grown on a large area? → (b) Plantation Agriculture.

(ii) Which is a rabi crop? → (b) Gram (rice, millets and cotton are kharif).

(iii) Which is a leguminous crop? → (a) Pulses (legumes fix nitrogen in the soil).

11. NCERT Exercise 2 — Answer in 30 words (answered)

(i) Name one important beverage crop and the geographical conditions for its growth.

Tea. It needs a warm, moist, frost-free climate throughout the year, deep, fertile, well-drained soil rich in humus and organic matter, and frequent evenly-distributed showers. It is labour-intensive and grown on hill slopes (Assam, Darjeeling).

(ii) Name one staple crop of India and the regions where it is produced.

Rice. It is the staple food of the majority. It is grown in the plains of north and north-east India, coastal and deltaic regions — Assam, West Bengal, coastal Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and (with irrigation) Punjab, Haryana and western UP.

(iii) Enlist the institutional reform programmes introduced for farmers.

Abolition of zamindari, consolidation of holdings, cooperation, crop insurance, Grameen banks and cooperative credit, Kisan Credit Card (KCC), Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS), and announcement of Minimum Support Price, remunerative and procurement prices.

12. NCERT Exercise 3 — Answer in about 120 words (answered)

(i) Suggest the initiative taken by the government to ensure the increase in agricultural production.

The government launched both technological and institutional reforms. Technologically, the Green Revolution (HYV seeds, fertilisers, irrigation) and the White Revolution / Operation Flood raised food-grain and milk output. Institutionally, it abolished zamindari, encouraged consolidation of holdings, cooperation and collectivisation, and made land reform the focus of the First Five Year Plan. It provides crop insurance against drought, flood, cyclone, fire and disease; set up Grameen banks and cooperative societies for cheap credit; introduced the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and PAIS; broadcasts weather bulletins and farm programmes; and announces Minimum Support Price, remunerative and procurement prices to protect farmers from speculators and middlemen.

(ii) Describe the geographical conditions required for the growth of rice.

Rice is a kharif crop and the staple food of most Indians. It needs high temperature (above 25°C) and high humidity with annual rainfall above 100 cm. In areas of less rainfall it can still be grown with the help of irrigation — the dense network of canal irrigation and tubewells has made it possible to grow rice in Punjab, Haryana and western UP. It grows best in the plains of north and north-eastern India, coastal areas and the deltaic regions. India is the second-largest producer of rice in the world after China.

13. Common confusions

• Intensive vs. extensive: "intensive" subsistence = a LOT of labour/inputs on a SMALL area, not a large one.
• Rabi vs. kharif: Rabi = winter sowing (wheat, gram); Kharif = monsoon sowing (rice, bajra, cotton, jute). Zaid = short summer (watermelon, cucumber).
• Same crop, different type: rice is commercial in Punjab/Haryana but subsistence in Odisha.
• Producer ranks: India is 1st in pulses (producer & consumer), but 2nd in rice, tea, sugarcane, cotton and fruits/vegetables (all after China, except sugarcane after Brazil).
• Green vs. White Revolution: Green = food grains (HYV seeds); White (Operation Flood) = milk.
• Jute is the "golden fibre"; cotton is NOT. Millets are coarse grains but highly nutritious.

14. Quick revision checklist

• Three farming types: Primitive Subsistence (jhumming), Intensive Subsistence, Commercial (incl. plantation).
• Three seasons: Rabi (wheat, gram), Kharif (rice, bajra), Zaid (melons, cucumber).
• Staples: rice (kharif) & wheat (rabi). Millets: jowar, bajra, ragi.
• Pulses = protein, India 1st; tea & coffee = beverages; sugarcane → sugar/gur.
• Non-food: rubber, cotton (kharif), jute (golden fibre).
• Reforms: Green Revolution, White Revolution, land reform, KCC, MSP, Bhoodan-Gramdan.